Walked the talk

With over 2000 registered hotels in the country, being the president of the Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association of India (FHRAI) is a herculean task. After nine months in office, current FHRAI president Rajindera Kumar tells Conrad Egbert how his job has been far from smooth-sailing

What was the biggest challenge you faced when you took office as the president of the FHRAI last year?
Oh my gosh! It was a big problem. When I took over as the president of the FHRAI there was a lot to do just in order to get the association known again. It had lost contact with the Ministry Of Tourism and had no standing with them; we were totally out of the picture due to a lack of appropriate representation and absence of participation at industry events.

How did you deal with this?
I’ve had to go beyond the call of duty to correct this. The FHRAI has gained a lot of prominence and popularity since, and has made its presence felt in the ministry; in fact to such an extent that they now call me up whenever they have an event and personally ask me to be there to represent the FHRAI. And I do it! I go to every single meeting. Since October last year when I took over, I can proudly say I have not missed even one meeting.

What would you say is your biggest challenge now?
Our biggest challenge now is clearly the forthcoming Commonwealth Games. At the moment I see it as a totally mismatched situation with Delhi being torn apart with maintenance. I think, it’s high time they put an end to all the refurbishing and begin organising themselves to welcome the Commonwealth faculty.

As far as I’m concerned they should have been ready two years ahead of schedule, instead of trying to beat the clock at the last moment. The games matter a lot to the country and it should be executed well.

The media has reported consistently on problems including many of the stadia, which will not be ready in time for the games and this is clearly the biggest problem – how are they going to manage the games when the basic gaming facilities are not ready as yet?

Then we have the metro. I wish they’d gone overhead to save time and disruption. Delhi is in a total mess right now with half the city being dug up in several places. Connaught Place is also dug up everywhere. Why couldn’t they have handed out phases to different contractors?

Then there is Delhi’s luxury tax, which is charged on the printed tariff, but if a hotel is doing only 50% of business then what? We’ve been saying give us the option to charge tax on actuals, but that hasn’t been agreed to as yet.

Instead we’ve been asked to change our rates, which I have discouraged. It’s not good for the industry and will affect the country’s tourism on a larger scale.

Rising prices is another challenge that we’re constantly battling with. Everything is going up including the prices of raw materials, food and vegetables.

Then there is the interruption of electricity supply. In hotels we have to rely on generators and that adds on the cost of fuel.

Also generators cannot supply the level of electricity that is required; this low voltage and fluctuation also wears out our sophisticated equipment and machinery, which has cost the hotel a lot of money. Infrastructure is an important part to enable hotels to run efficiently.

But at least for the games, I’m hoping the infrastructure should be in place. Now whether it’s going to be sustainable in the future, one can’t say.

For example, sidewalks have been broken and then redone, but not properly; you’ll be busy fixing things instead of running the games! But the hotels are ready for the games even though the ministry has been dropping a lot of bookings. I don’t think there is much of interest coming in from abroad.

Why are bookings not coming in? Are people not interested in the CWG?
The top rung of athletes is shying away. I’m not sure, but from what I hear they feel the stadia are not up to the mark.

People are backing out. But then when you see the reports in the papers and on TV about the slow progress on the games what can you expect? The commonwealth federation has people here and they report back to headquarters on the progress.

I guess it hasn’t been positive, so this has affected the number of visitors expected to come for the games.

Are we still looking forward to the games though?
Absolutely! We’re definitely looking forward to the games and we’ll see how things work out eventually.

How is the FHRAI president elected? And who’s next in line?
It goes in rotation – North, East, West, South; this time the president will be elected from the East. The regional member committees, who are mostly owners of hotels or directors, and in their absence the general managers, will send in votes to six people from each region (24 members for the country).

After looking through the list of past presidents, many have taken office more than once. Is this an indication of their superior leadership?
I’m sure many of them have been great, but I wouldn’t use that as a rule of thumb. Often the position is used for personal gains. You see, I believe in giving other people a chance and taking on fresh perspectives; it always helps.

What in your opinion makes a good hotel?
I think what makes a good hotel is if it’s well planned, tightly run and brilliantly managed. Whether it’s the ambience, daily maintenance and upkeep or even the little things; but it should be tightly run.

The staff should be highly motivated and positive and guest satisfaction should be on top of the priority list. All of this rests on the general manager (GM) and his team. If the GM isn’t capable enough, the hotel will never do well.

What is the one thorn in your side?
The unorganised sector! The one-, two- and three-star hotels need to be policed. There is no clarity on this segment either from the government or in the star category, which needs to be worked on desperately.

They’re running wild. They do what they want and no one can say anything to them because nothing is clear – what the boundaries are, what they can do, what they can’t do.

As a personal choice which are your top hotels in the country?
I cannot choose because all chains are equally good, but all I can say on a general level is that all hotel chains need to be highly motivated organisations to excel.

Of course some hotels have been standing out a little from the rest due to either great improvements or new ideas and those include the Leela – it has shown a great improvement, Taj is well established, ITC, Hyatt, The Oberoi Group – they are all great hotels. And all of this depends heavily on the GM of a hotel and the team. Get that wrong, and it’s over!

Who will be the next president?

He will be elected from the Eastern region
He will be elected from a six-member regional committee that will be formed in October 2010 after the current one is dissolved
The Eastern regional committee will nominate one member out of six for the post of president
The national managing committee comprising a total of 24 members (six from each zone) will then elect the president

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