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India ticks all the boxes for Wyndham: Dimitris Manikis

• Posted by Hoteliersweb . April 8, 2021 - Filed in Opinion - 4,603 views

  

  India ticks all the boxes for Wyndham: Dimitris Manikis.

  Dimitris Manikis, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ EMEA President, on his company’s presence and performance in India.

  • Bikramjit Ray
  • ETHospitalityWorld

  
  Dimitris Manikis, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts EMEA President, spoke exclusively to ETHospitalityWorld on his company’s footprint in India and the bigger plans for the sub-continent.
  
  Manikis, who was supposed to travel to India for HICSA 2021, began by stating that it was crucial for the hospitality industry to start travelling. “We are the ones that need to start traveling, we need to start making statements of that nature. We need to start going out there and tell people, how safe it is and how wonderful it is to still travel again,” he said.
  
  India, Manikis, a bit of an indophile, felt it was a phenomenal country with great potential not only in hospitality, but pretty much anything. 

  “I think people in India, especially in hospitality, are starting to understand the international brands, the value of the international brands. India also has some amazing local brands. Look at the number of Indian hoteliers outside India. I think what has changed in India, and Wyndham is riding that opportunity, is that people start to understand the international brands, their value, and at the same time, they understand the value of franchise—something that is very close to our business model,” he said about the business environment in the country.
  
  Wyndham's franchise model was actually making some really good inroads in India, he felt and that has helped the company reach where it has. They have enhanced their presence in India with a new team and a new regional director who came on board a year-and-a-half ago and Manikis felt that they would take the company to the next level in India.
  
  “You never have a successful business model, unless you have the right owners. I think owners in India have matured tremendously the last few years. People are becoming more conscious of the fact that hospitality is a long-term game. Hospitality is not a gamble. It's a long-term investment. You cannot be in this business if you don't love people. Then, you have to love what you do,” he said adding that India is now seeing great GMs, owners, restaurateurs, sales and marketing people, operations people. 

  “This is now a market that we can really use as a platform to grow our business. Now is the time for us to actually present the model that actually makes sense for our owners and that's exactly what we've been doing.
  
  “It's the distribution, the international brands, the security from the brands bring, the learning and development, the prospect for people's careers—all of these things have ticked all the boxes for us to have a great presence and a great growth trajectory in India as well as the whole peninsula,” he added.