Windchimes Pic of the face of a home of V r family

As I heard about the concept of ‘V are family’, I was curious to know more about it. Getting luxurious amenities at reasonable rates with customization as per guests needs! What more? You get a full home with a cook and housekeeping that too at a beautiful location! All these ideas brought twinkle in my eyes. I decided to talk to the brain behind ‘V are family’. So, here is the snippet of my discussion with Mr. Aman Batra, the Founder and Executive Manager of ‘V are family’.

How is ‘V are family’ different from other hospitality giants like Sterling, Club Mahindra etc?

Windchimes Pic enjoy the scenery

I would first say there is a similarity between Sterling or Club Mahindra with ‘V are family’. Both are networks of hospitality. ‘V are family’ has adopted best of both the worlds of hotels and time sharing network operating hospitality giants. We operate in terms of hotels by taking bookings daily. In older days, people used to live in joint families so needed a vacation separately to enjoy as a nuclear family. Trends having changed, people living in nuclear families are so busy that they rarely have time for each other and also for relatives. So, we are differently customizing to needs of travellers.

Windchimes Pic of living room

a.) We have come up with a solution where families live together in a home or a villa to spend some time together. The home would have common play areas, verandas, dining rooms, living rooms etc so that the whole family enjoys being together. This is a perfect solution specially for people who like to travel in groups with kids, adults and senior citizens. These homes are fully furnished, furbished and technology enabled.

b.) F&B prices in hotels are shooting high and if its a big group, you spend a lot of money. We have F&B , laundry all at the cost price. These homes are well stocked in terms of grocery and economical. More people can stay at the same cost.

Mistair Pic of room of a home of ‘V r family’

c.) We provide a cook who will cook as per your requirements and a housekeeping personnel. These cooks are trained by Chefs who specialize in home cooking and train these cooks on same lines. Housekeeping personnel are also trained formally on all the techniques and chemicals for housekeeping.

d.) If guests want a musician or someone, we put them in touch with the renowned once in the town and let them take decisions independently with them.

How do you ensure personal touch to guests to generate long term relationships?

Mistair Pic of Recreation room

Well, this aspect is very crucial for us and we want our guests to have a memorable experience. We initiate the relationship with the inception of booking. We ask them how big the group is and if some extra staff is traveling with them so that they can be accommodated. All the requirements of guests are noted in terms of grocery so that the storage of the same is done in a timely fashion before their arrival, whether an extra bed is required or not, fully customized food is served to them. There is an information kit in the home that tells about things to do, restaurants to dine, shopping areas etc, best time to go. A special thing we do is we put a name plate of guests on the home. We are not doing any branding of ‘V are family’ in any of homes to ensure guests feel at home. We just want them to enjoy the home, local cuisine and traditions and feel like a local which is a true experience in itself. The Take always that we gift to guests are the ones that have our brand.

What are the challenges that you are facing in today’s hospitality industry?

Chalet pic of dining room

Procurement of staff is very crucial. It has to be extremely precise and perfect. Since we depend on the local population for the same, sometimes it becomes very challenging. When we can’t get a local staff, we source them.

What is the vision of ‘V are family’?

Our core is to provide luxury at a value. We offer 5* experience at 3* cost. We are streamlining processes at every function. The homes or villas that we select are hand picked considering our brand and standards after a thorough analysis and having the overall experience the owners have to offer. We are using best of technology to provide an experience to guests that starts from booking and continues till after the experience.

Chalet Pic view from terrace

We are in the expansion mode within and outside India. Talks are on as we are interacting. Many Indians have their homes in Spain, Thailand and other places of the world. So, we are tapping those opportunities to provide a best in class experience to the world to create a win win for us and our guests. Currently, we provide homes for short and long stays at Kasauli hills, Goan beaches and farmhouses on outskirts of Delhi.

About the Founder of ‘V are family’ : Mr. Aman Batra

Mr. Aman Batra, Founder of ‘V are family’ is an entrepreneur and management professional, with experience of incubating multiple new ventures and managing operations at large and medium sized enterprises. He completed his studies from Babson College, USA and started his career as an investment banker in New York and continued in the financial sector with the corporate finance division of Ernst & Young in India. Over the past decade Mr. Batra has been actively involved with start up ventures and organizations across a variety of industries in including media, technology, finance, construction, and real estate.

Mistair Pic Breathtaking view

Website Link: http://varefamily.com/

Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/uniquevacationhomes?fref=ts

Photo credits- V are family

Nidhi KM

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