The following pages celebrate some of the country’s upcoming general managers, some of whom are keen first-timers. Punam Mohandas reveals their operational practices, and mantras for success.
Raring to go
First-time general manager, Deepak Manocha, is visibly excited, and has great plans ahead for the Courtyard by Marriott at Pune-Hinjewadi.
Manocha is unabashedly elated in his new role, and rightly so – for any hotelier who passes out of college, the ultimate objective is always ‘when do I get to be a GM’? The excitement and new-found sense of authority is palpable not just when you meet colleagues from across the industry, but also when you interact with guests in this different avatar.
“It took me a little while to swallow the news when I first heard, the feeling is unexplainable”, he admits. “With this comes the responsibility, the ability to lead your own ship.” A humble and simple man, Manocha is one person whom colleagues across the industry have a high regard for.
They also say he is a ‘man of few words’, to which he laughingly responds – “I’d really like to hear more about this. I’m sort of an introvert, and I like to stick to what I mean to say. However, being an operations person, I don’t like to be holed up in my office, I like to go out and about in the hotel during the busy hours.”
The best hoteliers are those who plan for a downturn; does he subscribe to this view? “Yes, for sure”, affirms Manocha.
“We all know and understand that hoteliering is a business cycle. It’s more about responsiveness; freeze on recruitment, taking staff internally from within the company, focus on training, retaining customers. This is also the time to revisit systems and processes that have always been there, cut short some steps, and still get the desired results. In good times, a long-term strategy used to be one year, and short term was six months to one month – now, long-term is considered three months!”
Manocha is perceived as being something of a ‘launch specialist’, having opened a couple of properties earlier as well. Does he agree with the general perception?
“If there is an opportunity, I’d be very happy to go out and do that, or, if it’s to run another hotel, that’s fine too – there is a lot of learning on both sides,” he says.
The earlier hotel strategy used to be ‘increase ARR to meet costs’, now, lower ARR’s means reducing on operating costs. How is he addressing this issue? “There’s a fine line between quality and cost-line specific to us.
A lot of technology comes into play here, newer best practices come into place. We always were a firm believer in that we would never take the ARR to the bank – we would take RevPAR to the bank.
Definitely, it means reducing on operating costs. We opened in the midst of this (economic) scenario, so we have minimal staffing ratios, more emphasis on efficiency and productivity, and we work on cost-efficient food which is nonetheless high on quality.
These steps have been taken not to impact on a customer’s experience, but more from the back-end operations point of view,” he says.
“The way businesses fluctuate, you’ve got to be dynamic to change the course of how you do business. Pune’s currently going through this epidemic of swine flu; for us, to create the necessary steps was essential…sure its modern-day management simply because, if a situation like this goes out of hand, it will have a negative impact on the industry. According to me, modern-day management means being hands-on; working alongside the team, and realising the need of the hour. I think I have the liberty to take action for things within my control,” Manocha concludes.
Aiming to lead
Tamir Kobrin, whose passion and dream lie in opening his own hotel one day, is perfectly happy at the moment as general manager for the Leela Palace Kempinski in exotic, mystic Udaipur.
Kobrin is an Israeli, brought up in Switzerland, and educated in the United States…as if that weren’t enough,he also speaks seven languages.
He loves reading whatever he can about the destination, culture, and history of wherever he is, and thinks that the quest to travel the world and work in different locations that have cultural distinctions, only makes the endeavour so much more exciting.
“Assimiliation by virtue of language, is a great first step to capturing people’s trust and attention. This is what we strive to do as expatriate hoteliers – bring our experience and leave something behind, and it is more easily attainable by assimilation”, he says.
Kobrin is certainly in his element now, in an exotic locale like Udaipur, moreover, associated with a group like the Leela, who is known to spend lavishly on its properties.
However, is it possible to have luxury and sustainability co-exist? “Absolutely, one goes hand-in-hand with the other”, he avers.
“We endeavour to achieve responsible hospitality practices that would be recognised by the guests, who, more than ever, expect the opportunity of experiencing luxury through sustainable measures to be practiced by the hotel they patronage.
Our objective is to balance luxury surroundings with sustainable practices, in the day-to-day activities we operate. The quality aspect is a result of standards. Keeping costs in mind is a necessity, not only in today’s reality of the industry constraints, but as a general practice.
We take cost into consideration, never compromising the standards we have set forth for our operational requirements.
As hoteliers, we must balance our continued strive to excellence with cost parameters in mind; as they say, ‘keep your financial controller happy and your guest happier’.
“Kobrin is said to have a ‘handson’ management style, which he interprets as meaning to lead by example, and consistently. He says he sees both, the macro as well as the micro picture, as they each directly affect the other; according to him, without looking at the particulars that make the whole, one does not reach the objective, moreover, one must be careful not to over complicate and concentrate on individual milestones along the way, but focus on the end result.
It is said that the best hoteliers are those who plan for a downturn. Does he subscribe to this viewpoint; how did he anticipate and plan for the current economic crisis? Says Kobrin: “We understood early on that we are opening in a difficult time, and we recognised the need to look at anticipating where things can go wrong, especially in a new hotel opening.
A downturn is also an opportunity to look at other factors, such as the market we are in; for instance, we made it a point to open our restaurants to outside, non-resident guests to welcome their patronage, thus embracing the community and location we are in and not take things for granted, and being vigilant of the opportunities around us.”
Udaipur is a prime leisure destination, and the Leela has tough competition from the Lake Palace and Udai Vilas hotels, as Kobrin too has acknowledged.
Is there greater pressure on, and expectations from him, to perform? Would he care to share some of the business strategies he hopes to implement? “Yes we have tough competition”, he readily agrees.
“But we opened in Udaipur with a product that can easily compete and achieve our aim to be recognised as a leader in the destination. We have unique selling points that make the Leela Palace Udaipur stand out vice versa our competition, primarily our location on Lake Pichola.
We realise that hotel recognition is primarily service, quality of food and the overall experience. We have invested in a foreign chef (Udaipur has never been recognised as a culinary destination and the city offers very limited dining options).
We have the only Clefs d’Or concierge in town, again, important, as guests want to savour the secrets of a destination through the eyes of a professional.
We extend butler services to all of our guests no matter what rate you pay. Complemented with attention to detail and very sincere unobtrusive service, I believe we will achieve our goals. The pressure and expectations are there and that is what makes this endeavour an even more exciting one for all of us.”
The devil is in the details
Visheshwar Raj Singh, better known as Vishi, takes the helm at the soon-to-be-operational Trident, Bandra-Kurla, Mumbai, after moving from a premium luxury property – Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra.
From handling a team of less than 200, to now managing a workforce of 400 people in a
hotel that’s four times the size of Amarvilas, and is yet to open – Singh takes it all in his stride.
He has enjoyed every moment of opening a hotel, but what he is actually looking forward to now is the guest interaction.
“Working in a location such as Agra poses its own set of unique challenges, which are offset to a large extent by the pleasure of working in a hotel that has repeatedly been ranked amongst the Top 10 hotels of the world.
The two years I spent at The Oberoi, Amarvilas, were different from what I am doing now in three broad aspects – scale, job content, and guests.
I have not had the chance to welcome any guests recently – which is what gets any good innkeeper out of bed each morning – but hopefully, that will change very soon. That said, the day-to-day content of what one does as an opening team member is completely different from working in an operational hotel, and I have truly relished being involved in the various stages of this hotel’s development”, he says.
Commenting on the current economic situation, Singh says: “I think that the worst is behind us now and Trident, Bandra-Kurla will be opening at a time when the colour is beginning to come back to our cheeks, so to speak.
I like to think of this pre-opening period as a sprinter’s warm-up time before a race, so that when the starter’s gun goes, he’s first off the blocks and can sustain that advantage till the finish line.
No matter what fresh business challenges tomorrow may throw at us, I think the time and effort we are spending on the basics right now will allow us to meet and overcome future hurdles with relative ease,” he adds.
There is always something that keeps the competition hotted up. Earlier, it was the price war, which raged on even though it is difficult to put a price on service.
What, according to him, are the new battle lines for hoteliers? Says Singh: “Well, the price point of a product can certainly impact its sale. Increasingly, corporate travellers and even middle management executives are becoming savvier about defining ‘good service’ and are orienting their loyalty to a hotel or a hospitality chain based on it.
This factor is the real game changer that we hope to leverage in taking the ‘battle for beds’ to our competitors’ doorsteps.
“Also, I strongly feel guest comments are like our true report card, and I value them over any other form of performance benchmarking for a hotel. It may be a cliché but it is absolutely true that ultimately, guests sign our paycheque.
In my vocabulary, guests are not just the ones that walk through our main door, but also the people that come through our service entrance – the hotel team members. I use a number of different forums and media to communicate with them as well, and their opinions do make a difference at work.”
Singh is said to be a down-toearth person, and a perfectionist when it comes to the details. He says he has an uncompromising approach towards quality, and is proud of it. Does this mean he can sometimes be inflexible in his thinking/approach?
“I certainly am demanding, but not to the point of being inflexible or rigid in my approach. Both at work and otherwise, nothing bothers me more than carelessness or a laid-back attitude. As the saying goes, ‘the devil is in the details’; it is so important to take care of these details, because my experience has led me to believe that if you can get the small things right, usually the big things tend to take care of themselves. “If by ‘down-to-earth’ you mean unpretentious then yes, I would agree.
My management style has been greatly influenced by my first general manager, Vikram Oberoi; he is so approachable and unassuming that, when talking to him, I never felt awed by the fact that I was interacting with the grandson of our founder, Rai Bahadur MS Oberoi,” he says.
Incidentally, Singh is a homegrown Oberoi product, who has never been tempted to play musical chairs in his career, having joined the Group as a management trainee in 1995.
He says it is the orientation towards quality in the company, that continues to inspire him. This passionate, amateur photographer is also a huge fan of the movies; he calls himself an “amateur connoisseur” of good cinema. In his words: “I think the term ‘unwind’ for me, will definitely be accompanied by cola and popcorn”.
A memorable journey
Vishal Singh, general manager of Vivanta by Taj, Goa, is gung-ho as he speaks about the potential and distinctive nature of his hotel.
Goa is saturated with hotels; this is the fourth property that the Taj itself has out there. How does Singh plan to differentiate his hotel from the other three?
“Vivanta is a very city hotel, and that is a first for Goa, in the fivestar segment. The name ‘Vivanta’ is drawn from vivacity, vividness, and ‘bon vivant’: an appreciation of the good things in life,” he says.
As to how he hopes to achieve a distinct branding in public perception, amid such a competitive environment, Singh says that guests will experience hospitality with a difference at Vivanta.
“Vivanta by Taj – Panaji Goa is slated to be the ultimate escape, and a perfect spot for work and play”, he declares.
“It is a premium business hotel with high end work spaces, and fills the market gap of a business hotel in the centre of the business districts, where a customer can relax as well as work at ease with a number of technological innovations available at his fingertips”.
What are the new diktats that GM’s are following, do they tend to ignore the micro aspects? “No”, Singh rebuts.
“With changing trends, most general managers are now becoming more alert towards the micro aspects of hoteliering.
“Also, there are several arguments for protecting rates in a hotel. On one hand, it is very difficult to recover previous levels once the market recovers, and, on the other, it is important to protect the reputation of both the hotel and the destination.
In the past, hoteliers have learned the hard way that lowering rates doesn’t always bring the business. Hoteliers know that if they reduce rates now it will be much harder to increase them once the economy begins its upturn.
Of course it is easy to say that we won’t drop rates, but, at the end of the day, if the competition does, then invariably other hotels will have to follow suit. There is undercutting going on and a lack of creativity,” he says.
Singh has an F&B background, and calls himself an amateur cook; he feels cooking is a great stress buster. He also thinks that, as a general manager, having an F&B background has its advantages: “Each restaurant has to be handled like a mini department with its own vagaries. This helps you get a grip on a larger operation and you learn the ropes of hoteliering faster,” he explains.
“And besides, overseeing the day-to-day operations of hotels, restaurants, and resorts is definitely not a job for a wallflower – you need to be welcoming and energetic, as also approachable”.
Singh is a staunch Taj product; he says he was offered multiple opportunities, at the right time and at the pace that he wanted.
“Working with the Taj has been a memorable journey and I am fortunate that my career development was handled very nicely by the group”. He is an avid cricketer, which is not only a gentleman’s game, but also a team game; does he agree?
Says Singh: “Teamwork does not happen overnight. Just like kids and families, groups lurch through different developmental stages. A widely-known approach is Tuckman’s forming, storming, norming, and performing model.
A fifth stage called mourning is sometimes added when teams break up. A key challenge for those in leadership roles is to use methods that bypass the destructive conflict characterising the storming phase.”
The sky is the limit
Virender Razdan, general manager of Sheraton Park Hotel & Towers, Chennai, is extremely bullish about the future of the hospitality industry there.
Razdan is sitting pretty in sultry Chennai, devising tactics to handle the current situation; juggling lower ARR’s against operating costs.
However, he says that the name of the game these days is RevPAR: “ARR does not go to the bank; it has to be revenue at the end of the day. Right volumes at the right price, coupled with controlled expenses, results in profit for the hotel.”
Razdan has a surefire ‘threeprong approach’, which has never let him down yet; “It is a mosaic of revenue performance, environmental consciousness and initiatives, and corporate social responsibility.
It means going beyond the call of compliance to make for world-class products and services to satisfy our customers on a consistent basis, supported by concern for safety”, he says. “I am personally quite bullish about the Chennai market.
2010/2011 will see an increase in the room inventory – there will be quality supply in terms of rooms and F&B outlets.
Major international players will show their presence. New hotels should be in a position to break even sooner rather than later. Chennai is a market which has not grown to its full potential till now, but should see a meteoric rise in the coming years,” Razdan states.
A common mistake many general managers make is that they tend to overlook micro aspects while looking at the macro picture; “One needs to keep both aspects in mind.
Certain strategies have to be dealt at the micro level, and some in macro,” he says. Asked whether he thinks ITC has become too complacent, and rests too much on the laurels earned by its flagship property, the Maurya, in New Delhi, he gives an animated response, saying the company is among one of the largest players in the Indian market, and their hotel division has the most aggressive approach.
“ITC will strengthen its presence with more luxury hotels in the major metro cities in the next five-six years”, he affirms. As to why Bukhara – the Maurya’s signature restaurant – hasn’t enjoyed the same phenomenal rate of success in other cities, he says that different markets have different needs.
Razdan has also served with the Oberoi Group earlier; what are the various learnings he has imbibed from his tenures with both the chains? “Two companies, both with different styles of operation, but the same focus on ‘Product, Processes, and People’. Both companies have created landmark hotels.
I am lucky to have been a part of the best of both worlds,” he says. Hailing from an utterly scenic, but unfortunately terror-riddled state, himself (Kashmir), does he think, especially in the light of current happenings both in India and worldwide, that hotels should assume more direct responsibility for the security of their properties?
“Hotels can take security to certain levels, which has been upgraded to the best possible in recent months. Our core competence is to serve our guests and in the meanwhile not to compromise on hotel, or guest, security. We all have to create a more secure environment for future businesses,” he says soberly.
Razdan is an acknowledged wine connoisseur: “We are in the life style and luxury business. I think the right knowledge and feel of luxury habits definitely help us to perform better in today’s environment, where you are competing with the best in your trade, and that too on your home turf,” he says spiritedly (sic!).
His personal favourites are the Chardonnay from New Zealand and the Borolo from Italy. Not many are aware of the fact that Razdan actually wanted to be a fighter pilot, however, man proposes and God disposes.
“When you are young you dream of flying high. I did the same; wanted to fly my own plane and manage my life from great heights The difference (in my aspiration) has come of flying an actual aircraft to flying on the business plane, where the dimension and magnitude remain the same – in our business I must say that the sky is the limit. It is how and where you fly to, that is important in today’s world,” he says philosophically.
So from aspiring fighter to battling hotelier – how has the journey been? “It’s been a hallenging one”, Razdan signs off.
