Anuraag Bhatnagar on Heading South Asia's First St Regis
By Rashmi Pradhan
WITH 25 years in the business, 13 of those with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Anuraag Bhatnagar is looking forward to his new role as Area General Manager India, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and General Manager of St. Regis’s first South Asia hotel recently opened in Mumbai.
Speaking on the transformation process for the hotel, which used to be the Palladium before, Bhatnagar said, ’We had three to six months to plan and prepare before starting full-fledged operations under the St. Regis brand. Since the hotel was already operational when Starwood took over the management, there were multiple challenges. We had to upgrade and enhance the kitchen and ensure that back areas and food production didn’t suffer. While enhancing associate lockers, we also had to ensure that associates didn’t suffer. We have made significant changes not only in terms of design but also things that matters to guests. We invested and created a butler pantry on each floor to ensure quick service for our guests. We also created the also infrastructure to support the service. Then we changed the lobby to a drawing room and changed the supporting kitchens to support the drawing room.’
Bhatnagar shared his marketing strategy telling us that the hotel was focusing on selling its 39 residential suites. ’It is a unique product; a hotel within a hotel. We have a separate sales strategy for each of the segments including MICE, corporates, weekend travelers, and weddings,’ he added
Bhatnagar told us that St Regis as a brand was a first in India, and that they were working hard to change the mindset of the customer. ’We had a high pre-opening budget of which 20 per cent was kept aside for training and orientation. All our associates including myself underwent a brand immersion training. Investment on associates’ training, brand emersion and educating the associates on St. Regis rituals is crucial so that it becomes the part of our DNA,’ he said.
When asked about his journey with Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Bhatnagar said, ’It has been an amazing journey. I am primarily from the F&B department and it’s been a great learning curve for me. My last assignment was as the Area General Manager for Westin Mumbai--another enhancement in terms of how to compete with other established global brands in a tough competitive set up where you have the best international brands all in a 5 to 10 kilometre radius. I believe that journey has lead to this. Starwood entrusting me with the responsibility of leading the first St Regis in South Asia, which is a fantastic opportunity.’
The author is Assistant Editor of BW Hotelier.
