The third edition of Hotels Investment Forum (HIFI) by Burba Hotel Network (BHN) and Horwath HTL took place at The Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel in Mumbai. Speakers included Taj MD and CEO Raymond Bickson; Trident Hotels president Rattan Keswani; Carlson CEO and director Hubert Joly; Hilton president for global operations Ian Carter; Sarovar Hotels executive director Ajay Bakaya; InterGlobe Hotels president and CEO Uttam Davé and Berggruen Hotels MD and CEO Sanjay Sethi. Restauranters were also represented with McDonald’s senior director of marketing Rameet S Arora adressing a panel discussion.
The panel discussions covered a range of today’s burning issues like brand management and strategies in a social media age and especially in the hospitality context where there is alot of blurring of sub-brands going around as international brands try to tailor the product to the Indian market’s needs. The big boys of Indian hospitality also came to the forefront discussing their roadmap and strategies for the coming year. Revenue managers deliberated on where price and relationships with guests should meet and owners and management companies deliberated on the right balance of power, money and responsibility in a session entitled ‘The hotel management agreement and drawing a meaningful balance’ while the big question of funding saw some light in ‘How to finance your hotel project today’ which also saw the participation of Tourism Finance Corporation of India. HIFI also addressed the development and way forward in the mid-market and budget accommodation segments alongside the luxury segment. ‘Being independent or getting chained’ gave interesting insights to individual owners at crossroads wondering if they will be able to go the way without the expertise of a management company.
Minister for Tourism, government of India Kumari Selja graced the event, encouraging hoteliers to develop accommodation across segments, briefing them on facilitative moves being made by the government and pushing them to “do better than the best.” HIFI saw Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal accept the hall of fame award and Marriott International Lodging president and managing director accept the HIFI Aatithya Ratna Award. The Oberoi group’s PRS Oberoi and The Leela group’s CP Krishnan Nair were also present at HIFI.
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