Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
I had no idea of hotels until I was in my 12th standard. I did not even know that there are colleges which teach you how to manage hotels? Nobody in my lineage has ever worked in hotels. I had only seen five-star hotels in movies and in Lucknow and Delhi from outside and heard stories like a tea costing INR 500 in Taj Mumbai from my uncle coming back from abroad while growing up and it gave me goosebumps thinking about it.

I am a hotelier by chance. I was fascinated with the Indian Air Force and was preparing for it in Lucknow. There while visiting a sick friend, I came across the brochure of a hotel management course by Govt of India and I found it quite interesting and applied for it as well. Unfortunately could not make it to airforce due to my eyesight but got selected for hotel management for Ihm Lucknow.

This is where my journey started, IHM Lucknow is one of the finest hotel management colleges in the country and faculties are simply out of the world. Everyone teaches you to be successful and they really take the pain to teach students who thought hotel management was no brainer. I feel I was very blessed to get into IHM Lucknow. Here I was highly motivated and my life was touched by my one faculty whom I am eternally grateful is Mr.T.K. Bansal who always believed in students who were not from so posh backgrounds and always kept an eye to make sure we do not lose focus. Now when I look back, I can strongly confirm that I can’t be anything than a hotelier.

The buzz of a hotel makes me jump out of bed every day for the last 16 years. Meeting new guests, making their life events into everlasting pleasant memories, listening to their stories, exceeding expectations, meeting team members of different cultures, managing emotions, planning and execution of months planned events is all so satisfactory that I am always excited to be on the floor.

I started my career with Leela group of hotels as I was picked by The Leela Group from Campus recruitment in 2004 as Hotel Operations Trainee in food and beverage service and then worked in Leela Mumbai and Goa for next five years in food and beverage as a supervisor, Restaurant manager and Banquets manager and thoroughly loved it. Leela hotels are exemplary and market leaders when it comes to the marriage of luxury and local Indian culture with the highest regards to finesse as owners themselves are so involved and keep a close eye on interiors and decoration of all hotels. I am very lucky to have got a chance to open eyes in the industry in one of the best hotels in the world, The Leela Goa. I was taken under the wings of our F&B training Manager Mr.Oliver Fernandes and our EAM food and beverage Mr.Daniels. These two have a huge impact in making me a better person and a professional. The best learning was from the philosophy of our late Founder Chairman Capt. C.P.Nair of Leela group of hotels which is “Atithi Devo Bhava” (2004-2009)

Later I moved to Seychelles to be part of pre-opening of Constance Ephelia as F&B Duty Manager and was instrumental in setting up the department. Once moved overseas I realise that If I wish to be a great General Manager someday, I must learn the accommodation management too hence came back to India with Lalit Bangalore as Asst. Front Office Manager and overlooked Food and Beverage too for a few months from (2009-2012)

At this time Leela Chennai was getting ready to open and I joined my previous employer as pre-opening AFOM and then was promoted as FOM and again five years in Chennai too. This was the first-ever beach facing business hotel as a palace and luxury at its best again. Big operations and here I get to make my own team as in pre-opening this is the best part that you start from scratch and impact of your conduct and management style can be everlasting.

I loved every bit of it and we were a superb team of front office which won mostly all rewards in the unit and corporate level on based of guest’s satisfaction, mystery audits and more than 75% team were promoted to next level and this was the most satisfactory as a leader. Leela Chennai, I was highly influenced and rather groomed to be successful General Manager someday by my pure-opening General manager Mr.Pacal Dupuis and Post opening General Manager Mr.Chengappa. (2012-2016)

After Leela Chennai, I moved to the Maldives for two years as Executive Assistant Manager for Atmosphere Hotels and Resort and managed two of the most luxuries and beautiful resorts which are OZEN and OBLU by Atmosphere. These are all-inclusive resorts and you get to host who and who of the world. Guests here become family as they mostly stay for two weeks and you get to know the different perspective of businessmen, sports personalities, Gurus, writers. It was a great experience to manage an International team by my own and I enjoyed till core and learnt so many traits from my colleagues and my COO Mr.Giri who is an absolute GEM and taught me so many things. (2016-2018)

After the Maldives, I moved to Seychelles again for my second term with Minor hotels which is a well-known company from Thailand as Hotel Operations Manager and still with them as Hotel Operations Manager. I was part of a team which was creating the vibes about Avani Seychelles in the local and international market after taking over from Le Meridian. The hotel runs on very high occupancy and in always 90+ which keeps the entire team always on our toes and makes our life challenging to maintain the rooms and public areas. So here comes the importance of gradual and well planned back of house management. I worked with two General Managers Mr.Vilar and Mr.Nico and learnt a lot from both of them. Especially the importance of sales and digital marketing and presence on social media. Minor has more than 536 hotels in all over the world and really looks after the talent well. I have not seen or heard a group so organised and planned and genuinely caring about the growth of its people. We will have a prime hotel management college soon in Thailand. (2018- till date)

Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?

The hotel industry is a very hardworking and round the clock so not meant for everybody and that’s the reason there are so many who quit in the first year of their placement/jobs in hotels after college and they go back to further studies to diversify into other industries. From my personal experience and point of view, the one thing which you must have to succeed is to be genuinely honest with your trade. Do it with all you have and have patience. Also, I believe one should be people’s person and you must lift others in the process and touch the lives of your guests and of your teams.

Editor: What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring? If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?

Integrity, Confidence and energy. Hotel trade is simple and can be taught and people can be trained easily. But one must be confident and energetic and should be pleasant. Naysayers and cynics find it difficult and bring down the energy of the entire team and that’s why all international brands have started a psychometric test to check before offering the job to check if one is a perfect or almost perfect blend with the vision of company psychologically as well.

Editor: What according to you can trainees do while they are training at hotels to make it a win-win for them & the hotel/unit?

A- They get the real exposure to actual hotels which can’t be taught in theory or in practical labs. So it helps them to choose which trade they will go after their degree or diploma so they get another two years to prepare for it. It is like reading fantasy for one year and then actually living it.

B- Trainees are smart these days and can be trained far easily and they are hard-working and multitaskers and soon they become master of all trades in the hotel so they really help in busy periods and some of them even really fill in case of dire needs or medical emergencies. Their contribution is immense if trained wisely and kept motivated. Senior management must be involved and must oversee their development as they are our bench strength and our future.

Editor: What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?

I think there is a rat race of putting as much technology in practice in hotels as much one needs to learn to be an astronaut. It does not matter how much technology you can put in a hotel but the biggest effect will always be the personal touches and time spent in homework to know your guests before arrival or a repeat for his preferences to wow them. Technology or AI can’t substitute personal touches. People come to hotels for the overall experience and to feel important and for an ego boost and not into an ATM. Luxury is not making everything automatic but emotions and services added to the whole experience with proper homework.

Editor: Tech is now an enabler for great hospitality. Can you share with us some of the tech that goes into creating your guest experience?

Yes, I have come across many new trends and gadgets and apps which has simplified marketing and made it reachable to each corner of the planet. A simple tagging on Instagram gives so much mileage for a hotel or Restaurant to market itself in seconds.

There is two software which I am very fond of one is Opera 6.0 and had made lives of the front of the house, Reservations and sales errors free and data collected and compared is unimaginable. The hotel can wow so many guests if they use it even 60% of it’s potential. You can even locate the guests in the hotel with the help of software on your laptop or desktop. The second one is Triton this helps us in managing guest’s requests and has made everybody accountable and has completely blown away the old fashion blame games when things went wrong. It has escalations in a timely manner so as a simple request of a towel to be sent to the room can be escalated to General Manager if not delivered in the time agreed. However, we must be careful of over usage especially in guests experience areas so it does not become emotionless or fully automated.

Editor: Two things you would like to change in the industry.

Intelligence over flamboyance- In the process I feel many hotel owners or CEOs or top executives hire the important roles to head their business or department on based of flamboyance and personal appearances but we must remember it is a business too and to run a business you need a high level of emotional and analytical intelligence too.

Work-life Balance- We all must plan well to ensure people are not exhausted and had enough time for family as well. It is possible with good planning and anyone who ever worked with me will vouch for it. That if we wish then we can have work-life balance implemented in busy hotels too.

Editor: What can we expect in the coming year?

After Covid-19 once life comes back to normal. House-keepers will be the most important. Cleanliness and hygiene will have to be 1000% more foolproof and guests will search positive comments of housekeeping and hygiene of a hotel on social media before booking it. Location, location and location will be hygiene, hygiene and hygiene for at least the next 12 months.