Check into Savvy Corporate Guesthouses

It's not just the luxury-savvy star hotels, scattered all over the twin-cities that manage to attract business travelers. Of late, corporate guest houses that are increasingly sprouting across the city, are trying to lure these business travellers by offering similar facilities at half the cost.

The guest houses in Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills and Vikrampuri, which have come up over the last two years, have the sleek lines and modern feel of a comtemporary hotel, decorated in mushroom and stone colours with American black walnut as well as cane furniture.

No wonder then that even cash-rich companies like Dr Reddy's, Satyam Computers, Infotech Enterprises, NFCL, Metamor, and Lotus Chocolates, Karvy, Learning Bite, Nagarjuna Fertilizers, Aditya Spinners, etc., send their business clients and executives to these guest houses.

"It is not that these big companies cannot afford to have their own guest houses. It is a question of maintaining them at certain standards, which is not an easy task, says Vinay Kamat, director, Zion Guest House.

Even corporate hospitals like Apollo, for instance, do not run the canteen and drug stores on their own. These facilities are outsourced to the outsiders specialising in such skills.

"On the same lines corporates send their business clients to us as they feel that we can take care of their clients' needs in the same way as any star hotel does," Kamat says.

Each room has Internet access, fax hook-up, television, multi-line telephones -- and a generously proportioned safe. Says Kamat, "safe facility is being offered not because the guests are laden with exceptional amount of jewellery, but to store other valuables, which include a laptop computer."

More than 60 per cent of the business travellers carry their laptops with them. Some of them have even asked these guest house owners to have their own Website so that they can use Internet to do their future bookings, he adds.

Comparing themselves with other star hotels, Kamat says that the hotel groups have debated upon the merits of providing computers in rooms, but are usually put off by costs and the fear that the technology will soon become outdated.

"The availability of fast and convenient Internet access has become a key factor in hotel choice for those who do not carry their laptops," he says. Guest houses such as Zion are taking enough care to provide such facilities.

Kamat, who was heading the marketing division at VST Industries, and his friend Roy Joseph, associated with the ITC Welcome group, hit upon the idea of the guest house, leveraging on the former's marketing skills and the latter's skills in hospitality industry. An initial investment of just about Rs 16 lakh in 1998 is now paying back huge dividends for Kamat and Joseph.

"We broke-even in just two years time. Now we are looking at opening more such guest houses in other cities as well," says he.

The guest house has about 12 rooms. Of these, two are suite rooms, consisting of two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a sitting room. A suite room costs about Rs 2500. A single room is about Rs 800 and a double costs about Rs 1000. This apart, the guest house serves complementary breakfast to its guests.

Many travelling executives would also like to be able to rely on consistent services, something the luxury-savvy hotel chains pride themselves on delivering. However, all too frequently atraveller might select a hotel, be impressed by the in-room facilities, but find they are not provided at another hotel belonging to the same group. "This is where guest houses like that of ours would make the difference," quips Kamat.

Some guest houses are also tying up with recreation clubs to provide entertainment for important guests. The proprietor of The Retreat in Vikrampuri, for instance, is offering temporary membership of the Secunderabad Club for guests who are from the top management of their client companies.

The guests can utilise facilities such as gym, swimming pool and library in the club during their stay at the 6-room air conditioned and well furnished Retreat, says proprietor Rajiv Sahani. He charges Rs 450 per day for a room and provides complementary English breakfast in "Army manner."

Sahani, who terms the guest house concept a dignified extension of a paying guest facility, has tied up with restaurants for providing lunch and dinner to his guests.

Sahani, who owns another guest house -- The Nest in Banjara Hills -- has his own reasons for setting up the facilities. He wanted to avoid the problems posed by tenants and also of problematic visitors frequenting lodges.

"We are not open to public. We have opened it just to the corporate sector. A lot of people misuse guest houses to get drunk and create a scene and also womanise, and we are trying to avoid such problems by putting up this private guest house," Sahani says.