Club Oxygen: Redefining Holidaying Experiences

Offering a vibrant presence across India, Oxygen Resorts is a group of resorts branded as Club Oxygen and Oxygen Resorts. The company Chemmanur Holidays is a subsidiary of the Boby Chemmanur Group, a highly reputable brand carrying a legacy of 100 years in the jewelry business. The group reigns over a variety of businesses ranging from real estate to NBFC, supermarkets to garments, restaurants to food products, and farming. Representing the company as the Chairman, Dr. Boby Chemmanur leads as an example and inspiration for aspiring entrepreneurs and youth, not only because of his business acumen, but also for his lively temperament, compassion, and humility.

Girish Nair, the CEO of Club Oxygen Resorts, has spent nearly 30 years in the industry. His career started in Direct Sales and Marketing, following which he shifted to becoming a Business Head. Apart from his role as the CEO, he also makes regular departmental interventions at various levels to ensure people's alignment to their goals and business principles, and this trait makes him a 'hands on' business head.

The business group aims to make its name among the top 10 family resort brands in India. In other words, they wish to create a unique customer value proposition, thereby ensuring a business which is credible and scalable. For families looking for a holiday that rejuvenates their soul, who prefer a "home away from home" atmosphere, and for corporates who crave an offsite conference amidst nature, Club Oxygen is an ideal choice to organize events. In fact, their Goa resort has also been hosting weddings successfully.

The hospitality industry faced significant challenges during the pandemic, including a stalled recovery, especially for a label like Club Oxygen. After its inception in 2018, the brand saw rapid growth, with resorts ranking among the top 10 on TripAdvisor and a customer loyalty program achieving industry high sales productivity. The brand's core principles of providing value to customers were well-accepted, and the brand evolved as the Chair vision. The company is now expanding into resort chains and sales branches, diversifying into other auxiliary businesses, and acquiring 2000 acres of land in Wayanad, Kerala, to develop a vacation village with various amenities for holidayers. Similar acquisitions are planned in Ooty and Goa.

Holiday loyalty program subscriptions have been quite a trend in the hospitality industry recently. These programs offer uniformity of services, a familiar environment, reliability, and value for money. There has been a significant rise in quality concerns among the customers, and they are willing to pay for it. This concern is likely to give rise to the emergence of brands who prioritize quality and are not ready to compromise on this core aspect. Today, hotels cannot attract customers by offering lower prices, and compensating on quality parameters.

Leading the business, Girish's most important decisions that he makes on a regular basis involve those which are strategic in nature and those which might have long-term impacts. Besides, focusing on their core values of delivering to customers, value for their money, and stakeholders is also important. He takes pride in being part of a team which is set on building a hospitality brand from scratch, and has marked its name in the industry.

Club Oxygen, with its robust business network, has become the most preferred choice for anyone looking for an ethereal experience. Apart from its acquisition plans and vacation village concepts at Wayanad, Goa, and Ooty, the brand is also looking to enter into hotel management contracts with individual hotel owners who can function much better in their association with Club Oxygen as a part of their expertise and support system. Girish concluded the delightful conversation by sharing the success factor that had helped him in taking the business to new heights. He said, "The ability to leverage one’s experience to plan, execute, foresee & mitigate risk to achieve your vision. Create an ecosystem for the team to believe in itself & the vision. Easier said than done……but that’s what leadership is about."