The Enduring Of Hospitality

Dr. Jyotsna Suri, the 64 year old veteran in hospitality business, serves as the chairperson and managing director of Bharat Hotels and The Lalit Hotels. Jyotsna has been actively spearheading the business after her husband Lalit Suri passed away in 2006. Today, the Lalit Hotels and the Bharat Hotels stand as a shining examples of how the competitive world of hospitality can be run profitably around the world. The latest addition to the Lalit brand of hotels is the recently opened Lalit London, a dream that her husband had many years ago. And, on 26 January, 2017, that dream translated into a reality at 181 Tooley Street, London. The 180-year-old neo baroque edifice, which once housed the erstwhile St. Olave's Grammar School, is now The Lalit London, a luxury boutique hotel that features 70 beautifully designed rooms, "each ornamented with bespoke Indian art - combining Indian culture with a quintessentially British charm," says the hotels website. Located a stone's throw away from Tower Bridge, the hotel is discreetly tucked away in the heart of city -conveniently close to many of London's stunning attractions and business hotspots. Suri's company is said to have invested £50 million and five years on refurbishment of this old building.

Suri, who is an alumni of the famous Lawrence School, Sanawar and an English literature graduate from Miranda House College, Delhi University, took over as chairperson and MD in 2006. In November 2008, Suri decided to rebrand all its hotels as 'The LaLiT' from The Grand - Hotels, Palaces & Resorts. This was done to pay tribute to the company's founder chairman Lalit Suri. According to the company, The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, an enterprise of Bharat Hotels, is India's largest and the fastest growing privately owned hotel company which offers 17 luxury hotels, with 3600 rooms in the 5 Star deluxe segment with 11 operational hotels and 6 under development/restoration (including three overseas). The operational hotels include one in Delhi, Mumbai, Srinagar, Goa, Bangalore, Udaipur, Khajuraho, Bekal (Kerala), Jaipur, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Mangar & now London. Suri has also forayed the brand Lalit into mid-segment hotels under the brand - 'The Lalit Traveller'. The first two hotels under this brand have already opened in Jaipur and Khajuraho. At least 25 more such hotels are planned in the next five years.

Suri was also the president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI). She has been part of the business delegations of the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister on some of their overseas visits, the latest was with Arun Jaitley to UK in February.

As part of the corporate social responsibility, Jyotsna has been driving Project Disha, an initiative of the Lalit Suri Foundation that seeks to assist school students and youth from the local population to have access to quality "education leading to employment" and to equip them - to understand the benefits & opportunities available in today's economic scenario. As per her direction, the area of interventions undertaken under the project includes establishment of a Library and supplementing teaching in the areas of English and General Knowledge at school level and, providing employment oriented vocational training in the hospitality sector including computer literacy, personality development, spoken English courses and life skills training with a special emphasis on workplace behaviour to disadvantaged youth in the livelihood skill centers that have also been instituted alongside. These centers are currently operating at three locations across Khajuraho, Udaipur and Bekal. This initiative is being managed by SEED, a National NGO. Under Project Disha, over 5,400 schools and over 3,400 vocational training centres are listed as the beneficiaries for the year ended March 31, 2016.