"BAY TREASURE"

It was a Wednesday night, and the campus was near empty, with Chennai locals off to their homes, and the others off for a party! This time, the party was at a resort called “Bay Treasure”. I thought it was a good idea to study on a resort at a place where there are so many that each one is at a stone’s throw from the other. Luckily for me, I got to meet the owner of the premises, who, in fact is the person doing the front office job, sitting at the reception. The owner and her husband started this business on 24^th March, 2011(so, it’s relatively new), targeting not the ‘local crowd’, but tourists from India & abroad, plus of course, students like us who like to unwind on days off. The peak season for foreign tourists is July-Aug(The French Season), when the French arrive, and Nov-Feb, when other non-Indian tourists arrive. During these months, their rooms (24 of them) are at full occupancy. Indian tourists keep flowing in throughout the year, whenever they get extended weekends! Each of their rooms has a sea view, but the occupancy is just about 25-30% during off-season.

The resort, apart from the lodge, which they call “The Siesta Wave”, has quite a bit to offer – a party/conference hall named “Rendezvous”, a coffee shop named “Mug Shot”, an A-La-Carte restaurant named “Taste Unlimited”, a buffet restaurant named “Skewer” and a soon to open liquor shop, “Brandy Wine”, for which they’ve applied for a license. But surprisingly, liquor is on offer(in the name of tonic) even now, when the license is not in hand. They claim their services to be 3 star.

When asked how they advertise their resort, they said, they cannot afford newspaper advertisements, and so, are available on Biz List, Just Dial, Yellow Pages, etc. But nonetheless, 75% of their customers are repeat customers, which they feel is the most rewarding. They say, “If u ask us what is our competitive edge, we do not know, because we do not know what other resorts have to offer, but we believe that for our kind of price, we are the best”. They offer novelties like roof top swimming pool(with reclining chairs by the side), Bar-be-que buffet & value for money services, which is what is their USP. They have a continental menu on offer, to cater to the needs of people from the world over. Apart from this, they also serve sea food on request, which is not there on their regular menu. This, I was told, is a request made mainly by the foreign tourists. The other customisation they make is Hookah on the pool side, but at a 50% premium. They prefer having it inside because of the frequent coal change required in open air, but there are customers who specifically want it outside, even if it comes at a premium! So, customer satisfaction is something that they try to maintain, but not at the cost of their loss of profits. The restaurants, as told, are about 60% full on weekdays & 100% full on weekends. A noticeable thing was that they play music only on public demand, and not otherwise, to try & conserve energy. In fact, their coffee shop has floor lights, which again, they turn on only during parties, and not otherwise, to save energy.

Now, there’s one glitch that they’re facing-they are not able to put their garden to effective use, because their kitchen is not in proximity and they don’t have enough staff to serve there and at their restaurants at the same time. So, for now, they screen important sports matches on a projector at the poolside, which is close to their restaurants. They plan to make their garden operational over time, as their revenues increase, and they can afford to have more employees, as it's just been about a year since they started and need some time to gain a foothold in the market. This will further increase the influx of customers.

Varuna Narayanaswamy
FT13485