Hospitality startup Ulo hotels aims to provide budget-friendly stays at affordable prices throughout India.
In recent times, the Indian Hospitality Sector has shown significant growth. People have started to spend money and time on traveling. They are interested in exploring new destinations which are generally less visited by common folks. Based on the budget planned, it can be either foreign or domestic vacation.
In order to cater the growing needs of the growing Tourism and Hospitality Sector, Viswanathan.M launched Ulo hotels in August 2016. It assist folks who prefer to stay in a hotel or resort at a reasonable price. They cater all the basic amenities without compromising the service quality. As of now, they are concentrated on the major tourist destinations of South India.
Viswanathan says, “Ulo hotels is the brainchild created out of my 5+ years expertise in Travel and Tourism Sector. The early days of Ulo hotels involved a lot of brainstorming and doubts. We operated the company only through the funds provided by family and friends.”
Ulo means Accommodation in the Igbo language. “We have chosen this name because we wanted to provide top-grade amenities to all our guests”, says Viswanathan. They guide day-to-day operations, enrich quality, enhance internet presence, and commission dedicated reservation team to all their partner properties.
Initially we mainly focused on OTA Management and we got major business only through OTAs”. He soon realized that the next step into the business was to acquire and manage properties.
While staying at one of the properties as a guest, Muruga J was impressed with the concept of Ulo hotels. Then, he decided to join Ulo hotels as a Mentor. He is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta and has nearly two decade’s worth experience in multiple technologies. The company is showing steady progress under his support and guidance.
How does Ulo work?
Ulo hotels operate via the Joint Venture model. Their main objective is to help struggling hoteliers with less than 40% occupancy rate mainly in tier-2 and tier-3 destinations. A recent survey shows that nearly 60% (6 Lakh) of hotels in India come under this category.
They offer guidance to the hotel owners to increase their revenue and also give industrial training to all Operations staff. They are charming repetitive customers through their quality 5 Bs service like Best in Guest Service & Care, Bed Clean & Comfortable, Budget-Friendly & Value, Breakfast Healthy & Regional, and Bathroom Hygienic & Functional.
Viswanathan says, “There are ample of tourist spots in India which is not known to many folks. We are now focusing on these Leisure and Off-Beat destinations which are less frequented by vacationers. This in turn has created a huge fan base for Ulo hotels.”
“The Standard Occupancy, Standard Revenue, and Quality Management are our Success Mantra,” adds Viswanathan.
What is UloTel?
Viswanathan says, “The Property Management System (PMS) employed by us is UloTel. It is an in-house technology developed exclusively for Ulo hotels. Every Partner Property Owners will be provided with unique login credentials for UloTel. The main plus of this technology is Hierarchy Management”
The Property Owners can view their property related information and pictures in UloTel. The actual booking time and room availability can be also viewed. The complete revenue Management is available in the dashboard. It displays past, current and future revenue forecasts.
There is also an option to select and view previous reports as well. UloTel integrates with Online(OTAs) and Offline(Local Agencies). On the whole, the Owners can see the complete report on the single dashboard.
Obstacles
“Quality, Occupancy Rate, and Revenue are essential for growth and success. Moreover, guests prefer hotels, which offer top-notch facilities and services at reasonable rates. Maintaining that stability is a big challenge for startups like us,” says Viswanathan.
The Competitive Landscape
Hospitality Sector is one of India’s highly competitive industry, in terms of revenue. The industry is showing fast progress with the new trends in Social Media. Based on the research by Deloitte, the companies with innovative thinking can definitely survive in this difficult industry. Customer mindsets, Economy and Technologies are driving factors of Travel and Tourism Industry.
Viswanathan feels that Ulo hotels stands “apart” from other competitors with its quality accommodations and amicable hospitality.
Future Plans
“Presently, Ulo hotels have 75 rooms and 6 properties. We have planned to boost our presence in 70 to 80 cities, acquire 250 to 300 properties and to do 6000 room nights. Our vision is to expand Ulo hotels to Pan India” signs off Viswanathan.
If you are looking for a budget stay in your favorite destination, try www.ulohotels.com.
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