Hyderabad :

With the completion of one year in the city, Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel is betting big on the online platform to corner business this year.

“At present we get around 25% of our business from the online platform but in the coming six months we are targeting about 30% of the business from the online platform. The idea is to attract the youth as they are increasingly using web based services for their day-to-day activities,” Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel Hyderabad general manager Nishan Silva said, adding, the hotel will also be launching its food and beverage (F&B) app on the android and ios platforms in the next 15 days.

The hotel that was launched in July 2012 achieved breakeven in January this year, he said.

Stating that the hotel draws almost 45% of its business from the F&B segment and the rest from rooms, Silva said that the hotel will host two month long food festival to boost its revenues from the F&B segment.

“We will have a two month long food festivals that will have Maharaja, Bohri and Sizzling South food festival,” director of sales and marketing Pavan Kakar said.

The hotel that has a current occupancy level of about 55%, is also eyeing a good business in the third quarter of the year when major business conferences are set to kick off in the city.

Silva pointed out that the major challenge of running a hotel business in the city was the rising operational cost due to a steep hike in power tariff and shortage of water.

Source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Times of India / Home> Business> India Business / by Swati Rathor, TNN / July 17th, 2013