The second season of the BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Summit and Awards was a two-day gala event held at The Leela Ambience Gurugram on 23rd and 24th March, 2017. This year's Summit focussed on how hospitality industry is 'Ramping Up for the Future'. One of the very special additions to the summit this year was the session on 'Pipeline Projections: India vs China', where experts drew parallels with two of the biggest markets for hospitality in the world. The two jam packed days featured sessions discussing New Business Channels; Revenue Management Strategies; Domestic Tourism; Emerging Technologies; Airline Traffic Projections; Social Media and Hospitality and other important issues including that of Talent Management.
The Awards evening was one-of-a-kind sit-down dinner held at the Pearl Ballroom of The Leela Ambience Gurugram with people cheering up for the winners of the night. The guest of honour for the evening was Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, who along with Anurag Batra, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of BW Businessworld, felicitated the industry people who have made their exemplary contribution to the Indian Hospitality Industry. The awards were given out to the noteworthy young talent in the industry.
The Awards ceremony was graced by the veterans from the hotel and restaurant industry, CEOs, hotel proprietors, chief architects, top managers, hospitality stalwarts, event managers, celebrity chefs and board members from the leading hospitality chains of India. The emcee commenced the session calling out names of the winners as the applause of the audience settled in the room.
The winners were overwhelmed with the honour and thanked BW Hotelier and all the associate sponsors for appreciating their efforts. "Awards and recognition always motivate one to work hard and achieve the impossible. This award has given me a boost, and I will make sure I do full justice to it," said Hotel Manager / Resident Manager of the Year, Cajetan Araujo, St Regis, Mumbai. Arun Sundararaj, Executive Chef, Taj Mahal Hotel, Mansingh Road, received the Jury Awards For Exemplary Contributions, said, "Despite so much contribution to the industry these awards help us improve in life and know more about the other aspects of the industry."
The Summit started with day-long engaging sessions with the best industry experts. Veteran hotelier K.B. Kachru, Chairman Emeritus & Principal Adviser, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia, was in conversation with Sourish Bhattacharyya, Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier. Kachru spoke about the time how he accidentally got into this business of hospitality and the lessons he learnt during his stint in the industry. He spoke of his many milestones and how he built the Asia Pacific region and took a big leap of faith for the same.
Kachru's stint in hospitality industry has given him a lot of connections with country heads and ambassador; he also opened for the audience a side of former PM Indira Gandhi; Feidel Castro, Yasser Arafat; how their warm gestures showed their interests and interests in hospitality.
A fireside chat with Patu Keswani, Chairman and MD of LemonTree Hotels and Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor of BW Hotelier, mentioned how LemonTree functionally trains disable and illiterate individuals to keep them as part of their workforce. "This attempt taken up is to help the 70 Mn to 100 Mn less fortunate people in India, who lack opportunity by the virtue of their birthplace," said Keswani.
Dilip Puri, Mentor, Marriott International, was one of the speakers at the Knowledge Session. He spoke on the dearth of Hospitality Management Institutes in India. In his lead presentation, he stressed on the importance of right kind of education in Hotel management institutes in India. Jasmine Saini, Head of Business Development of ITC mentioned that nearly 60 per cent of the wealth of India is concentrated with 1 per cent of our population. Henceforth, the services of ITC caters to every kind of individuals to suit the many faces of India from Luxury India to Budget India.
The Summit discussed issues of the F&B industry in a session called "Understanding the millennials and their rising expectations and fickle loyalties." The discussion saw few of the most prominent faces in the hospitality industry trying to decode what the millennials want, and how the F&B industry in today's time can step up its game. "The generation today is born in a time of plenty, they have high standards and we have to keep ours higher to cater to them. With the changing times, we are selling nostalgia in a modern way," said Zorawar Kalra (Founder and MD, Massive Restaurants). Celebrity Chef Kunal Kapoor stressed on the fact that dine out as an experience is changing every day, what was "Class" and "Hep" 3 years ago is not the same today. "People want change, today is not the time for only dining but experiential dining the next big thing in the industry is breakfast outlets," he added. Rajat Bhatia from Dineout spoke about the idea of "What we need to do right now is to make the right connection between the customer and restaurant. Right technology and its usage will be a key in this direction," he said.
National WinnersGM of the YearSaurabh Bakshi - GM, Sheraton Grand, Banglore Hotel
Shridhar B. Nair -- General Manager, The Leela Goa
GM of the Year (Upper Upscale)Chandrashekhar Joshi, GM, JW Marriot Mussorie Walnut Grove Resort & Spa
GM of the Year (Upscale)Sukhbeen Singh Tara, Lemon Tree Premier, Delhi Airport
GM of the Year (Midscale) Abdul Nasir Ahmed Shaikh , Courtyard by Marriot Pune(Chakan)
GM of the Year (Budget & Economy)Srinivas Kadadi -- Red Fox Hotel, Hyderabad
Hotel Manager /Resident Manager of the Year Cajetan Araujo, St Regis, Mumbai
DOSM of the YearVipul Kamboj, The Leela Ambience Gurugram
F&B Manager of the YearSachin Shet, The Leela Goa
Executive Chef of the YearYogen Dutta, ITC Grand Chola, Chennai
Chief Engineer of the YearRahul Prabhakar, ITC Maurya, New Delhi
Executive Housekeeper of the YearShruti Daruka, Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
Procurement Manager of the YearManish Kumar Jha - Pullman Novotel New Delhi
Front Office ManagerKaran Talwar, The Oberoi Grand , Kolkata
Spa Manager of the YearLalita Chhetri, Mayfair, Gangtok
PR / MarComm Manager of the Year Pratiti Rajpal, Grand Hyatt Mumbai
JURY AWARDS FOR EXEMPLARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE PROFESSION Michel Koopman - General Manager, The Leela Ambience Gurugram Hotel
Arun Sundararaj - Executive Chef, Taj Mahal Hotel, Mansingh Road, New Delhi
Rothin Banerjee- Chief Engineer, Taj Palace, New Delhi
Anthony Huang- Executive Chef , JW Marriott , Banglore
Further, the awards were distributed Zone wise for contributions in different segments in the hospitality industry - North, East, South and West respectively.
JURY AWARD FOR NOTEWORTHY YOUNG TALENTRitesh Choudhary -- Director (F&B), Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
Abhishek Basu -- Executive Chef, The Park New Delhi
Richa Bansal -- Marketing Communications Manager, Courtyard by Marriott, Agra
Amitabh Sinha - DOSM, The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata
NORTH ZONE WINNERS Hotel Manager / Resident Manager of the YearUtsav Garg -- Lemon Tree Premier New Delhi Airport
F&B Manager of the YearVishrut Gupta -- Pullman New Delhi Aerocity
Executive Chef of the YearNeeraj Tyagi -- Shangri-La's by Eros
Executive Housekeeper of the YearDeepak Sarin -- The Taj Mahal Hotel, Mansingh Road, New Delhi
Procurement Manager of the YearManish Kumar Jha -- Pullman Novotel New Delhi Aerocity
Front Office Manager of the YearSherry Padda -- The Leela Palace New Delhi
Spa Manager of the YearGurpreet Kaur -- ITC Maurya
PR / MarComm Manager of the YearUrvashi Malik Anand -- Pullman New Delhi Aerocity
EAST ZONE WINNERSHotel Manager / Resident Manager of the YearBinod Baral - Mayfair Gangtok
DOSM of the Year Prabhakar Kumar - Novotel Kolkata
F&B Manager of the Year Sabrina Dey - The Oberoi Grand
Executive Chef of the Year Sonu Koithara -- Taj Bengal
Chief Engineer of the Year Tarun Chattopadhyay -- ITC Sonar
Executive Housekeeper of the Year Ranjit Das - Taj Bengal
Procurement Manager of the Year Dhawal Bhimani -- ITC Sonar
PR / MarComm Manager of the Year Heena Upadhyay - Hyatt Kolkata
SOUTH ZONE WINNERSHotel Manager / Resident Manager of the Year
Arun Gupta - Lemon Tree Hotels, Hyderabad
DOSM of the Year Vikalp Raj - JW Marriott, Bangalore
F&B Manager of the Year Shaariq Akhtar - ITC Grand Chola, Chennai
Chief Engineer of the Year E. Ramakrishna - Crowne Plaza Adyar, Chennai
Executive Housekeeper of the Year Animesh Mitra - Lemon Tree Hotels, Hyderabad
Procurement Manager of the Year Natarajan Subramaniam - Crowne Plaza Adyar, Chennai
Front Office Manager of the Year Prateek Vashisht - The Leela Palace, Bangalore
Spa Manager of the Year Manish Jaiswal - JW Marriott, Bangalore
PR / MarComm Manager of the Year Usri Sen - The Leela Bangalore
WEST ZONE WINNERS DOSM of the Year Nilesh Fedane -- ITC Maratha, Mumbai
Executive Chef of the Year Manav Koul -- Sofitel BKC, Mumbai
Chief Engineer of the Year Praveen Sharma -- Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel & Lakeside Chalet, Mumbai
Executive Housekeeper of the Year Shruti Daruka -- Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai
Procurement Manager of the Year Ashish Sahni -- ITC Maratha, Mumbai
Front Office Manager of the Year Varun Mohan -- Grand Hyatt Mumbai
Spa Manager of the Year Husnavaz Dastur -- St Regis, Mumbai
