Global hospitality group Accor's 'ibis Styles' brand is entering the destination wedding segment in India targetting mid-scale young consumers, a senior company official said.
The 'ibis Styles Vagator' property in Goa will be the first to offer full-fledged destination wedding services from the upcoming season and will consider extending it to other properties after learning from the initial experience, ibis & ibis Styles India Head of Commercials, Animesh Kumar told PTI.
In India, top luxury hotels by and large have been catering to destination weddings where the average spend could range anything between Rs 40 lakh and Rs 5 crore with the number of guests ranging from 100 to 200. In value terms, 70 to 75 per cent of the destination wedding have been catered by luxury and upscale hotels, he said.
"There is that mid-scale segment and there is a demand in that segment. Not everyone has the ability to spend a few crores of rupees... based on our assessment, I think there is opportunity to cater to this demand," Kumar said on the idea behind ibis Styles looking at the destination wedding segment.
There are young, modern, smart, fun millennials who want a special, but smaller setup and they are more value driven, he said, adding, "that is the segment which is underserved, right now".
Within the ibis network, while 'ibis' is well positioned primarily for business travel, 'ibis Styles' has more of design element and is more leisurely and it fits well for destination weddings, he noted.
The 142-room 'ibis Styles Vagator' property is very close to the beach and has all the facilities such as a poolside, banquet hall, and an amphitheatre that can meet the requirements of a modern wedding, Kumar said.
Following an assessment and study with the company's partners, he said based on the data there is enough demand and a need which is not being catered to.
"Hence we decided to get into it (destination wedding) full fledged," Kumar noted.
Asked if the destination wedding service will be extended to other properties, he said, "We are launching it at ibis Styles Vagator... like any new product launch we will have to go through some learning curve... We are ready to collect the lead for November or December (dates). We want to take the learnings from here. We want to get the things right, and then extend it from here to other properties based on the command evaluation." On the ticket size, Kumar said, "We are looking at, ideally, a buyout (all the rooms booked)... we are about 142-odd rooms. We could be catering to about 200 odd people... we are looking at a buyout which could be Rs 30-40 lakh, depending on the value and the position." The company has been working for the last four five months to prepare to launch the destination wedding product and finalise the service, marketing strategy and prepare channel network and is now ready to roll out from the upcoming wedding season, he noted.
