Rattan Keswani stepped away from his position as Deputy Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd and Director, Carnation Hotels, last year, after a tenure of a decade there. Prior to that, he was President, Trident Hotels (Part of EIH Ltd – Oberoi Group); he worked with Oberoi Hotels and Resorts for over three decades in many roles, in India and abroad.
Now an independent consultant and coach, what has remained steadfast in this legendary hotelier’s 40-year-old career is his passion for the industry, his humility and a never-say-never attitude to learn – from situations, locations, people… He attributes his success entirely to the people and teams he has worked with. And therein lies his greatness.
The book ‘Check In, Never Out’, a captivating chronicle about his extraordinary life, gives readers an intimate window into the inner workings of an hotelier’s existence.
In an exclusive interview with us, Keswani shares delightful anecdotes from his journey as an author.
What triggered you to write your own biography?
The seed of thought had been planted many years ago, nearly 15 years, if I recall right. It started off with the typical “complaining” cocktail conversation with colleagues. We thought we should pen a “tell-all” kind of story, listing our woes and suggestions.
But while working in different locations, with the long hours that hospitality entails, I never really got down to it. Also, the narratives kept changing and new learnings emerged many times. I used to share my learnings of the times past, in new locations, with newer teams in an effort to humanise my position and to draw in their energies to help me lead them better. But each location brought in new complexities and most times, the tales of the past had lost their usefulness and operative relevance. The mindsets, the needs of different age groups, nationalities, impact of local conditions (post war in Saudi Arabia, post IPKF in Sri Lanka) – all these were impactful. I went through many a change in my personality and outlook towards people, processes, as well as an understanding of responsibilities of a leader.
My team at Lemon Tree Hotels Ltd and Carnation Hotels used to keep reminding me about this dream. The stories were repetitive too, for them. A few months before I stepped away from my last role, one of them in jest said that I should finally pen my thoughts, while I had time at hand, or risk forgetting them forever, as I grew older. The comment resonated with me and I started in real earnest, mid of last year.
What was the process of chronicling your entire life of 40 years as a hotelier, into a book, like? How long did it take?
It was a stop-start, with frustrating early attempts in August 2022. My typing speed was limited and writing in long hand was challenging – as I was transcribing episode one, my thoughts were many episodes forward. Many pages were torn in frustration. An acquaintance, who was a journalist, suggested a program I could download, to voice-record the paragraphs. But the edits became difficult. I reached out to known publishers who made the task sound even more challenging. Finally in January 2023, I found Story Mirror, an online publishing company, who has been nothing short of stellar with their support. I went to Mumbai thrice and voice-recorded about 14 hours for them to transcribe – which were then sent back and forth for edits. I added about five hours thereafter, using a sound recording platform called Audacity. Finally, we had a workable manuscript by 15th April. Many more edits and changes, additions and deletions lead to a blueprint and a cover layout on 10th July and online bookings began on 21st July.
What was the most difficult part of writing your biography? How did you overcome that?
I guess the typical “writer’s block”. Not knowing if the narrative should be in a third party style or otherwise. Which parts to be kept out, if they sounded controversial. Which episode/ story would stoke reader interest from an industry agnostic point of view. The effort was to avoid sounding preachy. One of the young editors in the Story Mirror team felt that two episodes sounded like a Civics’ lesson and recommended changes. In fact, I have mentioned this conundrum in my epilogue too. After the third edit, we got some semblance of shape and style.
What were your biggest learnings from the entire experience?
Telling stories is easy, scripting and writing them is challenging – once written, words are “carved in stone” and need to stand the test of time and scrutiny of relevance and truth.
Any autobiographers/ authors you have been inspired by?
‘Wings of Fire’ by Arun Thomas and APJ Abdul Kalam; ‘Faster than Lightning’ by Usain Bolt and ‘Will’ by Will Smith and Mark Manson
What was the inspiration behind the title of the book ‘Check In Never Check Out’?
The teams I worked with. There was so much to learn and share about their life, their needs and changing motivations; their fatigue, their tears and fears…
The hotel environment is a cauldron with so much ‘electricity’ that can get sparked in many ways. As Shakespeare said in Merchant of Venice, “the world is a stage where every man must play a part…” The various teams and departments are part of so many orchestras playing concurrently and rarely in dissonance. When some parts don’t come together, others support the effort and uplift – but rarely do they fail. There are thousands of moments of truth every day – but celebrations and recognition for them is little and far between. Crisis brings out the humaneness within, and from them that is impossible to describe in words. I saw so many such moments in various places, culminating in the days of 26/11 attacks. The book is an ode to them.
There are a few people I have specifically mentioned in the acknowledgements’ page, in the book. Without them, I would not have achieved the success that I did. They were the inspiration too.
Hotelier, coach, consultant, author… which avatar is your most favourite? And why?
Mentor and coach: I feel if my learnings can help take other’s ships to their desired shores, despite the tides and storms, I would have achieved a larger objective for myself.
