yuva- the essence of hospitality · yuva- the essence of hospitality bcihmct e-newsletter volume-...

"Hospitality with a Difference, Service with Smile"

YUVA- The Essence of Hospitality BCIHMCT e-Newsletter

Volume- 3, Issue 1, February 2019

Editor-in-Chief

Dr. Sarah Hussain

Editor

Mrs. Rachna Chandan

Production In-charge

Mr. Mohan Jain

Mission Statement

The essential purpose of the

Newsletter is to reinforce and allow

increased awareness and knowledge

regarding hotel innovations and

technology for diverse readership -

including alumni, faculty, students and

parents.


Message from Editor-in-Chief

Dear Readers,

A huge welcome to all our students and faculty members of BCIHMCT to

Volume 3, Issue 1 of YUVA: the e-newsletter for the year of 2019. I hope

you have all had a fantastic, restful, fun packed break and are ready to come

to school energised, excited and ready for all the exciting learning

opportunities that will be on offer this year.

This edition of our newsletter has articles discussing Digitalization of Hotels,

Space Tourism, Chatbots, An ode to Teachers along with some of the events

organised by the institute and inter-college events participated by the

students in the current semester since the new year.

We are continuing to move towards a more flexible teaching model with a

range of activities involving the students, faculty, industry and academia.

Students will be working on projects and teachers will continue to have a

focus on catering for students, being mindful of their individual talents and

needs.

I am thankful to all the contributors of this Newsletter along with Ms.

Rachna Chandan, Editor-Yuva and Mr. Mohan Jain, Production-in-Charge of

YUVA who have always been very forthcoming with their efforts and ideas.

I am excited by the learning opportunities we can offer to students this year

and can‟t wait to release this newsletter.

Dr. Sarah Hussain

Principal


Digitalization of Hotels (Satvik Kapoor-4th year student)

As the World is moving towards artificial intelligence and the very

digitalization of even the basic of activities, the hotel industry is also

catching up with the world of transformations and revolutions. Digitalization

has not only made the work easier but has also proved to be more productive

and efficient. The guest experience has definitely improved in the past

decade and making it more convenient for them to check in through mobile

platforms and made the guest services more reliable.

Various concepts in the field of digitalization of hotels have come into being:

Use of various equipment‟s in kitchen and restaurant

Complete automation of hotel front office operations.

Introduction of Digital check in counters through mobile apps.

Although the first two points are not a new development, the introduction of

digital check in is particularly a new concept that would affect the industry in

both the positive and the negative ways, it will certainly reduce the time

consumed to check in and will be much more easier for the guests as they

won‟t have to queue up in front of traditional front office desks instead they

would be able to check in just through the use of mobile app of that

particular hotel. At the same time, this rapid pace of digitalization of Front

office operations would put a cut on front office jobs, even though it makes

the check in convenient, it also causes a lack of personal touch in the luxury

hotels as preferred by many guests.

Many hotels have also started the use of digitalization as, if you have a

reservation at The Accor, Marriott or Hilton in India, you could check in via

their apps en route from the airport to the hotel. You just need to pick your

keycard from the front desk. These brands also allow, in some properties in

select countries, their guests to access their rooms just by tapping their

phone to the door lock by using a Bluetooth connection.


The Taj hotels are also ushering to join the race of digital check-ins, “we will

eliminate the front desk counters at our lobbies as we want to make them like

cozy living room” said Rakesh Sarna, former MD & CEO of Indian Hotels

Company Limited (IHCL). Soon the guests at Taj will not have to wait up in

long queues at the traditional front desk. Hosts will escort the guests to

their rooms take the check–ins in the rooms itself through an ipad along with

a swiping machine.

American chain Carlson Rezidor is considering to introduce e-check-ins at its

Radisson Blu properties in the country, said South Asia CEO Raj Rana. Some

hotels plan to deploy kiosks in its lobbies on the lines of the ones at airports

for flight check-ins.

Vikram Oberoi, MD of EIH, which runs the Oberoi group of hotels, has a

different stand on the issue, According to him, technology cannot replace the

personal touch offered by the staff at front desk, technology can reduce

manual interventions and streamline processes but the role of front desk staff

cannot be disregarded.

Personal touch and personalized services are certainly the USP of hospitality

business and should not be eliminated.

*References: The Times of India, Five-Stars welcome Digital Check-ins.


AURORA: The Future of Hotel Industry (Avinash Kaushik-1st year student)

The hotel industry is one of the world's largest industry, and it is growing

year after year. And this industry is not only developing in our home planet,

but it also extends itself into the space.

We are all familiar with the 5 star properties available in our home planet,

but have you heard about the hotel in space which is coming to the public very

soon. You can book your stay in space for 12 days here.

So I'm here to give you a brief overview of Aurora Station.

Want to see 16 sunrises in one day? Float in zero gravity? Be one of the few

to have gazed upon our home planet from space?

Would-be space tourists have been waiting for years for the chance to finally

take their dream vacation of orbiting around our little, blue planet. Now, that

dream is close to becoming a reality.

April 5 2018, during the Space 2.0 Summit in San Jose, California, Orion

Span introduced its space hotel, Aurora Station, and announced that it is

officially open for reservations.

US-based space technology start-up Orion Span is set to open the world‟s

first luxury hotel in outer space in 2021, a year earlier than the 2022 date

announced in April 2018. Just a couple of days ago, interior renderings of

this literally out-of-this-world hotel, Aurora Station, were revealed for the

first time.

Frank Bunger, CEO and founder of Orion Span said, “Our goal is to make space

accessible to all. Upon launch, Aurora Station goes into service immediately,

bringing travelers into space quickly and at a lower price point than ever seen

before.”


The hotel orbits Earth every 90 minutes, giving guests a view of 16 sunrises

and sunsets every 24 hours.

Of course, a reservation for such services came in existence once-in-a-

lifetime but experiencing it, isn‟t going to be cheap. Reservations on Aurora

start at $9.5 million per person, and the company is accepting refundable

deposits of $80,000 to get on the reservation waitlist.

The company has apparently streamlined the process of preparing guests for

space travel from a customary year-long regimen to just three months with

the Orion Span Astronaut Certification (OSAC). The first phase of the

certification program is done online and the second is completed in-person at

a training facility in Houston, Texas. The final certification is completed

during a traveler‟s stay on Aurora Station.

Beyond being a hotel, the station will also be a site for research and future

planning. (Source: Orion Span & CNN.)

“We will later sell dedicated modules as the world‟s first condominiums

in space. Future Aurora owners can live in, visit, or sublease their

space condo. This is an exciting frontier and Orion Span is proud to

pave the way.”

“We will offer full charters to space agencies who are looking to

achieve human spaceflight in orbit for a fraction of the cost and only

pay for what they use. We will support zero gravity research, as well

as in space manufacturing,” said Bunger


CHATBOTS (Shreya Thakral-4th year student)

CHATBOTS were one of the most significant trends of 2017. These small

pieces of software with pre-programmed interactions allow you to communicate

with them naturally and simulate the behavior of a human being within a

conversational environment. It can be a standalone service or integrate within

other messaging platforms like Facebook Messenger. In fact, at their F8

Conference back in April 2016, the social media giant launched a chatbots

service within Messenger that acts like a virtual personal assistant. It allows

businesses to deliver automated customer support, content and interactive

experiences through chatbots.

The adoption of these virtual assistants is growing, and brands are using

chatbots in lots of exciting ways. You can order food, schedule flights and

get recommendations for pretty much anything. Chatbots seemingly are the

future of marketing and customer support.

The use of chatbots in the hotel industry is still evolving, but it currently

encompasses a wide range of services, from hotel bookings and customer

service inquiries to pre/post-stay inquiries and general travel advice. One

example of its successful implementation in the hospitality industry comes

from a particular chatbot that is available through Facebook Messenger,

Slack, WeChat and Google Assistant. It allows its users to research and book

travel in more than 4,700 hotels, as well as plan upcoming trips. The purpose

of this chatbot is mainly to assist the Reception/Reservation staff, however,

so if it cannot answer a question, the query can be rerouted to a human

member of the front desk team. If guests prefer to speak to a real person,

they only have to ask, and a human being will deal with their request.

Time saved is money saved.

It isn‟t just your guests who‟re hard pressed for time. The adage “time is

money” has never been as relevant as it is today. If you run a hotel business,

you‟ll be all too familiar with the correlation between efficiency and


profitability. You‟d be just as familiar with the correlation between motivation

and efficiency.

If your staff has to perform the same set of repetitive tasks for hundreds

of guests‟ day in and day out, they‟re unlikely to work at their maximum

efficiency. On the other hand, if you create a chatbot that takes over these

basic and repetitive tasks, your staff can actually have the time and space to

focus on tasks that require more application. They‟ll be more productive as a

result, and so will your chatbots. In fact, building chatbots wi ll allow you to

respond to many more visitors at once, thus increasing the number of leads

you currently generate, and the amount of business you pull in.

Some of the hotel chatbots are:

1. Booking.com, the renowned OTA site, launched a chat tool that allows

travelers to interact with hotels whenever a reservation is made

through the Booking.com own website.

2. GuestU announced the rollout of GuestUBot, a platform for the hotel

industry to increase direct bookings and enhance guests‟ experiences

through Facebook Messenger.

3. Skyscanner launched a chatbot for Messenger to allow travelers to

book flights through the app, or book other services by chatting to a

human being too.

4. Kayak uses an interactive chatbot for Facebook Messenger that allows

travelers to search and book travel within the app. This tool lets

users find flights and hotels using conversational language rather than

inputting dates and going through hundreds of results.

The hotel industry can experience many benefits from the use of chatbots,

among them:

They can be used as a reservation channel to increase direct

bookings.

Since chatbots are available 24/7, they will reduce reception

workload by giving guests instant and helpful answers around the

clock.


Guests can check-in/check-out on the fly with the aid of a chatbot.

They will help independent hotels to build accurate guest profiling so

that they can provide personalized offers to their guests. The hotel

will be able to deliver tailor-made offers instantly and directly via

chat before, during or after their stay.

Guests can opt-in to be notified from chatbots about the places to

visit, the rates of the hotel‟s cars, etc.

The ease of booking and the proactive concierge services create

brand loyalty and improve guest satisfaction.

Hoteliers will be able to obtain customer reviews post-stay via a

chatbot. This is much less invasive compared to traditional email

marketing, which is often ignored.

Adopting this new hotel technology involves many challenges for hoteliers. For

instance:

Independent hotels will need to simplify their booking process to

accommodate chatbots.

Hoteliers will need to provide a consistent booking experience on

chatbots in comparison to other channels.

General Managers will need to monitor chatbots where there is a

human element. They will need to allocate staff resources.

Hoteliers will need to manage guest expectations since guests will

expect a quick turnaround on their requests through chatbots.

As you can see, chatbots has certain limitations but at the same time it

presents many opportunities for hoteliers, from increasing customer loyalty to

enhancing the guest experience. To keep guests coming back for more, hotels

can definitely consider joining the chatbot revolution – but only if the hotel is

equipped and prepared for this big step.


Expressions by a Faculty

Choosing right career option for hotel management students By Ms. Divya Thakur

Everyone has a dream of what he/she wants to be, in the early stages of

their life. We might have heard from a lot of kids that they want to be a

doctor as their father is from the same profession. But as they grow up,

they realize the changes in their interest and diversity in choosing their

career path.

To choose the best option for them, one has to face a great deal of pressure

from families, colleagues, education system and culture. It seems very

difficult that one has to pick one career path and stick with it until he/she

retire. They need a right advice to find a job that does it all: engages the

talents, makes plenty of money, opportunity to grow and maintaining work life

balance.

In a country, like India, where parents celebrate their child's achievements,

why do over 60 per cent of our graduates feel anxious about their future?

In a research conducted on Harvard Business School (HBS), It is found that

even graduates from recognized educational institutions in India face major

gaps, resulting in them being unprepared for their careers.

In most of the professions, students are not exposed to internships through-

out their college experience and so they are not able experiment, gain

mentorship, and learn practical skills on the job. This makes the students

first job the first time they have ever worked. Whereas in hospitality,

students undergo six months of industrial training and sometimes vocational

training too, this helps them to choose their area of interest. They

understand the work pressure, learn professionalism, choose the best

department for them and they can fit themselves to be the master of one

stream.


When students join a hotel management Institute, majorly they want to opt

Food production as their career option but it changes when they join the

Industry. There has been seen many cases, where students have changed and

make up their mind during the training in Hotels and choose a relevant area

for them, and of course develop a passion toward it. And also, majority of

students keep Front office, Sales and Marketing and Food and Beverage

Service as their right Choice due to Salary, lively environment and growth.

Whereas it has also been found that student ‟s consider training and interview

sessions as the most de-motivational factor, in finding the right career

option. The training should be planned in such a way that students are

exposed to all the departments rather than putting them as per the

department‟s requirement. Students must be allowed to stand at reception,

take orders in the restaurant, make rooms and work in the kitchen, so that

they can find out the right area of interest.

The gap leads students unplanned about their future and asked to join another

department in the interviews. Hotels and Hospitality institutes must train the

students like Hoteliers and must provide a platform to learn skills on

supervision of a staff. We must develop the personality of students and make

them realize their goal, which not only suits their personality but help them

to become a good hotelier too.


Creative Corner

POEM: HAPPY TEACHERS DAY (Mafaz Rahman-1st year students)

Well let me confess,

We are all a mess,

In a distress,

Well take a guess,

It's teachers that help us success.

If we ever come late,

They show us the gate.

But wait,

Dont hate

They work hard for us,

To help us get an A plus.

They want you to be groomed,

It's bad we assumed,

But slowly the thought consumed,

And we all resumed.

How beautiful you all look,

With knowledge more than the greatest book

Teachers make life, like a piece of cake,

And they always, forgive our mistakes.


They always give, never take,

Help us know what‟s real or fake.

Okay yes they give only few class breaks.

Let's all make our teachers proud,

And be the favorite of the crowd.

Teaching involves pain,

Let's not have their efforts be vain.

They stand strong next to you like a wall,

And if you ever fall,

They help you get back up tall.

Whenever problems arise,

They give you the best advice.

You all are humble and kind,

Which is so tough to find

Such great minds!

Today's your day,

Everyone make way,

Nothing more to say,

A HAPPY TEACHER'S DAY


Students‟ Corner

“YUVAPRENEURSHIP: FROM PASSION TO PRAGMATISM” For Budding Entrepreneurs

An E-Summit on YUVApreneurship was attended by BCIHMCT students, which

was organised by Jagan Institute of Management Studies, Rohini on 23 rd

January, 2019 at Stein Auditorium, Indian Habitat Centre.

The summit was focused towards encouraging people to take up

entrepreneurship as their career option which would help them give a shape to

their creativity as well as curb unemployment at the same time.

Theme of the summit includes topics like „Understanding Ecosystem‟, „When

ideas meet destination‟ and „Enroute- Journey from Passion to Creation”.

And the summit was concluded on the right note that when you start young

you are not taken seriously which has its own advantages and disadvantages so

go out there and explore and don‟t wait for the right age as magic is never

created with logic. All entrepreneurs face failure but the successful one‟s

don‟t quit.

The event concluded with a valedictory session where the best question from

the audience was awarded and the panelists were felicitated.


Inter-Collegiate

ATITHYA is a conceptualized with a vision to provide a platform to showcase

young talent and encourage creativity, along with industry stalwarts to judge

and provide invaluable insights. It was an inter-collegiate 3 days event (6th –

8th February 2019) which entertained 32 teams this year including an

international team from Ireland.

All India Shri Shivaji Memorial Society Institute of Hotel Management and

Catering Technology {AISSMS IHMCT} has the benchmark for conducting

activities in such a way that the students not only enjoyed the event but had

a great learning experience.

BCIHMCT team was awarded as first runner-up in GLOBAL EATS.

Over in all it was an outstanding learning experience for all the participants

who participated and experienced neck to neck competition.


Chefs‟ Corner

Workshop On: A Day with Cauliflowers & Cranberries (By: Executive Chef Akshay)

Executive Chef Akshay from ITC Dwarka visited college (8/2/2019) for an

amazing learning session with students of BCIHMCT.

He spoke to the students about how to shape up their career and other

kitchen skills like how to plate food. It was a very interactive session with

the expert from industry meeting the budding students.

Students put up many questions and he had some logical answers to all the

questions this workshop worked as a bridge between industry and academics.

He suggested the student to use locally grown products and keep their basics

strong.

Chef Akshay gave students

different ideas on how to use

cauliflower stalk which is

generally discarded to be

pickles and can be used to

give different texture of

cauliflower. Chef also grated

the stalk and made stuffed pita bread out of it which was a very unique idea.


Expanding their wings

ANUGOONJ 2019

Students of BCIHMCT participated in Anugoonj 2019 organized by Guru Gobind

Singh Indraprastha University. The GGSIPU FEST was held in the main

campus, the extravagant event that took place from 7th February‟19 – 9th

February‟19. Students from various colleges of IP University participated in

different events.

Students from our college got to move forward from the prelims round in the

following competitions-

Flash mob – An Indian Book of Records Attempt

Mr. and Miss Anugoonj 2019

Nach Baliye

Street Dance

It was a great platform for the students of our college to represent their

talents and also boost their confidence in the co-curricular activities. The

cultural team of our college had been active throughout.

1. Flash Mob was an event held by the university to attempt to make a

record in Indian Book of Records for more than 3000 people dancing in

synchronization. Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management

contributed 50 students in the flash mob. The uniqueness of the flash

mop is that students performed on same track with same steps and

coordination. The presence of media made it a grand event. The dance

movements of so many people coming together were graceful and suave.


2. Mr. and Ms. Anugoonj 2019 was held on 9th February. The competition

among the students was at par. It included three rounds: The Ramp

walk, The Talent Round and the Question /Answer round. First Year

student of BCIHMCT, Mr. Mafaz Rahman was shortlisted for Mr.

Anugoonj. The enthusiasm and confidence among the boys and girls is

what made this event successful.

3. Nach Baliye was a couple dance

competition held on 9th February.

There were 6 teams competing.

Our team performed on slot which

has six songs. The performance

represents the fight between evil

and love. Second year students

Mr. Alfaraz Anjum and Simran

Pal were the shortlisted

performers of Anugoonj Prelims.

4. Street Dance was a group dance competition held on 9th February.

There were 10 teams competing and the atmosphere was full of talent

and different street dance forms represented by the students. The

audiences were so pleasant and enthusiastic it made it look even more

energetic and amusing. Team of BCIHMCT performed on western

music. The performance was of 10 mins.


Sports Corner

Annual Inter-college Sports meet

Annual Inter-college Sports meet was held on 12th & 13th February, 2019

organized by New Delhi Institute of Management, Tughlakabad, New Delhi.

Its objective was to develop sporting spirit in the students. A great interest

was observed among the students of BCIHMCT and it shows great inculcation

of the students towards sports. Competitiveness among the students during

sports soared through the roof.

Almost 40 students participated in several sports activities such as:

1. Cricket: 12 Students

2. Volleyball: 08 Students

3. Tug of war: 09 Students

4. Badminton: 03 Students

5. Table tennis: 02 Students

6. Carom: 01 Student

7. Pool: 03 Students

8. Chess: 01 Students


9th INDIA INTERNATIONAL HOTEL, TRAVEL & TOURISM RESEARCH

CONFERENCE 15th – 16th FEBRUARY, 2019

@

Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology,

New Delhi, India

Banarsidas Chandiwala Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology

inaugurated the 9th India International Hotel, Travel and Tourism Research

Conference (IIHTTRC) on February 15, 2019 supported by National

Assessment & Accreditation Council, as well as Guru Gobind Singh

Indraprastha University, New Delhi. IIHTTRC, the two day conference, is

one of the most outstanding forum involving Hotel, Travel and Tourism

Industry. The aim of this conference was to get industry managers, tourism

and hospitality researchers together and to provide a platform, for

deliberating on the current trends and issues associated with the travel and

hospitality business.


The event commenced with the traditional lamp lighting ceremony in the

presence of Chief Guest Mr. Achin Khanna, Managing Partner- Strategic

Advisory HOTELiVATE; Dr. Nitin Malik, Joint Registrar, Guru Gobind Singh

Indraprastha University; Mr. Nisheeth Srivastava, Principal, Institute of

Hotel Management, Kolkata; Dr. Jatashankar R. Tewari, Assistant Professor,

School of Tourism & Hotel Management, Uttarakhand Open University; Dr.

Sarah Hussain, Chairperson-IIHTTRC & Principal,-BCIHMCT and Mr. Alok

Aswal, Convener-IIHTTRC & Dean (Administration)-BCIHMCT alongside other

dignitaries, trade media, paper presenters, faculty members and students.

Dr. Sarah Hussain, welcomed the guests citing “The real strength of the

conference has been the inclusion of quality management for a comprehensive

coverage of scientific and social researches involving hospitality business and

education” and declared the conference open.

Mr. Khanna, enlightened the gathering with qualitative and quantitative

aspects for redefining hospitality. Apprising the intellectual crowd with

Change - Innovation – Disruption, being the driving force of today‟s business,

he stated that, “We are in the business of space and time, where space is

finite and time is infinite. There has to be a vibe of spontaneity to deliver

customized experiences, to the millennial customers”.

Dr. Malik presented a keynote address on “Quality & sustainable education in

the field of Tourism & Hospitality – Indian Scenario”. He emphasized on the

fact that education encompasses the whole of the culture and understanding


as well as incorporating cultural aspects is a vital step towards the future

growth of hospitality & tourism industry. He urged the students to be dynamic

and imaginative for being worthy of progression in their career.

The “Indian Journal of Applied Hospitality & Tourism Research” Vol. 11,

(ISSN 0975-4954) was unveiled by the dignitaries at the inaugural session.

Selected quality articles, research papers and case studies that highlight the

issues related to the theme in different aspects from academicians,

practitioners and policy makers have been published in the annual Hospitality

Management Journal, indexed with ISRA. Selected papers from the

conference have also been published in an ISBN Book titled “Global Hospitality

and Tourism Research: Innovations and Best Practices” no. 978-81-920850-

8-1.

Keynote on “Education through Training: Aligning Sustainable Development and

Quality Enhancement in Hospitality and Tourism Sector” was presented by

Prof. Parikshat Singh Manhas, Regional Director, CED; Director, School of

Hospitality & Tourism Management (SHTM); Professor, The Business School

(TBS); Coordinator - Global Understanding Course (GUC), University of

Jammu, Jammu & Kashmir, India. He deliberated upon the challenges faced by

tourism and hospitality industry, emphasizing on competition, inconsistent level

of knowledge, skills and capacity, challenge to make trainings interesting &


uncoordinated tourism training. He suggested that workforce development

systems can be conceived at national, regional or sector specific level and

can be embedded within each stage of the educational system – from primary,

to secondary and tertiary level, enabling the tourism and hospitality sector to

prosper.

A theme lunch was organized for the conference delegates by the Final year

Students of BCIHMCT, New Delhi, depicting “The Spring Season”. Students

showcased their skills in making the theme memorable which was appreciated

and applauded by the research scholars, session chair and other conference

delegates.

The Conference explored overall themes related to Hotel, Travel and Tourism

during the two days of IIHTTRC through deliberations on 4 main issues:

(1) Hospitality Education & Managing Human Resource, Chaired by

Mr. Nisheeth Srivastava & Dr. Jatashankar Tiwari

(2) Issues & Challenges in Hospitality & Tourism, Chaired by Dr. Milind Singh

(3) Hospitality & Tourism Marketing, Chaired by Mr. Satvir Singh &

Dr. Piyush Sharma

(4) Food Safety, Wellness & Trends, Chaired by Dr. Paramita Suklabaidya


The International Conference was well attended by 66 academicians &

research scholars, as well as 318 student participants got benefitted from

the discussions and deliberations made during the two day event. The event

culminated with a valedictory function where the efforts of paper presenters

and all the participants were acknowledged. Mr. Alok Aswal, thanked the

guests for their presence in making the conference a grand success.

Team BCIHMCT

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