 So good morning, everyone. Welcome to Entrepreneur India's Resilient really today. We are going to talk about our space, which arguably has been hit the most during the ongoing pandemic and that is the hospitality sector. I am Saurav Kumar, editor's special project of Entrepreneur India, the moderator for the session. I will quickly lay down the ground rules for our attendees. The discussion will go on for 30 minutes or so. This will be followed by a 15 minutes Q&A session. If you have any questions during the course of the discussion, you can post them through the Q&A auction. If you are watching us live on Facebook, you can post your questions in the comment section. Mention in your question if it is directed to any of our specific panelists and we will take up the question for the final discussion. Let me now introduce our panelists for the day. We have with us today Mr. Pranav Maheshwari, co-founder and head of technology and finance, Mr. Ruhi and Mr. Dharavi Sinchawan, co-founder and CEO of Dostal. Welcome everyone. So, Pranav, Dharavi, are you relieved now that the hospitality sector is slowly opening up or is it like another uphill task from here on starting all over again? Dharavi, if I can start with you. No, actually I'm very excited that finally it's all opening up and you always look towards the next forward direction regardless of the challenges that it poses up. And we are very excited, at least now we are coming back from the zero days that you had a complete lockdown. I think now we are barely reaching to close to 50% of destinations that have given a clear mandate, have come up with clear policies in terms of how they want to open up their own local regions. So as soon as they are opening up, we are learning the new customer demands and possibly we will discuss about that as well. But it's very exciting time to now once again be in hospitality, curb the fears of people. Everybody has been locked down so they are all looking forward to come outside their concrete, connect once again with new people as well as nature and experience. So I'm very excited in that sense and let's see how things shape up. Yeah, of course, everyone reaching to go out of their homes. Kind of what has been, how are you feeling? I mean is it like more unsure then because you have to put in more SOPs in place or is it like you're relieved that it feels the business has started again? Very, very excited and look forward to this entire state of next few months, how things have already started unlocking and we see a lot of unlocked procedures coming in. Definitely last earlier few months of lockdown were difficult to put together restructuring the teams putting together new norms and also training a lot of our staff virtually and in person during this period of time. Thankfully, I think all of that effort is coming to fruitfulness right now and we are very, very excited. We've seen some good traction, good green shoots happening. I think this is a very good time for alternative accommodation space and this is the entire culture is going to be there for a long period of time. So I'm personally of opinion that the entire work from home culture as well as the domestic travel and people preferring accommodations and hotels is going to be for good now. So what we've been trying to invest over the years, this provides a massive opportunity to everyone in this space. So are you already seeing guests coming in, pouring in, so how is the occupancy rate or what kind of plans are you seeing in terms of people who are visiting your properties right now? So I think we are back almost around 50 to 60% of our business is something which is good. There are few markets basis the kind the way they are unlocking Maharashtra we are doing better than other markets, because we have a lot of destinations with our drivable distances from major cities like Mumbai and Pune. Goa as a market has been absolutely, it has unlocked and opened up really well for us and we are seeing decent traction coming in Goa after the new regulations along with the north which is Himachal and Uttarakhand market where in now the testing regulations have been dropped and no one needs to provide a COVID positive certificate or a negative certificate before they come in. So I think the basis, the regulation and the clear clarity, we see this demand and increasing, but as of now I think I would have taken it with both my hands if you would have given me opportunity that okay by August, September, if you could get back to about 60, 70% of the demand, I would be happy with that. What kind of plans are you seeing in your property? So I think we are pretty similar on those lines. I think we have been able to open up supply of almost now close to 45%. So we operate these 50 unique properties across the country. So I think 22 of them are live. All of these destinations are largely a bit outside the cities that is for travelers to really connect well with themselves, with the nature. All of them are largely drivable from one metro area, either around Bangalore or Bombay. So I think in all of these regions, we are already seeing demand largely driven by this remote work train, largely driven by people now being able to stay for months or even several weeks who are earlier doing weekend trips to Zostel. So in that sense, they have really covered up and the property have only opened up 40 to 50% but among the properties that have opened up, we are already seeing 55% demand or 55% occupancy, which is almost I would suggest that on the good season we would have almost 70 to 80% of wherever we would be close to peaking in this period of time if everything is normal. So in that sense, I think whatever be the reason, there is a pent up demand I would suggest along with this work from home drive that if you are able to adapt, if you are able to position your properties pretty well for the remote work, I think that's the lower new demand channel that has opened up. Is it like your guests are all coming in with their laptops and they are just working there and kind of connecting with the nature because they have the opportunity to work on? Yeah, absolutely. That's what I'm saying. So I can't share a screen right now but I would have shown you like every hour we get close to 10 people requesting us that they want to work. There's a form that they have to fill and in the end why do you want to and all of them for work that we want to work from Zostel rather than work from home. And they range from everywhere from two weeks to two months. So I think and they all come with their laptop obviously and we have all equipped our properties to have the best possible internet, have dedicated vocations along with all of the standard SOPs of social distancing, masks etc. But that's the kind of demand and that's the new trend. I think that's very emerging. Is there any such friend front of you are looking like we were speaking that you know that there's a kind of revenge traveling or something happening. Is that something that you are also kind of into the space of homes and we have about 450 or homes across the country on the premium segment. So yes, we do see a lot of revenge consumption. If we call that term, but in specially the people who are in this ultra H&I and H&I segment for them, if nothing else, the travel has increased. I don't think there is any reduction in trips or vacations which one is taking primarily because a lot of other avenues of travel for them have reduced. However, everyone wants to get out and take that yearly or by early or three times in a year vacation and the number of options which they have is limited as of now. So what we have seen an interesting parameter that earlier we used to do almost now 1.5 to 2 nights as the average length of stay. And now for us the length of stay has almost increased to about 4 to 5 nights per booking. So that is something which is really encouraging. And as we talk, I think during the lockdown in fact as soon as the lockdown was implemented after couple of months, we came across these new use cases, one which Dhramvir has touched upon which is work from a villa or work from alternative accommodation like a hostel. So even we get a lot of these queries wherein people want to come and work from these locations. And what better than let's say a luxury property wherein you have a swimming pool private to yourself, a small garden to take your morning walks and a beach overlooking the villa. So this is something like a dream come true for most of the folks. And also another use case around people using these places as safe havens wherein you have most of the cities where in cases are increasing, you want to shift out and go to these service luxury premium homes wherein you can pamper yourself at the same time you're a lot more safer at these places. So I think it is all about right now for us also supply. I think the more and more supply which we open up, there's enough demand to consume that supply. Yeah, I think that's the supply aspect. We need to work out opening up of supply with the standard SOPs effectively. And then you can possibly think about the demand. But as Rana said, there is sufficient demand especially in terms of these longer term stays pushing your average room night for booking higher than 3x, 5x. Before we move to the next question, I'll again ask our attendees to keep the questions coming. We will not take the questions that are done with the discussion. So, you know, I'll just take a step back and I'll want to ask you that what was going on in your mind when the lockdown was announced? I mean, I don't know if you anticipated it or what was your brain working at that time? What were you doing during the initial phase of the lockdown? In that sense, I actually had obviously just following the news. I think even towards the end of February and early March, I started implementing remote work weeks. So we were office in Gurgaon. We had our office right at the central station. So we were working from there and it was expected that something might happen. So we were already very well equipped with our own slack, our own internal communication tool that this is how we'll stay in sync. And we've already tried a couple of days of remote work as well, pre-lockdown. Just to make sure that everything is working well, etc. Now, as soon as it happened, you know, towards the mid-March, it came very rapidly. You know, I think it was very difficult to even, you know, while you have been in business since so many years, you haven't really seen something like this. So it came very rapidly. And as soon as it hit, you know, immediately we moved towards understanding that, you know, how do you literally, you know, how do you really push back to a survival basis? That, you know, let's make sure that, you know, we don't die in any form or manner. You know, so we had to, you know, move towards our projecting cash flows that, you know, we will never be getting any cash flows or we don't know how many months. So reducing our, you know, cash one, reducing the salaries, etc. as much as possible, informing our franchisee partners that, you know, we are getting into this thing. We're going in for two weeks. We don't know. It might take two months or five months as we come out. Those were the larger expectations even back then. And, you know, those were largely the mental state. You know, how do you really survive it out? How do you get the cash flows working back again? And how do you sell the, so we did a couple of very interesting campaigns. You know, we did, we partnered with a lot of local restaurants as well as cafes. We said we sold credits for the future. You know, so we raised, I think close to one crores, you know, in terms of selling advanced credits for Zostel as well as other properties. And, you know, similarly, you know, backpacker packages and now these remote work, you know, selling those larger packages. So I think that has been the largest shift. And now we have gradually moved towards that direction that we never really had. So we have never really spent, you know, largely any amount of money on Facebook or Google or any sort of, you know, paid advertising largely. And we have always been very organic. And we have never really even had a larger sales team in turn. So we have just, you know, set up a very small team, you know, so that, you know, there are these larger queries that come up that, you know, we want to, and these people need assurances. So these are the, you know, different Zostelers who have been to these places, so they give these people assurances that yes, you'll have a safe travel. And I think those are the larger empathetic drives in terms of, you know, getting people back to their traveling in roads, especially beyond, especially a bit further away from them. You know, people still traveling a bit carefully. Let's say at least now they have just come outside home. Now it's become easy to at least travel in the cities. Now they're thinking about driving 200 kilometers, 300 kilometers outside. So I think that's been the larger, you know, thought process, you know, as the COVID evolved. And now we are very confident on the other side that, you know, let's pull it back, you know, let's open as many properties as possible, as soon as possible. Let's go back to our customers needs, understand what they need. And if there is any change requirement, be it faster internet speeds, you know, be it in terms of, you know, any of such requirements, let's make sure that we give it. What were you doing during the lockdown? Very interesting, actually, sort of. I think a lot of things with Taran Veer echoed. Now for us also, I think on a continent, we are three of us every day. I remember first week of March, we used to keep debating amongst us, you know, what, how do we ensure this is coming? Everyone knew that sometime or the other is coming. I would say I was one of those who was, I was quite certain, you know what, something like a pure lockdown for a longer period and something like that doesn't work for India. I was fairly certain on that aspect. So I think the biggest aspect we prepared for a couple of weeks, but when it came, it just came. I think a no amount of preparedness or ability for us to restrain that was there. And I think what Taran Veer said, I echo that because I remember somewhere around 11th or 12th of March, the Maharashtra government has tweeted. And after that, all the process for next one and a half months for cancellation. We just kept processing those because we had bookings for next six to eight months. And we got cancellations by dozens every second and every moment. And it was so difficult for us to manage all of that during the entire team was focused over there. And then I think once that was subsided, first you get into a survival mode because as you start realizing that you know what, you don't know how long is this going to continue with the initial 21 day lockdown and then 14 day. And it kept going for another 14 days and stuff like that. So I don't think anyone of us who have gaged it, we got involved with a lot of our mentors, investors, we drew a plan saying that what happens if there are zero revenues for next eight months for next 12 months for next 18 months. How do we want to take what calls we want to take. And basis that I think two things, three things which we were very clear that we wanted to be very transparent to all our stakeholders that may be our employees, our guests, our homeowners, and our vendors. All of them we wanted to be transparent. I think at the start of the entire the first phase of lockdown, we started writing to them, started negotiating and speaking to them and told them. Okay, you know what this is what we see. And the idea was to reduce our fixed costs. Yes, we had to part off with some parts of our team, but we made an effort that we speak to every person in our organization all 200 of them. I think the first couple of 45 days just went in assuring those were there in the system that what is what is the next six months look like that for you. And for those who are not to assure them, okay, you know what what we can help you with at that moment of time and give them assurance that when things get better, you will be our first choice. So I think that was the initial 3540 days just went over there. Even after that, I think I remember we talking to our team and in the town halls, we used to communicate, you know, by hook or by group, we need to generate revenues for us to ensure that we survive. And we identified almost six, seven initiatives during this lockdown. And I think we were just at it in terms of driving better higher revenues over there. These were, you know, entertaining people we created a mechanism called a virtual off site. So we did almost about 200 or virtual off site for various different organizations. We, we partnered with a fleet in a logistic company, which was the only company in Maharashtra to operate during lockdown. So we we helped them to generate some revenues and market it. Then we obviously got involved with the training aspect for our properties because we knew when things will get better. We need to be prepared of sort. We started licensing with local authorities, people on the ground, police officers, grand panchayats, because right now also I think the biggest challenge when I say supply is every in the entire entire India has broken into a lot of these smaller smaller parts in India, which everyone mandates on rules. So unfortunately, that is something which is the biggest challenge. And fortunately, a lot of that has fallen into place. A lot of them, our reactions were very, very, we were a lot more reactive, I would say to the entire thing. And if I've given a chance, yes, I think these have been learning. Maybe we are a lot more better prepared for the next pandemic, I would say. And then that it was a good learning. And yes, we were able to do a lot of things right. I think the biggest was we just being transparent to everyone. I think we were just able to align a lot of our stakeholders. What happened to your employees? How did you let them go because there was zero business. I mean, they had nothing to do with the property. So how did you manage that? What did you do with them? Because you know, hospitality is one of the biggest employers in this country. You know, there are millions of jobs which are there in the hospitality sector. So what happened to you? I mean, how are the jobs going to be right now in the industry? Right. So I think, you know, we operate largely on franchisees. So all of our properties are actually franchisees. But they would have employees, right? Yeah. And you know, we also have a complete data track of, you know, those employees as well, etc. And, you know, they were also, they were the ones, you know, who were truly hit. You know, I would suggest in a certain manner. You know, all of our franchisees, you know, were very transparent with their own staff in terms of the best possible scenarios that could be there. A couple of our properties, you know, were able to work with the government quarantine facilities as well. You know, otherwise some travelers who were stranded. So those staff were always at those properties themselves. And others actually understood that, you know, the industry has been hit so, so badly. You know, as Pranav said that, you know, doing that transparent communication with your staff and informing everybody. And I think they were all well aware that, you know, this is the current scenario. So a lot of them stayed at the properties. A lot of these people stay at the properties themselves, you know, while they are maintaining. So they might have stayed in those close premises. And just tried to, you know, survive the pandemic in that sense that, you know, hopefully things turn out to be normal as they are now, you know, coming up. And once again, you know, as Pranav said, you know, the issue is largely, you know, when you lock it, you know, it's the national lockdown. But when you unlock it, you know, it's on the national level, then on the state level, then on this district level, panchayat level, you know, the local levels and there might be, you know, some anywhere down the road, you know, there might be an issue for the lockdown. I think now as their properties are opening up, you know, a lot of those staffs are, you know, getting packed full salaries, etc. And but we were very adamant in a couple of things, you know, so we never really reduced, you know, a lot of salaries of people who are below, 20,000 in terms of salaries. And everybody who was above 50,000 also, you know, we reduced very heavily close to 75%. So in that sense that, you know, we were, you know, trying to share the burden that, you know, let us just try to assume that, you know, we all are in this one community and as much as we can share it together, we'll be able to fight it out and come back stronger on the other side. And obviously, you know, I was hopeful that, you know, since all of these properties have been generating that much amount of revenues and paying taxes, there would be some direct sort of a relief from the government's teams or etc. But I think, you know, it's tangential. A lot of these properties have those loans, etc. So, you know, that's how they have been supporting their staff in a certain sense. So that's where we are, you know, and it was a difficult time. But I think we survived largely with the transparent communication. You know, I was also hearing that, you know, post the lockdown even when we open up an entity. Maybe a lot of restaurants, I mean, that was, I have seen number 40-50% may not reopen at all because they don't have that kind of, you know, facility to keep safe distance and everything. So, kind of do you think that in the hospitality, in the staying, you know, specter also in the hotel, specifically, there would be properties who would not be open, would be able to open up again because they simply cannot have that kind of, you know, SOPs in place because they are not built that way or maybe they are not positioned that way. Is that something that can happen to the space as well? So, my belief is that for hotels, definitely, yes, I think rather than SOPs, implementation of SOPs is an easier task. But in order to implement in that particular hotel with the kind of fixed cost, which they have, even in Goa, for example, if I can talk about Goa, majority of hotels are still shut despite the government allowing them to operate because even in Jaipur and other parts of the countries also, if I talk about Lonavala, which is one of our primary, we see hotels over there have been given to allow at 100% occupancy. But I don't see anyone operating more than 45-50% because people do realize for two reasons. One is that kind of demand which they may get in is not going to be sustainable or to manage those kind of costs. So, hence people are opening up in a very calibrated manner. And the second is everyone has lost workforce. So, to get these people back and to give them a short answer, I think that is the biggest challenge for anyone and everyone. When people who lost migrant labor, people have gone back to the hometowns and no one knows when they are going to get back. So, I think these are two major challenges because of which hotels might definitely face some challenge in recent times to come. But with the seasonality being there, I see a lot of hotels start operating again with contractual workforce and other laborers. So, I don't see a lot of challenge coming in the hotel segment if you ask me or the hospitality segment. Alternative accommodations that I personally feel will do a lot more better. They have been the one who leading the unlock mechanism across the country and they will only do better. In fact, there will be a massive or a part of shift which will be permanent from hotel to alternative accommodation and this will never go back. So, if earlier we were happy with 25, 30, 40 percent occupancy which we used to do about 10, 12 nights in a month and we were quite happy with that. I think right now the new normal will be to do about 50, 60 percent occupancy and so that is a shift which will happen. As compared to restaurants, I feel obviously a lot of hotels have restaurants. So, there will be parts in them. I know of so many hotels which have restructured the entire way of operating. There are no buffets anymore. There are only room service and dining areas, common areas are not allowed for anyone. Swimming pools are not operational, all of these. So, definitely it reduces the ability for one to be a lot more competitive and provide that value to a customer. Whereas, alternative accommodation like something like a hostel or home like a villa which we have in Vista, over there because you are coming in your own group, you are a lot more confident, you are happy, you have everything available and when you are leaving, we sanitize the place and offer it to the next group. So, it's more of a group purchase and the confidence which I think goes ahead. So, I don't see lot of challenges but labour challenges, yes. As part of the ACP, there is a provision, I believe, that there has to be a difference between one guest checking out and the other guest coming in and the sanitization process and all. So, that obviously will reduce the occupancy rate and as you said that 50-60% is what we are looking at. So, that will be due to that kind of occupancy rate is something that is sustainable for the industry or it needs to go up in very quick time. I think it will go up. I think what we must understand is that it will take time to say that it is a U-shaped recovery or a V-shaped recovery but we know that there is recovery happening and it is literally no time to rest on your laurels that this booking is enough. As I said, we are also becoming much more sales driven that earlier we had been very much focused on getting our community whoever is coming directly to us and knows hostel in a certain sense. Now we have been very focused that let's get out to as many people and I think revenues will increase in the early days of the season and if you look at largely this large whole quarter of October, November, December is the best one, largely for lots of industry but especially for our hospitality industry. So, I think it's great science that we are getting pretty certain sense of normalcy before that quarter is ready and my whole idea is that even if we are able to open up 80 to 85% of our properties as the remaining 15 days of this month because now even opening up is happening faster the local authorities also want to open up as much as possible. So, I think even if all of the properties are live I think then we will be in a much better scenario to understand what has been the reality, without the pent up demand without the crazy guys who want to go up as soon as possible then we will be able to see what are any if that sort of larger long term effects does this work from home thing continue for even a longer time do people still feel very scared to travel outside what are those apprehensions, fears how is the market really shaping up in terms of differentiation of customers these customers with kids are not travelling without kids they are travelling whatever is the trend. But I think what Pranav just said that the off beat destinations or whatever you call it, alternate accommodations without the hotels I think those are the places that people are really excited about in terms of the leisure traveller because I think business traveller if even if a meeting is really not mandatory people are preferring to in that sense just going for one meeting travel and then stay and then meet physically when you can do it on Zoom itself now that whole answers to those questions that yeah boss face to face meeting face to face only happens for the people I think those trends are shifting so let's see how things shape up and I am actually excited that this might make people travel much longer that is the kind of travel I like that people travel for three weeks then you can really say that I travel to Mukteshwar or Biri if you are travelling for one weekend then you are just getting your photographs clicked for your Instagram and your likes you are not really travelling to a place to really understand its local culture I am a purist in that sense and I am excited as well let's see how things shape up definitely no point to be happy with your occupancies So before I move to the next question I will again request the attendees to keep the questions coming we will take them up in the next few minutes so you talked about the recovery the curve that is going up and there is another curve which is going up which is the number of cases every day the corona number does that bother you as we are opening up unlock 1, 2, 3, 4 the numbers everyday numbers have gone up everywhere across the country how bothering is that for you it's very sad in that sense seeing the number of cases going up creates a sense of larger fear as well but I think with that said India is a very less resilient country in that sense I think people are willing to understand what are the regions that are still a bit more infected a bit less infected in that sense so I think people will be now at least all of the larger understandings of social distancing of sanitization of maintaining our distance traveling only when it is essential I think those things are now at least well ingrained throughout the middle class throughout all of the different classes of our society so I am still hopeful that these cases probably come under control this curve also bends down very soon hopefully but unless that is the case it is still scary in a certain sense from a research standpoint also we are still learning people are still saying that there might be a second wave that might be stronger in a sense it's viral, the blood pressures are even more difficult to maintain in the winters there will be a lot to see but I think now we have India is that country that has now at least understood how to get all of your tests done we were at that stage struggling in those areas as well now we know that this is how the test should be done this is when a person should be hospitalized everybody now has at least some relative or friend who has contacted Corona and come out of it as well obviously there are unfortunate instances but now there is such a scale my father also suffered from Corona I was with him, he had to get to being admitted in AIMS as well but as we now understand the hospital facilities etc they are also in place even when the cases are increasing hopefully the deaths, hopefully the fatalities they could be controlled together as a nation and hopefully still for the business people are able to travel safely and still there is a lot of hope in there how do you think is that a threat for the hospitality sector again with the increasing number of cases yes I think it is personally if you ask me like Dharamveer said things still remain very uncertain and what we see on the ground is a couple of cases here and there I think because we operate in these remote locations which are largely smaller villages which are largely free of still Corona, I think the level of education and the awareness which people have within these times are phenomenal over there and because of that I think what has happened is a lot of free travel despite allowed across the states is restricted and these restrictions keep coming in and out because of these cases rising and coming down I don't know how to control it to be very frank I think what we can do at our best is play our role and ensure that we can communicate very effectively and yes but this is going to be pardoned parcel according to what ever period you are here and a half till the time we don't come up to a solution with this but what we are doing is we just ensuring that our local communities our village attendants caretakers, supervisors people on the ground we put together a very clear norm around immunity building providing, taking care of their families educating them in terms of what they should be doing to prevent and maintain social distance from anyone and everyone because the kind of liberty we have at our homes we have an ability to isolate ourselves if you come with contact with someone most of these guys don't so I think that is what we are doing in our ability over there so we will take some questions that we have got on Facebook so you know one of the question is that how would the business off-site change post pandemic we will not change that I think you are seeing the off-sites yeah so I think very interesting in fact there was this one arm in fact we started just before COVID struck which is around celebrations and off-sites we have conducted small weddings at our properties all of those interestingly one area which we kept focusing even during the lockdown was this virtual off-site which I spoke about so and even right now as and when things are improving we see off-sites happening even right now but the dynamics of the team has changed as a team smaller teams taking these off-sites together a group of seven or eight people and restricting themselves to these smaller groups however the entire reason because of people being on zoom not having enough face time you still want to meet your colleagues because the last part of your office was meeting people talking over coffee in offices having a small chit chat gossiping so all of those is something which is still needed to be done as a group so that can't happen virtually and we've conducted I think almost 25-30 off-sites post unlocking mechanism happened at the same time people are definitely inquiring about what are sanitization norms I see this trend happening and there is definitely another trend which is around the virtual off-site aspect of it so like I said we did almost 200 or virtual off-sites for various different teams, various different organizations right from a lot of financial services organizations to start up to a lot more mature organizations over there so there is another question which is you know will we see a drop in room charges drastically in the coming months you know maybe to overcome losses or to attract customers could you repeat will we see a drop in room charges drastically which have you already been mentioning that hotels have reduced their charges so will we see that continuing for some time now or how you are suggesting the room rates coming down see I think at the end of the day all hotels operate at this part that you know we have to maximize our total revenue in a certain sense so I think obviously I see the luxury segment reducing their prices as much as possible you know at least bring them down on that sense that aspirationally these rooms which used to sell out for 10,000 rupees can now be taken for let's say 5,000 rupees so 5,000 is still not the Indian budget thing but they are reduced in terms of the luxury expenses and on the budget side I actually think that a lot of prices might actually increase as well you know at Zostel we have you know increased our ARR you know purely because you know the kind of demand also we have because if you want to give the high quality of service you know in the budget segment you know you are already operating at thin margins you are operating giving the best possible service now you want to make sure that it's always all sanitized you know everybody has their own dedicated mask whenever they want it accessible easy to travel so all of these services cost another 10 to 15% extra in terms of expenses and it's not very vocal and you give it to the you know you pass it on to the customer you know informing him that you know this is 10% extra but it is largely because of the Covid safety and you know that sort of thing so I think people are willing to travel in that sense I think there's still fear so people are not really just picking up anything that's cheap you know there is a value to your life you know so you don't want to you know go to a place that is budget but unsafe so there is a threshold to that you want the place to be 100% safe and then as much affordable as possible so I think you know five stars then you know luxury segment already has that larger understanding or the larger image that you know at least they'll be clean and safe you know as Australia have always stood for you know hygienic and secured environment and now both of them have been together that you know hygiene and security is one thing only in that sense so I see the luxury rates you know being down I see international traveler you know for those bold ones see if you want to travel to London today maybe the return flights will be half the rates that they use to be you know even if I don't even know if London's open or not but you know whatever the places are opening up they'll be cheaper in the first sense the especially the pricey thing the luxury thing because they won't at least some rate and from then onwards I think the larger trend towards the season will be that there will be you know enough later in demand because people leisure travel leisure traveler hotels inside India I think they'll they'll charge us you know once again if you remember all of those new year newer rates I think you know it'll be scary you're forgetting all of those things but I think let's see how the newer rates are this year. I think you know I can talk about our domain very interesting before while we were unlocking we made all plans you know what will come up with these offers very soon I think it was a complete reversal at this moment of time what we did was very simple that we got our best rates on our website and saying that no discounts absolutely our price and occupancies would be higher than what it would have been pre-COVID levels the ARRs or the average and night cost which we say is higher than before as well as our occupancies higher than before the primary reason for this is because there is enough demand no one wants to no one wants to offer their home at a lower cost or lower price and they're able to fetch a higher price today that that that is the one I think so I was going to tell in fact in this segment you can assume the prices to increase if not reduce at least in the alternative accommodation segment in the premium category because of a lot more latent demand with limited options for people to come in the second interesting parameter is there's a massive shift from hotels to this alternative accommodation second is among these alternative accommodation how does the brand play in every segment if you even take FMCG right now all of those branded organizations something like a PNG or a HUL they would have they would be selling in on best of their quarters at this moment of time primarily for the reason that the assurance which they will provide to anyone there's a lot more higher and better in these periods of time compared to anyone else so the entire brand play comes into the picture and because of being a brand you are able to charge that premium compared to an unorganized villa or an unorganized alternative accommodation place which is there which is difficult to find difficult to cross and difficult to get an assurance of what is the kind of service one can get so in our case in fact our prices have we've been very competitive but overall level I would say our prices have increased in on produced that's that's what very good you would want things to do so you know we have just one minute left so I let you with just one last question that I would have for you so you know I was talking to someone from the hospitality industry and they said that you know there will be a lot of changes when you go to go to look for an accommodation right now maybe the fruit basket in your room will be replaced by a by a by a sanitizer bottle and you know and all those things so what are the new things that we are going to expect when I visit Augusta Laura from now that'll be the first few maybe and then so what we would be expecting yeah you know when I reach when I reach the hostel property so you know earlier there could be something like I said that instead of fruit basket or a welcome chocolate in my room and will there be something else you know a bottle of sanitizer maybe or a it's already there that's the thing these days so these days as soon as you enter any is the hostel property you know you have the sanitize all of our staff is you know wearing those hand gloves as well getting your sanitizers you'll also get a mask you know if you are in the private room in the dorms you know we are giving 30 rupees packages to the mask and some hand sanitizer for everybody as well you'll be given the covid guidelines that you know this is how we are expecting you to do but the interesting thing that would happen is even before you check in today one of those I think the tech drives and technological innovations is that you know we have now completely gone web check-in you know very similar to what used to be in the flights you know what we are doing even in our hotels today is that you know we have built a complete web check-in system that works over your whatsapp as well so even before you check in what we are expecting you to do is you know give your IDs etc everything filled so that at the property you just need to sign it and in our database also we can measure your temperature and fit it into inside of your check-in this was your temperature and those check-ins are also helping helping digitally so I think during this covid you will see a lot of technological adoption that you know even Zostal is with you but even when it is physically but it's also there with you on the whatsapp you know so this whole digital adoption as well as all of the same things that you mentioned now it's become an habit to see sanitization everywhere you know wherever you go you want to make sure that you know you're pressing your legs and you know getting so you'll see all of those things within the rooms and within the beds close to your personal beds of course I just hope the warmth you know hopefully that doesn't get away because of these norms and even if at the beginning it looks a bit further away we will keep our close sight that you know our properties are still as warmthful and you know as friendly and welcoming as they have always been I would say I don't think there is any replacement if nothing less there would be additions to this entire scheme of things you will have sanitizers you will have fruit basket will be there you say you will have hampers we have replaced baskets with hampers to ensure that there's a lot more do it yourself kind of kits in these hampers which one can cook also make small stuff with their families with their friends so there's a lot more addition to this entire things I think what that will be mentioned I think there will be there are already a lot of technological inroads to this entire thing from contactless check-ins providing you ID proofs giving you undertakings that you know what you've not traveled anywhere you do not showcase any symptoms all of those I think so those norms will definitely be there because both the guests as well as the staff at the property both needs to be protected from each other and we ensure that we are helping everyone in that so I don't see any lack in terms of service in India I'm sure no one will allow you to fall in terms of service standards people will keep you on your toes even if you don't want to I don't think there's any option there will definitely be a lot more vigilant and a lot of proactiveness I would say compared to earlier and people also a lot more are tolerant with this entire aspect so social distancing norms and people a lot they give some a lot more time there will be less more demanding less demanding with your staff members so I think it is good it is a good change especially for alternative accommodation segment where in that is what we want in fact we want people to get a flavour of the home and the local environment and that is what allows us with the longer period of stay with the social distancing norms with pampering them with a lot more additional items so I feel this is going to in fact work in a positive sense for us we have run out of time to wrap it up here but thank you so much for being with us today it was good to talk to you and see that things are coming back to towards normalcy I wouldn't say we have normalcy and I hope that we soon be there and the curve goes down the covid curve goes down and the recovery curve goes up and we will see you again next week thank you so much thank you guys