Sarat Valsraj

Highly-motivated employee with desire to take on new challenges. Strong worth ethic, adaptability and exceptional interpersonal skills. Adept at working effectively unsupervised and quickly mastering new skills.

• A Member of (Confederation of Indian Industry) and a Past Chairman Kottayam Zone and Kerala State Council Member.
• A Rotarian at Rotary Club of Kottayam (District 3211)- Held Hon Secretary Position thrice and involved in various Philanthropy activities of the club as per guidelines of Rotary International, with role of Governor's Group Representatives for the year 2022-23.
• President at SKAL International Kochi for the term 2022-24. www.skal.org

Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence - 5years back to back from 2014.
Rotarian Sarat Valsraj - Best Secretary of Zone 24 in Rotary District 3211 for year 2020-21.
Sarat Valsraj - Paul Harris Fellow

Below is a brief narrative to the experience garnered over a span of 27 years in the industry.

• Presently at The Zuri Kumarakom, Kerala Resort and Spa as General Manager from October 2013 onwards with focus on all aspects of running the business. www.thezurihotels.com/kumarakom
• I believe a true leader is one who steps out of core area of expertise and experiences various industries through peer learning, mentorship and networking. This has helped in overall development and thought process which has helped in my decision making.

From an operational perspective the core Revenue areas of the Hotel is Rooms, Food and Beverage and Wellness Space along with Rental spaces.

• A good study of Segmentation and source market gives an overall picture to where the room revenue is garnered to maintain a healthy Revpar and as the trend today is to look at Trevpar with the incremental revenues from other source.
• Pre-arrival experience and soft touches on property followed by fond farewell leaves a lasting impression to customers who will be our ambassadors.
• Conventions space along with breakaway rooms is a major revenue earner when it comes to MICE and wedding segment. Every inch of space utilized and sold improves the profitability and a better bottom-line. Cover to manpower ratio with a gig workforce will be a game changer of utilizing resource as and when business is on books is there.
• Food is an important element with proper FSSAI instructions followed as per statute requirement in terms of defining calories, allergens on the menu. This gives our customers the confidence that we care to the wellbeing of our patrons. I believe a talented chef can bring in repeat customers thereby the face of a hotel is the man heading the kitchen.
• An effective tool is to have an optimal manpower to cover ratio, depending on the specialty of the outlets.
• With the emerging trend among consumers to take care of health wellness space is another major revenue center that can be marketed well to improve footfalls along with membership options to tap nonresidential clientele. In a Spa an average of 5-6 treatments per therapist is a magical number with upsell of treatment with a higher APC improving the revenue stream.
• Intellectual capital recruited with fire in the belly will be a true asset to the organization and I believe mentoring these resources will always drive business and goodwill.

An acumen to read financial statement income vs expenditure of all revenue centers and zero expense leaks by doing forensic audits help run a smooth operations. Cash flow analysis along with creditor and debtor statement is a must to understand health of the business.

• Sustainability is an important subject and as part of the Responsible Tourism destination – Kumarakom I am actively involved in the UNDP - sustainable development goals along with CII and Skal International.

Under SDG 14 – Life below water

The Zuri Kumarakom is on the banks of the vembanad lake thereby we have initiated a Fish farm with fingerlings introduced which will be released once it grows in size thereby improve the marine stock in the lake. This will benefit the local community in a sustainable manner.

Under SDG 11 – Sustainable cities and communities

For local communities and encourage our employees to look at alternative mode of transport -like bicycles and e-vehicles so as to improve the carbon footprint.

• A Member of CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) asnd Past Chairman Kottayam Zone and later as Kerala State Council Member. Was part of the 14 member CII Kerala State Tourism Council forum as a committee member which has dialogues with government of Kerala on various aspects of improving the experiential experience of tourists visiting the state.
• A Rotarian at Rotary Club of Kottayam (District 3211)- Held Hon Secretary Position thrice and involved in various Philanthropy activities of the club as per guidelines of Rotary International, with role of Governor's Group Representatives for the year 2022-23.
• President at SKAL International Kochi for the term 2022-24. www.skal.org
• Mumbai is a city that I grew and have left a very positive impression in shaping my life and career.

So with this brief I request you to look at my candidature and would love to connect anytime at your convenience.

Yours sincerely

SARAT VALSRAJ