Episode 39: Vikram Malhi, Co‐founder, Zuzu Hospitality - a podcast by WiT

In this episode, we speak to Vikram Malhi, who’s the co‐founder of ZUZU Hospitality, on the recovery trends he’s seeing in the small, independent hotel segment in South‐east Asia and how this could be a breakout moment for the longtail of hospitality.

Here are the key takeaways.

On recovery

Every market is seeing different recovery. Destinations like Bandung in Indonesia and Chonburi in Thailand did well domestically, but not Bali or Phuket which relied on inbound visitors. But numbers have picked up and Bali, for example, is almost back to 50% of pre‐Covid level.

The biggest hurdle now is flight capacity and flight prices. A lot of hotel bookings are not happening because people are not booking flights. But we expect that to build up as flight capacity increases.

On digitisation and its acceleration

Before the pandemic, the adoption of digital was a big challenge for small independent hotels.

“In places like Bali, they were happy with getting busloads of tourists so they’d say, I don’t need an OTA. Suddenly all of that has disappeared. And the hotels have realised, hey, I need a diversified channel strategy, I can't be focused on just one channel, it could be offline or online.”

“We were able to increase our hotel partners by 50%, even during that time, so we've now close to about 3,000 hotels that we work with.”

“On the consumer side, recovery is going to be driven by digital because in the last two years, people have gotten so used to using apps for everything, from ordering food, to essentially even having medical appointments online to e‐learning.”

How this will benefit the longtail

“People are now used to making their buying decisions based on reviews online, as opposed to just looking at the brand. When I order food, I sort of know the brand, but I'm also open to trying new places, because I know the reviews are pretty great. And similarly, I think in hotels that happening as well, people are okay with going to a place they haven't heard about as long as the reviews and the price point is what they are looking for. That piece is pushing people to make decisions independent of the brand.”

Trend of remote work “not happening in Asia yet”

“It might happen at some point. But I'm not seeing a lot of Indonesians pack up their bags and say, okay, I'm going off to Phuket or Bali for 28 days. I mean, that's not happening in Indonesia. That's not happening in even Singapore. It's not happening in Thailand, definitely. I almost feel like it's the reverse. And people have gotten a little bit more careful about where they travel, how long do they stay? What are the regulations around changing regulations, case numbers, you know, things like that. So I think Asia is not there yet.”

What could get better about the long tail?

The push towards digitisation will help small independent hotels become more discoverable and profitable.

“From a traveller perspective, all of us have quickly realized how interconnected, intertwined, all of us are in the world. And so being very cautious about your impact on the environment, your impact on others, sustainability – these things are now at the forefront for most of the people that are traveling. I'm hoping that as travellers come back, they keep these things in mind.”

Have a listen.