At the beginning of this year, Devendra Parulekar had big plans for SaffronStays, one of India’s most desirable private vacation homes of which he is the founder. However, the current pandemic threw them off course for a bit. Now, with the lockdown lifting in many places and people aching to get back to their lives and take a vacay, the home-grown brand that represents fully serviced, managed and curated experiences is getting equipped with precautionary measures to host guests once again. Parulekar talks to TMM about the measures they are taking to ensure a safe stay for their guests as well as plans of expansion in the near future.
In what ways do you think travel is going to change for people once the lockdown is completely lifted and life starts getting back to normal?
Smaller places with minimum chances of contact with other people will be preferred. Small is beautiful in the future, provided the so-called small vacation rental is implementing the correct sanitization and hygiene practices. People will also try and avoid large public spaces, which means avoiding flights, trains, and any kind of travel, particularly, if they have the ability to do so. We believe that people would want to head to drivable destinations – or drestinations, as we call them. So, if there’s an option, people will take their cars out and go to a small boutique place. To that effect, most of our homes, which are within 2-3 hours driving distance from the city are perfectly poised. We’re also offering our homes for long-term stays. We recognize that if you’re working from home, why you should not work from a lovely pool villa where you have the entire home to yourself. Several people want to escape the traps of their daily household chores and want someone to pamper them. So, working out of a villa in Alibaug is totally doable.
Our prediction is that taking a flight outside the country is not an option for a while. The 3-hour waiting time before catching a flight will be quite an exercise. Air travel will also get expensive because of the social distancing within the flight. So, people will head out to drivable destinations that are 2-6 hours from the city centre.
Do you think people will be looking forward to travelling again after this extended lockdown period?
Absolutely! We’re all done doing all our household chores and sitting in our homes, all cooped up; everybody wants to set out and escape this madness as soon as they can. All of this, of course, keeping in mind their health and safety and that of the place they are heading out to.
How is SaffronStays preparing to cope with the upcoming situation?
The way we look at it, it is a combination of people, process, and technology. When I say people, it means getting our people completely aware and sensitized to the fact that we are in very different times. When I speak of processes, I speak of laying down all the processes we are undertaking – whether it is the procurement of the sanitization chemicals, equipment or masks, and gloves – right down to the procedures that we will undertake at the time of booking, at the time of check-in, while preparing food, and so on. Once you have these two, it’s about training people in all these processes. The way to do it is by ensuring you apply technology to the hilt. For instance, when I’m talking about technology, I’m talking about the Universal URL sent to the guests that allow contactless check-in, or the contactless thermometer or displaying Aarogya Setu App.
Knowing very well that I’m a small brand and don’t have millions of dollars of funding behind me to spare, I won’t launch all homes together but in a staggered manner. So, as and when we start preparing our people, applying the process and technology, and training our people, we will take batches of 20 homes and start opening these homes in a staggered manner.
What was your vision for SaffronStays at the beginning of this year and have those plans undergone a drastic change now?
At the start of the year, we were hoping to double our sales from last year and be profitable by August. However, with the onslaught of the pandemic, not only were our revenues hit but we also had to revisit our business model. Right now, our focus is on networking with the right stakeholders.
We hear you have acquired some properties in Bengaluru as well. Can you tell us about that as well as other expansion plans for the future1 of SaffronStays?
We’ve recently acquired 8 fully-serviced new homes in Bengaluru that are at drive-to destinations from the city – 15 to 90 minutes away. We are now looking at exploring options in NCR. Simultaneously, our focus is also on acquiring well-furnished city homes – penthouses, sea-facing apartments, private villas for an evening lawn party, a staycation or for medium-term rentals.
SaffronStays for TMM
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