Working smart is important, not 70 hours: Tamara Leisure CEO Shruti Shibulal

Hospitality major Tamara Leisure Experiences Private Ltd owning and running hotels, resorts in India and Germany is looking at expansion through management contracts, said Shruti Shibulal, Director and Chief Executive Officer, the daughter of S.D Shibulal, one of the founders of software major Infosys Ltd.

She also said working smart and having a work-life balance is more important than putting in specified hours of work per week.

The 11 year old company owns 1,000 room keys under its four brands in India and Germany (where four owned properties are under management contracts).

“In India we will be closing 2023 with close to 600 room keys. We are moving towards 1,000 room keys in India,” Shruti told IANS after the launch of the company’s 141 rooms business hotel `O by Tamara’ in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

Tamara Leisure bought an existing hotel property in Coimbatore last year and launched it under its brand after a complete renovation.

In India the company’s properties – hotels, resorts and Ayurvedic Hospital- are in South India and going forward the expansion would happen in other parts of the country and overseas the expansion will largely be in Europe.

According to her, the company will be building a new hotel under its Lilac brand in Bodh Gaya.

This is in addition to the upcoming Lilac properties in Tamil Nadu’s Kumbakonam and Velankanni and in Kerala’s Guruvayoor and Kannur and existing two hotels in Bengaluru.

“We now have the confidence of getting into management contracts with existing hotel owners with our Lilac brand and go for asset light expansion model. Talks are already on with some property owners,” she said.

Queried about the rationale for having multiple brands – Tamara for resorts, O by Tamara for business and leisure segment, Lilac for mid segment and Amal Tamara, an Ayurvedic Hospital – instead of focusing and growing one or two brands Shruti said: “It is a brand risk diversification strategy.”

She said that having the company’s hotel properties in Germany being managed by brands like Holiday Inn Express, Courtyard By Marriott is also part of risk diversification strategy.

Shruti when queried about the 70 hour per week work a view expressed by N.R.Narayana Murthy, one of the Co-Founders of Infosys replied that one should work smart. The work should be smart and collaborative and not the number of hours. And also work-life balance is important.

“In our organisation we value work-life balance,” Shruti who is the over 1,000 employee Tamara Leisure added.