Pallavaram lodges go online

The GST road cutting through Pallavaram is dotted with small and medium lodges, many of which were started in the early nineties. The proximity of the suburb to Tambaram (gateway of Chennai) and also to the international airport, resulted in many footfalls at these lodges.

But they have been losing their share of clientele to lodges inside the city ever since the latter switched to Internet bookings around 10 years back. Most of the lodges in Pallavaram have now chosen to adapt to the future and affix themselves with the Internet players. Revamping and going online comes with a heavy price including raising standards and modernising the infrastructure. Explaining the need for the ongoing revamping process, an employee from one of the lodges says: “The customer base of the lodges in Pallavaram is marked on four broad divisions: airport users, delegates of the neighbourhood companies, people travelling inside the city and those attending the functions in neighbourhood. We have already lost the first two of our bases to internet and the rest of the category is scattered among the already crowded market.”

Acknowledging this the manager of Vasantham lodge, one of the oldest lodges in Pallavaram. said, “We used to have full board of customers but we only see attendance of 60 per cent even with the help of Internet platforms.”

This wasn’t the same reaction from all the internet platform users, Yeshwanth Residency, one of the recently opened lodges in Pallavaram, said, “Customers gradually started coming in after we subscribed to the online partners”

M. Murali one of the passing travellers said, “I used an internet application to book the lodge base on its proximity to the airport as I have my flight this night, hotels in the vicinity seem to be a good idea.”

This face lift by the lodges will eventually be transferred to the customer and average room rents have already gone up. A room in the revamped hotels comes at '700 a night, while the average cost in lodges without internet is just Rs 300.

The popularity and convenience of the internet has also made small and medium lodge owners share their customer base. “It is time they acknowledge the huge presence of internet in this sector,” said Hari Hara Sudan, who chooses to do all his bookings online. “I use the applications as it is not only convenient but has also like cashback and even free rides.”

“There was a time when we were fully booked and still customers pouring in” remembers an employee of one of the “traditional” lodges in Pallavaram. “The lodges saw their first downtrend in 2004 and today it still continues because of the high number of lodges in the vicinity and also the inability of the lodge owners to keep up with the Internet,” said a veteran manager.

The view of Internet is not consistent with all the owners of the lodges: a staff in Annamalai lodge complained that it is hectic to manage Internet platforms and also mentioned some “sour” incidents with customers.