Exclusive Interview | Sunandita Das, President & Founder of Urbane Luxury Services Inc, Canada

“I look for the attitude, period. Skills are transferable, attitude is not. Attitude is a combination of your upbringing, culture, values, education, lifestyle, beliefs – in short, it is who you are.”

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

I messed it up. At a time when my family insisted I must get through Engineering or Medical, I failed all of those National exams. I ended up getting on for Aeronautical & Hotel Management. Wide spectrum. For normal students, the choice should have been easier & better. But for the abnormal thoughts, I was born with, I chose Hotel School simply because I knew nothing about it, and it looked stylish. In less than 1 month I fell in love with the type of environment, particularly I came from a regimented background, convent discipline, lot of diet/sleep/education/fitness/training schedules, but in hotel school, I only had parties, smokes, drinks, aimless batchmates, nightlife, no discipline, and loose relationships. If you know what I mean. However, in the 6th month, I was given the taste of reality, when I entered the stage of hotel internships, and working hours/workload/behaviors of hoteliers everything flipped. I still remember I used to have sore dreams, and I cried out of physical pain, severally, but I was ashamed to express to my family because it was a choice I made to join the school

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

What takes any person to succeed in any industry is to be stubborn in their final decision, aka vision. Everything in between will change, take its own course, be flexible for those, but just don’t budge on your vision about yourself. Have the grandest vision for your own life, be so powerful that nobody gets to pick your choices, not even your parents when you are 21. The turning point in my life was when I got my first job, paying less than $200 but in my family, there was not 1 discussion on salary: tuition cost ratio analysis. Instead, my family was extremely happy & supportive, I think because they did not even expect me to get a job. I saw a lot of my friends were being criticized, analyzed by parents/friends/family about how poor the pay is in comparison to the cost of tuition, some I even heard discussed Grade 4 government clerks making more money than a hotel’s starting salary. My family was different – I was shown the directions only until I was able to take my own decisions and live through my decisions

I just knew, if I make a decision, I will stand by it. Because if I don’t respect myself, nobody else will. Yes, our industry is hard, particularly F&B. Lot of physical works, odd hours, we are left with not much time for ourselves, & of course, it’s slow rewarding – but it is my decision to stay in it. All you need to do is make a decision, burn the bridge & move ahead. After a while, you will notice a phenomenal uptrend in your own confidence, service deliveries, growth, ability to take sharpest decisions quickest. I grew not just as a professional, thanks to Oberoi, but I also grew as a person who knows exactly what she wants in life, and knows how to get it without seeking favors or relying on “network is net worth”

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 the attitude, period. Skills are transferable, attitude is not. Attitude is a combination of your upbringing, culture, values, education, lifestyle, beliefs – in short, it is who you are. I like to hire people who have the ability to call a duck a duck and not a peacock. If I have to hire people who say I am the best, that certainly limits my professional growth because all they will do is just follow me and make a crowd around me, without adding any value to my growth, my vision. I don’t allow paparazzi, it’s is distractive & destructive. My style of working is abnormal, I don’t read financial statements the way others do, I question how I am expected to project for 5 years, within a week, with no historical research or data available to me. Of course in my career, not always I had time to pick my entire team, some came as a legacy. Some offered me many forms of kindness, to be in my team – but I am reserved in my own ways. A bit arrogant is what the industry says behind me, but I just know what I want and what I don’t want that is all.

To work in my team is pretty simple – you need to have similar hunger to be successful, I worked with guys who were 10th dropouts, I feel proud today they are successful and I am still in touch with them time and again to guide them when they need my suggestions. A closely-knit team, or family. I still remember one of my team members, I nailed him for using his father’ reference to get a job at Four Season’ London – usually, normal guys will not like my chat and go ahead and take that job because its Four Seasons, it is the UK, and his father is filthy rich.

To my satisfaction, Zubin is his name, he turned down the job offer and assured me he will build himself without undue references. That is how I work. You walk halfway I will do the rest for you. I grow people with me, I don’t grow on people. Reminds me of when I held back my corporate role until I was allowed to promote a bunch of apprentices who were being kicked around several admin doors because they did not come with influential references

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

A positive trend is – salary is on the high. Of course, the pandemic is exceptional. We cannot compare the current scenario. But a lot of focus on innovation, technology, price wars, competitive job market, are some of the expected outcomes. Globally, I see the industry evolving, at least in North America, our focus is more humane, more out of the box, we are extra sensitive towards team members, mentoring, coaching, cross-functional job roles are significant now to avoid layoffs. Interestingly, a lot of new career avenues opening up. India is far behind at this point in time, because of different mindsets – a hotel school graduate is only trained to seek a job within Hotels/BPO/Retail – a very limiting mindset. We hope to see an amalgamation of the 2 continents

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

Tech is an enabler but not a replacement for human intelligence. Yes, I experienced some fascinating techs in years, however, the turning point is – it is us humans who turn the techs into memorable experiences for the guests. Having said that, some developments specifically in budget hotels, courtyards, etc have been phenomenal – the processes are not tech-focussed absolutely, but to an extent yes. What is nice is the fact that their processes enhance the guest experience by fast-tracking all works – dining, check-in, room service ordering, housekeeping services, etc. That is what corporate travelers require, and that is what we get.

Few noteworthy are the Self meeting space booking Apps, and MICE portals for virtual conventions/exhibitions, and of course service automated AI continue to be on the rise post-pandemic

Education system be more affordable & compassionate

As Abdul Kalam had once said, if India has to grow, its education system has to change. Being in the hotel industry, of course, I am in touch with several hotel schools in India, their education systems/practices. What I observed is – there is no real education in India that a student can utilize. 10 years back IHM was teaching manual hotel booking register when the world had Opera software implemented. At present I see all hotel schools those who made it to the national level of publicity – all have great infrastructure, premises, equipment – send students for an internship to Condenast (that is what the last school boasted to me).

We need to believe, students in India don’t pay their fees, their parents do. Hyping education in the name of super infrastructure etc does not mean “well educated”. Instead of investing in those useless branding, marketing, infrastructure, and having a high paying board of directors for credibility purposes, please invest in reducing the cost of education, and seek industry leaders to build a “Student Loan” facility helping students learn their own accountability to fund their own education

It is weird when I speak to all these colleges, and each uses a standard phrase in their conversation….” we are unique…”. It seems like I am interviewing a fresher, who is taught to reply to the interviewer with stylish answers. All Indian colleges think, if they copy Lausanne or EHL or a Vatel, their students will become like the pass outs of those colleges. It is absolutely false. See how American students study under the accountability of student loans and scholarships, learn these ways to impart to Indian students. Keep it affordable but meaningful for students. Doing an internship with Condenast will not get the student a career, but being financially accountable for education will naturally widen the horizons at par with international students

Mentoring in the real sense

A culture, lifestyle of Mentoring is absolutely missing in India. At home, in school, in colleges, and also at workplaces. I am ex-Indian management, all the HR policies of Indian hotels are very bookish and non-objective. If we take this gap as an opportunity, then from a young age it is most possible to bring out a better mindset in the future workforce. For example, not knowing English should not be a hindrance for a newly recruited waiter, who will for the rest of his life clean dishes back of the house cause he can’t converse well. If we nurture them, if we emphasize a KPI-linked mentoring practice starting in schools for teachers – then it not only measures the performance of the students, but also the teachers/professors.

Otherwise, there is a big question mark – how do teachers & professors get rated, or performance appraised? Why are there non-performing teachers on the boards of Central/State Government schools including IHM, for decades, when highly qualified teachers are struggling to find jobs, and resort to private tutoring? Students get measured by marks, what is the transparent policy to measure teachers? An action plan of a student’s 10 years of life in advance, creates a vision, goal, purpose, roadmap for a student, and most importantly his decision-making abilities sharpen. I studied in IHM – I was immature then, but now I know I would want to have better faculty for my next generation