Exclusive Interview | Hemant Gupta, General Manager, Holiday Inn Express Kolkata Airport - PreOpening

Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?

January 2003, was the year when my journey as a Hotelier began with The Trident in Jaipur as a F&B Associate. It has been 17 years now and have been fortunate to work with some great Indian & International Brands in the Country. A Hotel Management Graduate, from Oriental School in Kerala, my journey took me to 7 different states of India: Rajasthan, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Delhi NCR, Tamil Nadu & West Bengal; and considerable years of my experience has been with Hyatt.

My Managerial role started in 2007 with Le Meridien in Jaipur, as a Restaurant Manager, to lead the Coffee Shop, Bar & The Indian Specialty. To further deepen my knowledge in F&B, I took the role of Banquet Manager with The Leela Kempinski in Kovalam, in 2008.

In 2010, my First Pre-Opening assignment knocked my door, for Hyatt Regency in Pune, as Events & Conference Assistant Manager. 2 years later, in 2012, came my second Pre-Opening assignment with Hyatt, to launch Hyatt Place Brand in India, in the City of Ruins, Hampi.

Pre-Opening assignments was something which I started enjoying and came in 2014 was my Third assignment, for opening of second Hyatt Place in Udyog Vihar, Gurugram Delhi NCR, as an Assistant General Manager. To broaden my knowledge in Hotels, I switched roles and headed the Rooms, Human Resource and Engineering functions of the Hotel.

My love for Pre-Opening Hotels is never ending, and hence now I am in my Fourth Pre-Opening Assignment, and my First stint with Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), to open a Beautiful and Smart Holiday Inn Express Hotel, opposite the Kolkata International Airport, which will make the Future Travelers #morethanready and focuses on Simple Smart Travel.

Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?

Everyone has their own definition to success. If one has to be successful, then one has to keep adding value; to yourself, your guests and your stakeholders.

Editor: What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring?  If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?

I look for morals and values; the person is made of. I look for the value addition that a person can do in my team, create balance and foster teamwork. One has to be real and be true to themselves, to work with me.

Editor: What according to you can trainees do while they are training at hotels to make it a win-win for them & the hotel/unit?

Hotel Exposure Trainings are extremely important, and I can only recommend that all Hotel Management students should spend equal amount of time in all the departments. It’s too early to make up a mind even before the start of internship, that which department they want to spend maximum time in. It eventually burns them out. This is the only time you get to work in all areas, so why not make best use of it.

Editor: What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?

Environmental Sustainability and the fight to reduce Carbon Footprints, is on the rise like never before. This is going to be big game changer in Hospitality, as the impact can be immediately seen on your bottom line.

While all the Hotels are moving into this direction, this can be evidently visible in the newly built upcoming hotels, which are now focused on using natural resources by creating efficient designs to reduce. Holiday Inn Express Kolkata Airport is one of the newly designed hotels of IHG, which makes great usage of natural lights by having large windows at lobby and even back of the house areas. IHG has taken Environmental sustainability to higher levels by making Carbon Reduction as one of our Core KPI’s.

Editor: Tech is now an enabler for great hospitality. Can you share with us some of the tech that goes into creating your guest experience? 

We have always looked at Technology for providing great guest experiences. At IHG we have been looking at creating value for our Stakeholders and Owners as well. We use cloud based technology platform, IHG Concerto, which is seamless combination of our Guest Reservations System and Price Optimization Software. This continue to strengthen our enterprise and enhance revenue delivery system.

To further strengthen our guest experience, our WiFi Guest network, IHG Connect, is providing seamless connectivity. In future, a guest would have the ability to stream content on in-room smart TV’s.

Editor: Two things you would like to change in the industry.

1. I would look at ways on how we can remove Sugar sachets from Café’s & Restaurants. A sugar sachet has a huge impact in environment which we don’t see, as it easily misses the eye. Every sugar sachet, in addition to paper, also has a plastic layer inside to prevent it from moisture. This needs to go out, just like the plastic straws. If we can have Salt & Pepper in crusher, why not Sugar.

2. Remove the concept of Sunday Brunches from Cafés &Restaurants. While it is an important part of F&B Business, however if someone has to do a research on this subject, the kind of food waste that we generate in just on one Sunday is huge. We are wasting resources way too fast.

Holiday Inn Express Kolkata Airport - PreOpening

Editor: What can we expect from your hotel in the coming year?

In my current assignment, my Hotel, Holiday Inn Express Kolkata is in its Pre-Opening stages. It’s a smartly designed 125 Keys property, nestled in the centre of a 4 acres of beautiful landscape and just 800 metres of walking distance from the Boarding Gate of Kolkata International Airport.

The plan is to establish this property as an Airport Hotel, which will be used by Transit travellers moving in and out of Kolkata, and also as a great Business Hotel to the likings of all our Corporate Guests, with us being only 15 minutes from the IT Hub of Rajarhat and 20 minutes from Sector V.

The Hotel also features our All Day Dining Café, Great Room, serving light bites and beverages. In coming months, we foresee Great Room, operating like an Airport Lounge. It will be a quick stopover for all our Transit guests to take a quick bite or have candid farewell meetings before a final goodbye, as Wi-Fi is always Free and Boarding gates are just a 5 minutes’ drive or 10 minutes’ walk, whatever a Guests chooses to prefer.