Ecole Hoteliere to exit Lavasa

Ecole Hoteliere, the Swiss hospitality institute at Lavasa, has decided to pull out from the hill city campus after five years of operations. The Indian network school of global hospitality institute, École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) of Switzerland, launched its state-of-the-art 67,000 square feet campus in India's first private hill city project back in 2013.

Operating under the banner Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa (LEH), the institute currently has 162 students enrolled for a four year under graduate programme in hospitality management institute. EHL is the certifying institute that works with a local partner to run the hospitality training programme globally.

Responding to DNA Money queries, a spokesperson from Lausanne Hospitality Consulting (LHC), a subsidiary of EHL, said that the prevailing conditions at Lavasa were not conducive for learning hence the move was necessary. "Sustainable quality education for students is at the core of all our relationships around the globe. You are aware of the current challenges of Lavasa city. These external factors impacted the quality of education that was delivered at this location, which was no longer conducive for student learning. We trust that the move of the school will re-install and retain the level of quality that is condition for our relationship as academic certification partner," said the Switzerland-based spokesperson, adding that over 150 students, spread over six batches, have graduated from LEH since its inception.

LHC also clarified that it is not the operator or managing entity of Ecole Hoteliere at Lavasa and functions only as an advisor that transfers knowledge to local partners and enables them to develop independent learning centres across the globe. LHC and the certifying institution i.e. EHL, support the local partner through the transfer of know-how, faculty training, course content reviews, management training, audits, etc. Over the past 10 years it has established a network of 10 EHL-certified schools around the globe. In India, it recently certified the Indian School of Hospitality (ISH) in Gururgam, Delhi-NCR, which commenced operations earlier this month.

Ecole Hoteliere's exit is the second big jolt for Hindustan Construction Co subsidiary Lavasa Corporation after global hospitality major AccorHotels ended its alliance to operate and manage the Lavasa International Convention Centre (LICC) facility. DNA Money had reported this development on July 30, 2018.

When contacted, a Lavasa Corp spokesperson said in an email response that EHL has sent a termination notice to Expat Properties, the operator of Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa since 2015, on account of non-performance.

While stating that the (hotel school) operator would be in a better position to provide further details (on their exit), the Lavasa Corp spokesperson said, "Since the beginning, the operator i.e. Expat has been defaulting on all contractual payments i.e. towards the lease of the institute building, usage of the hostel, essential utilities, maintenance charges, etc. While Lavasa continued to extend its cooperation to Expat for more than three years, the dues of the operator have now crossed Rs 10 crore. Hence, Lavasa doesn't stand to lose any revenue if Ecole moves out. We're not interfering in École's arrangement with Expat but would be taking necessary steps for recovery of the latter's contractual dues towards Lavasa which the operator is legally bound to clear."

Ecole Hoteliere had launched its India (Lavasa) operations in 2013 with Lavasa Corp's unit Dasve Hospitality Institutes Ltd as its local partner. The said arrangement continued till 2015 when global real estate company The Expat Group took over as the local partner after acquiring the premier hospitality institute (LEH) for an undisclosed sum.

With LEH moving out of Lavasa campus, LHC is looking to onboard a new local partner for the institute that will, in most likelihood, be relocated to Mumbai.

According to the LHC spokesperson, relocation of the hotel school will be done before the new academic term starts in September 2018. "Currently the students are on their summer break and will resume their studies at the new facility in Mumbai. The local partner is working out the cost of moving the school. We cannot comment on the internal financial structure of our local partner," said the spokesperson without sharing the specifics of its new local partner in Mumbai.

Once touted to be the hub for global education in India, Lavasa hill city is slowly losing its attractiveness for the residents and business partners alike. The location was to house a variety of international and Indian educational institutions, including the likes of London's Oxford University to start a centre for research and executive education, UK-based Girls Day School Trust (that had looked for space), Symbiosis Institute Pune, Christ University, Christel House and Kolkata's NSHM Knowledge Campus among others.

However, only four institutes, namely Christ University, Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa, Christel House and Le Monte were the ones that started operations at different points in time in Lavasa. Of the four, only two – Christ University and Dasve Public School are currently operational there. Run by Lavasa Corp, the Dasve Public School was launched in June 2017 post the exit of Christel House that shut down the Lavasa facility. So technically speaking, Christ University is the only third-party operational education institute in the hill city at present.

"Christ University and Christel House (renamed Dasve Public School) are fully operational. Le Monte is in the process of restarting operations through a new operator," said the Lavasa Corp spokesperson, adding that there are around 450 students in all at hill city currently.

On the possibilities of Christ University moving out as well, the Lavasa Corp spokesperson said, "No, Christ University is an integral part of Lavasa City. The university is looking to expand its course offerings in the city, thereby enhancing the number of students in their campus at Lavasa."

SHIFT TO MUMBAI

• LHC is looking to onboard a new local partner for the hospitality institute that will, in most likelihood, be relocated to Mumbai
   
• According to the LHC spokesperson, relocation of the hotel school will be done before the new academic term starts in September 2018