The jury deliberated to identify the high performers from the industry across India for Hotelier India Awards 2015
by BABITA KRISHNAN
Four months of hard work – getting the criteria in place, inviting nominations from across the country, follow ups, going through more than 500 nominations to sift out the incomplete ones, and get the rest of them ready for the grand jury – all came together wonderfully at the jury meet that was held on the November 20th in Mumbai.
The meet, held at the Trident BKC Mumbai, was hosted by general manager Visheshwar Raj Singh and his young team who ensured that the jury members wanted for nothing during the day. The grand
21-member jury that comprised of Jean-Michel Casse, senior VP, operations, Accor India; Kapil Chopra, president, The Oberoi Group; Naveen Jain, president, Duet India; Satyen Jain, CEO, Pride Hotels; KB Kachru, chairman, South Asia, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group; Rajiv Kaul, president, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts; Rattan Keswani, deputy MD, Lemon Tree Hotel Company & chairman, Carnation Hotels; Suresh Kumar, MD, Fortune Hotels; Mandeep Lamba, MD, India, Hotels & Hospitality Group, JLL; Hemant Oberoi, consultant, Taj Group of Hotels; Rahul Pandit, MD and CEO, Roots Corporation Limited; Dilip Puri, MD, India & regional VP, South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts; Zaid Sadiq, executive director, Prestige Group; Sanjay Sethi, MD and CEO, Chalet
Hotels; Aly Shariff, senior VP operations, Premier Inn South Asia and Asia Pacific; Zia Shiekh, chairman and MD, Svenska Design Hotels; AD Singh, Owner, Olive; Kurt Straub, VP, operations, Hyatt 5 tt International; Manav Thadani, chairman, HVS APAC; Vijay Thacker, director, Horwath HTL; and Daniel Welk, VP, operations India, Hilton Worldwide, got together in the morning looking forward to going through all the nomination forms that had come from across the country.
Saikumar, deputy managing director, ITP Publishing set the day rolling by giving the jury members an introduction to the group and its leadership in various verticals. Acknowledging the role played by Homi Aibara in shaping Hotelier India Awards right from its inception in 2009 and in the criteria for this year’s nominations, he also asked all present to observe a two-minute silence. Bibhor Srivastava, publishing director, ITP Publishing, then gave an overview of the various achievements and the B2B platforms that ITP has been successfully creating all
through 2015 for different industries and trying to create synergies between them.
It was then time for the day’s proceedings to begin. Babita Krishnan, editor, Hotelier India, gave a short introduction to the awards, the nomination criteria, process of nomination and the jury process. The jury then got down to scrutinising all the nominations that had been classified broadly under three categories: Upscale to Luxury, Midmarket to Upscale, and Budget to Economy. The nominations had been invited for 17 hospitality functions in a property – both front and back of house – that make it a success and ensure guest satisfaction. The various participating hoteliers were competing for the coveted “Hotelier of the Year” in the categories of: green practices, procurement, laundry, marketing and PR, housekeeping, chief engineering, F&B, chef, IT, HR, revenue, project management, spa and fitness, front office manager, director of rooms and of course general manager. Nominations were also invited for the unsung heroes , who have gone beyond their line of duty to ensure guest satisfaction.
The most prestigious award, the general manager of the year, has a little different judging criteria. And following tradition, the three consultants on the jury panel, shortlisted the names of GMs who would be called for the interviews on the day of the awards. This was a tough one, since not only was this the one with maximum number of nominations, it also had them struggling to shortlist the better amongst the best.
After a lot of discussion and friendly banter amongst the jury, who also are heads of their brands in the country, the day ended with the team sitting down to collate the results and preparing to inform the shortlisted nominations.
With palpable excitement in the air, with the second step towards the Awards Night getting completed, the Hotelier India team began preparing for the grand finale on December 9th 2015!
