A neighbouring jewel of India, Srilanka is preparing itself to gear up for a busy tourist season. After going past 2 tough years due to an economic & a pandemic crisis, it has now surpassed the 100,000+ arrival mark in the month of January. This clearly shows a strong sign of recovery .The consumer confidence on safety is also now rising back to its original levels making Srilanka, a perfect, affordable and memorable destination to visit from India. Incidentally , the Cinnamon Group, one of Srilanka’s biggest chain of hotels and resorts is also preparing itself for something massive. It’s called the Cinnamon Life, Srilanka’s biggest Integrated Resort in the heart of Colombo
Cinnamon’s Journey
The brand Cinnamon Hotels & Resorts was launched in 2005 and manages 15 four-star and five-star hotels across SriLanka and the Maldives. These hotels also collectively have a room capacity of over 2700. The under construction Cinnamon Life, alone will now add 800 more to this tally.
The Cinnamon Life
Cinnamon’s latest venture of Cinnamon Life is an ambitious, bold statement to the world on it’s commitment of promoting both the resort and Srilanka as a whole, as a Premium Luxury destination. The Cinnamon Group also aims to reposition its Brand in the market, towards Pleasure and Luxury.
Interviewing Mr.Christian Pertl, CCO of Cinnamon Group of Hotels & Resorts, during his brief visit at Chennai, yielded some fascinating insights on the brand’s upcoming Cinnamon Life as well as the growth of the Cinnamon brand .
Mr.Christian added that Cinnamon Life will stand as a testament of luxury and one of the best resorts in Srilanka, excelling in both Hospitality and Culinary.
Mr.Christian quoted that , The Cinnamon Life has attracted an investment of close to $1B from various investors across the world and will feature
- 800 Rooms
- 15 Culinary Restaurants
- 80K Sqft of Integrated Resort Space
- International Casino
- 3 Swimming Pools
The Brand Reposition
Cinnamon Group of Hotels and Resorts has 4 star & 5 star hotels, Beach Resorts and even serviced apartments in few locations. From Bentota to Trincomalee in Srilanka or the Velifushi In Maldives, their presence has been quite diverse.
From a 80$ room in a Cinnamon Red to a 250$ room per night in the Cinnamon Grand, the Cinnamon Group operates for multiple segments of audience. However the Cinnamon Life now brings a question of rethinking the brand’s position & stance on its target segment : A luxury seeking premium traveller.
Mr.Christian believes that Luxury is the only segment that’s completely crisis resistant as the demand for luxury is always at a high from their affluent customers.
As the brand plans to revamp to a complete premium luxury brand , the question to be answered is : Whether a rebranding of their existing lower end properties will occur or will they retain them in the same umbrella awaits to be seen.
Sustainable Tourism Initiatives by Cinnamon Group
It was quite heartening to learn that the key cornerstone of Cinnamon Group’s programs centered around biodiversity. Some of their key initiatives that I could find from the Cinnamon website included
- Low energy consuming equipment is utilised when replacing higher energy consuming units
- Installation of bio-gas digesters at select locations : Food wastage directly goes to Bio gas generation
- Cinnamon Lodge Habarana has an in-house paper recycling plant that utilises waste paper generated from hotel operations and elephant dung to produce recycled paper.
- Project Leopard in Yala with dual objectives of supporting the livelihoods of cattle farmers and protects the leopard population living in and outside the boundary of the parks.
- Project Gathering, an initiative to develop best practices in elephant tourism in Srilanka
- A Plastic free motive in all their hotel operations
Expansion of Cinnamon Group to other Markets
Apart from its significant presence in Srilanka and Maldives, the Cinnamon group is also looking at multiple neighbouring markets. This includes India, Middle East and Thailand in the coming years.
The Cinnamon Life is expected to open by the second half of 2024 in Colombo
