Hotelier India brings you the most influential men and women you need to know in this dynamic industry.
They’re the ones who call the shots and the range of their power is both wide and deep. Meet 50 hand-picked hospitality professionals – influential people that anyone in the business needs to know. Culled from extensive research by our editorial team in conjunction with industry consultants, this list brings you 50 names, whose numbers should be in your diary. (In alphabetical order)
11 HH Arvind Singh Mewar
Chairman and Managing Director of the HRH Group of Hotels
A graduate of Mayo College,Ajmer, HH Arvind Singh Mewar did a hotel management course in the UK and then went on to Chicago, US, where he even washed dishes, changed linen and served guests.
He is now managing trustee for the Maharana Mewar Charitable Foundation and chairman and managing director of the HRH Group of Hotels.
Both these organisations were established by his father HRH Bhagwat Singh Mewar who, after Independence, focused on the preservation of old forts and palaces and converting them into heritage hotels.
Keeping his father’s vision in mind, he continues to transform the past into the future to this day.
Singh began his career by voluntarily washing dishes, changing linen and serving guests in Chicago, US. He is now chairman and managing director of the HRH Group of Hotels.
12 Ashok Khanna
MD of IHHR Hospitality
Ashok Khanna has over three decades of experience in the business. He was educated at Doon School, followed by Cornell in New York, after which he joined The Oberoi Group and was given charge of several Oberoi properties as projects director.
Thereafter, Indus Hotels Limited was established as a subsidiary by The Oberoi Group to promote medium range hotels in the country. Khanna subsequently took over as president and CEO and introduced the Novotel brand to India. The Trident Hotels was another brand promoted by this company.
In 1999 IHHR Hospitality was formed, which owns and operates the spa, Ananda in the Himalayas. He expanded the brand and opened the Ista Hotel Bangalore, Ista Hyderabad, and recently, Ista Hotel in Aitsar.
Khanna was educated at Doon School, followed by Cornell in New York. He is largely considered being responsible for introducing the Novotel brand in India.
13 PRS Oberoi
Chairman & CEO, EIH Limited
Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi, better known as Biki Oberoi and India’s hotelier par excellence, has played a remarkable inning, growing the business his father, Raibahadur M S Oberoi, had built from scratch, to make the Oberoi Group at par with the world’s best hotel chains.
The Oberoi empire sits basically on two main pillars — EIH and EIH Associated — although there are some smaller subsidiaries and associated companies.
In addition to providing leadership for the management of hotels in seven countries, Biki Oberoi has pioneered the development of new Oberoi Hotels and Resorts and created a brand that has come to represent fine luxury hotels and personalised service around the world.
The new addition of luxury resort hotels such as Udaivilas, Vanyavilas, Amarvilas and Rajvilas have blended the world’s finest resorts with unique architecture.
In addition to providing leadership for the management of hotels in seven countries, Biki Oberoi has been instrumental creating a brand that represents fine luxury hotels.
14 Captain Nair
Founder and chairman of the Leela Hotel Group
Captain Nair, formerly a highly decorated senior officer in the Indian Navy, is the founder and chairman of the Leela Hotel Group, one of the largest conglomerates in the Indian hospitality industry.
The group owns and operates five-star hotels in Mumbai and Bengaluru as well as five-star beach resorts in Goa and Kovalam. He has also pioneered Leela Group’s foray into new areas such as infrastructure development, particularly by leading the development of a state-of-the-art airport in Kerala.
Captain Nair has been the recipient of the Indian Prime Minister’s National Tourism Award for six years. Before the Leela Group, Nair was a successful businessman in the garment industry and owned a garment export house.
Captain Nair has been the recipient of the Indian Prime Minister’s National Tourism Award for six years. Apart from founding the Leela Hotel Group, he also pioneered the group’s foray into infrastructure development.
15 Chander Baljee
Founder and Managing Director of Royal Orchid Hotels
Having grown up in a family of hoteliers in Shimla, Baljee always had an inclination towards the hospitality industry. He earned an MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, following which he took over Hotel Stay Long in Bengaluru and launched it as Hotel Harsha.
Baljee then began his expansion plans in 1985, when he acquired the land near Airport Road, which now houses the Royal Orchid.
Baljee currently runs five hotels in the city, which includes the five-star hotel Royal Orchid, a four-star property, Central Park, a three-star hotel, Harsha, a heritage property, Dominion Club and a recently acquired luxury resort and Metropole in Mysore. He also runs hotel management institute Presidency College, in Bengaluru.
Baljee currently runs five hotels in the city, which includes the five-star hotel Royal Orchid, a four-star property Central Park, the three-star Hotel Harsha, a heritage hotel Dominion Club and the recently acquired luxury resort Metropole in Mysore.
16 Dipak Haksar
COO, ITC Luxury Collection & Welcomhotels
With an advanced general managers program from Cornell University, Dipak Haksar began his career at ITC Maurya New Delhi in 1978. During his tenure in ITC, he held numerous positions, managing both leisure and business properties.
From ITC Maurya he moved to ITC Windsor, Bengaluru, a hotel he nurtured as resident manager before moving to Rajputana Sheraton Jaipur as manager and then to Umaid Bhawan Palace as GM. He spearheaded the launch of ITC Maratha in Mumbai, which won the Best Luxury Business Hotel Award in its first year of operation.
Also, during his tenure as vice president Operations Hotels Division and general manager ITC Maurya, the division’s flagship property underwent a metamorphosis in both product and service design, to emerge as one of the leading premium luxury business hotels. He won the H&SS National Award for Best General Manager.
Haksar spearheaded the launch of ITC Maratha in Mumbai, which won the Best Luxury Business Hotel award in its first year of operation. He also won the H&SS National Award for Best General Manager.
17 Gautam Anand
Vice-President, Pre-opening Operations, Hotels Division, ITC
He joined ITC in 1980 as a management trainee and was posted in Chennai, Hyderabad and Delhi. He was instrumental in the commissioning of ITC Kakatiya Hyderabad in 1995 and headed the property as general manager for five years.
In 2000, he took charge of ITC Maurya New Delhi as vice president and general manager. In 2005, Anand shifted to the divisional HO to head a cross-functional team as vice president, Operational Support and Quality.
At present, he is actively engaged in ensuring consistency in service design, sourcing quality products and has enabled the opening of ITC Royal Gardenia. He is currently engaged in the pre-opening preparedness of ITC Grand Chola Chennai and product planning for ITC Kolkata II and other green field projects.
He is actively engaged in ensuring consistency in service design, sourcing quality products and has enabled the opening of ITC Royal Gardenia. He is currently busy preparing to open the ITC Grand Chola in Chennai.
18 HH Gaj Singh II
The Maharaja of Jodhpur
The Maharaja’s major thrust has been in tourism, a sector with widespread benefits, which has emerged as the life-line of Rajasthan.
Besides the conversion of his own palaces into hotels, foremost among them the Umaid Bhawan, one of the Great Palace Hotels of the World and the Mehrangarh Fort, into an internationally acclaimed museum, the Maharaja has provided dynamic leadership to the innovative heritage hotel movement, undoubtedly the future of tourism in Rajasthan.
He also served, until recently, as the chairman of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation, Government of Rajasthan. The preservation of traditional arts and crafts, music, sport, particularly equestrian sport, and the conservation of our natural and man-made heritage remain other areas of strong interest and activity.
He is also the founder and creator of a number of philanthropic institutions and charitable trusts associated with education, religion, social welfare, medical care and the rehabilitation of military personnel.
The Maharaja has provided dynamic leadership to the heritage hotel movement, undoubtedly the future of tourism in Rajasthan, and also converted his own palaces into hotels.
19 Harsh Varma
Regional Vice President, India Dusit Bird
Varma, who has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry, embarked on his career path with The Oberoi Group. This experience then led to his becomeing the GM for two properties of the Ascott Group, the largest global serviced residence operator.
He continued as GM with Oakwood City Residence Bangkok, the largest serviced apartment development in Southeast Asia, and now to Dusit International as the regional vice president India.
Dusit Thai Public Company Thailand and Bird Hospitality Services have formed a joint venture company in India – Dusit Bird Hotels, which will not only manage all properties that Bird constructs, but will also actively source other partners to whom they can offer management expertise, thereby expanding the Dusit brand in India.
Dusit Bird Hotels has predicted the management of at least six hotels in India by 2013, including two properties in New Delhi and one in Jaipur which will be in operation by 2011.
The multi-lingual Varma has over 20 years of experience in the hospitality industry and is driving the growth of the newly formed joint venture between Dusit International and Bird Hospitality.
20 Jose Dominic
MD and CEO of Kerala-based CGH Earth
Jose Dominic has served on several National and State advisory panels on tourism for the Government and Industry bodies as the Secretary of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India and founder president of Kerala Travel Mart.
He has also been closely associated with the conservation movement and serves as the co-convener of Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage. He is past president of TiE – Kerala Chapter (The Indus Entrepreneurs) and Kerala Travel Mart Society and also was the president of the Cochin chamber of Commerce.
He is a member of the National Tourism Advisory Committee. He is a Chartered Accountant by qualification and prior to joining Casino Group of Hotels (now CGH Earth) he worked with India’s leading firm of Chartered Accountants Messrs –
AF Ferguson & Co.
He is a member of the National Tourism Advisory Committee and is a chartered accountant by qualification, having worked for Chartered Accountants Messrs – AF Ferguson & Co.
