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

After pursuing MBA, I quickly followed my professional career in the hospitality industry. I secured a job as a management trainee at ITC to begin with and then got posted to one of the leading hotels for 3 years. I then moved into an exchange program abroad where I worked for 20-25 years in various destinations across the world.

Following the overseas stint, I returned to India and worked with Taj Lands End for some time after which I joined The Ambassador, Mumbai.

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

To succeed in any industry, determination, skills and patience is the key. The same applies to hospitality industry too. To succeed in this industry, one must be focused on goals, be creative and innovative, and be good at public relations. Since it is a guest- driven industry and you want to pamper them to the absolute fullest, your demeanour must be warm, welcoming and must possess real-time problem-solving abilities.

Share with us 5 skills that you think will be critical for a hospitality career in the future.

Hospitality industry has been changing continuously according to the needs of the modern-day travellers and technological development. With that being said, one needs to possess strong analytical skills along with foresight for new concepts in Food & Beverages. As the industry keeps seeing new trends, one must be flexible in quickly adopting and aligning themselves with the same.

One of the foremost skills that an individual must have in hospitality industry is to maintain strong guest relations. Patrons love personalized services during their stay and one who knows their customers and their preferences better gains popularity for their work in the long run.

Last but not the least, though hospitality sector is one that most turn to for jobs, it is also an industry seeing high attrition rates. As a leader, one must be equipped with the skill to retain staff to guarantee top-notch services and cost optimization.

Launching something new is both an exciting opportunity and a responsibility. Share with us a deep dive into your process for these new launches.

We all know change is the only constant. In order to attract new patrons and retain the existing ones, we need to offer something brand new. Before unveiling our new menus or the recently retrofitted and renovated rooms, we conduct thorough market research that involves understanding the current trends, customers’ needs and their wants.

We then believe in the concept and apply the humanized ideas at touchpoints with the consumers to maximize their retention. We deep dive in making the stay and meal immersive for all our patrons for which we keep retrofitting our food and beverage menus with new-age innovative recipes while also paying attention to the ambience to connect with the audience.

What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring?

Every talent is unique in their way to tackle tasks at hand. While selecting the talent, I see and evaluate the candidate’s potential to grow, their out-of-the-box thinking abilities and their educational background.

What is your favorite interview question & why?

My preferred question to the candidates is “How is the industry evolving and how would they act to make the hotel to be at par with it?”

This question gives a summary about the individual’s understanding about the industry and their problem-solving capabilities along with their personality while answering the questions.

Share some of your secrets in keeping an engaged, safe, and happy team.

A strong and engaged team is that which is involved in all the decisions that lead to success or learnings. I trust in involving the staff in all the decision-making process that involves brainstorming sessions. Looking at the larger picture, every individual wants to thrive in their career path and showing them the path to achieve their dreams keeps them engaged with their purpose in the long run.

Share with us some new learnings from this project for you, personally.

The biggest learning for me is to learn How to make a heritage hotel profitable & successful which is very difficult in the current times given the Hotel is about 30-40 years old while being surrounded by fierce competition.