THE FIRST BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Award and Summit was held over two days, on March 21 and 22, 2016, at The Leela Ambience Gurgaon Hotel. Both days were stuffed with informative panel discussions and keynote addresses which all spoke around the theme of innovation and hospitality.
The event began with the symbolic lighting of the lamp by Yateendra Sinh, CEO of Lausanne Hospitality Consulting; Dilip Puri, Managing Director (India) and Regional Vice-President (South Asia), Starwood Hotels; Bhuvanesh Khanna, CEO BW Communities; Sourish Bhattacharyya, Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier and Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier.
In his keynote address to the gathering, Dilip Puri, Managing Director (India) and Regional Vice-President (South Asia), Starwood Hotels spoke of How New Technologies Drive Customer Engagement. The Starwood Experience.
Next, Rohit Khosla, Senior Vice-President (Operations), Taj Hotels, gave the Innovation Forum, Keynote Address on Innovations in the Hospitality Business.
One of the highlights of the day was the honouring of Chef Hemant Oberoi who became the first person to enter the BW Hotelier Hall of Fame. He was honoured with a certificate handed over to him by Chef Manisha Bhasin, Senior Executive Chef, ITC Maurya. Oberoi was also part of a session Being Hemant Oberoi which saw him in conversation with Sourish Bhattacharyya and Bikramjit Ray.
The rest of the day was divided into panel discussions which ranged from the Town Hall meet moderated by Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor of BW Hotelier, which saw panellists, Mahesh Aiyer, COO (South), The Lemon Tree Hotels; Zubin Songadwala, General Manager, ITC Maurya; Biswajit Chakravarty, General Manager, Sofitel BKC; Jayanta Das, Managing Partner, Primero Skills and Training; Amit Kapur, Managing Promoter, Vedatya Institute speak on Turning People into Assets for Customer Delight.
Other sessions included one which discussed New Technologies That Will Drive Change in F&B Operations, with panellists Prashant Gaurav Gupta, Hotel Manager, ITC Maurya; Rohit Dasgupta, Senior Vice-President, EazyDiner; Nitesh Gandhi, General Manager, Trident Gurgaon; Samir Kuckreja, Founder & CEO, Tasanaya Hospitality; Nitin Nagarale, Founder & General Secretary, HPMF; Dinesh Verma, EAM (F&B), The Leela Ambience Gurgaon and Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor of BW Hotelier as moderator.
Perils and Prizes of Online Reputation Management panel discussion had as its discussants, Richa Sharma, GM (Corporate PR), ITC Hotels; Divya Agha, Manager (Communications), The Lemon Tree Hotels; Ruchika Mehta, Corporate Director (Communications & PR), The Park Hotels and Vipul Kamboj, Director of Sales and Marketing, The Leela Ambience Gurgaon in conversation with Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier.
The final panel of the day discussed Why Going Local is Easier Said Than Done which saw a panel consisting of Sourish Bhattacharyya, Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier moderates a session with Manisha Bhasin, Senior Executive Chef, ITC Maurya; Ravitej Nath, Executive Chef, The Oberoi, Gurgaon; Rajesh Variyath, Corporate Executive Chef, Radisson Blu Noida; and Nitin Nagrale, Founder & General Secretary, HPMF.
The day’s event had earlier seen the launch of the BW Hotelier Sapphire Professional Services Report (knowledge partners of BW Hotelier) entitled Mood of CEOs in an Uncertain Market, a survey carried you by Sapphire Professional Services. The report was presented by Timmy Kandhari, Managing Director Sapphire Professional Services, which preceded a discussion on the Mood of CEOs which saw Kandhari in conversation with Dilip Puri, Managing Director (India) and Regional Vice-President (South Asia), Starwood Hotels and Vilas Pawar, CEO, Choice Hotels India.
Photo Gallery: http://bwhotelier.com/bw-hotelier-indian-hospitality-awards-summit-2016-day-1/
DAY 2
Day two began with the presenting of a curtain raiser of the Lausanne Report–a comprehensive Hospitality Report researched over two years, by Lausanne Hospitality Consulting, Knowledge Partners of BW Hotelier—given by Yateendra Sinh, CEO of Lausanne Hospitality Consulting, which was quickly followed by a discussion between Sinh, Rattan Keswani, Deputy Managing Director, The Lemontree Hotels and Mandeep Lamba, Managing Director (India), Hotels & Hospitality Group, Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants India on the future of hospitality.
The keynote address of the day was delivered by Keswani on ‘What best practices can a Made in India company like The Lemon Tree Hotels share with the best hotels of the world’.
The panel discussions of the day included one entitled ‘Customer Engagement in an Age of Declining Attention Spans’ which saw Dilip Cherian, Managing Partner, Perfect Relations; Archana Jain, Managing Director, PR Pundit; Swati Bhattacharya, Chief Creative Officer, FCB Ulka; Pareina Thapar, Managing Partner, Very Truly Yours and Pranav Kumar, Managing Director, Hypertext hold a lively discussion with moderator Bikramjit Ray.
Sourish Bhattacharyya conducted the owners’ panel which discussed balancing ROI (Return of Investment) against ROE (Return on Ego). Panelists included Vivek Narain, MD, Indomalaya Advisor; Mandeep Lamba, Managing Director (India), Hotels & Hospitality Group, Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants India and Sonica Malhotra Kandhari, Director, MBD Group.
Bhattacharyya was also seen in conversation with Chef Manjit Gill Corporate Chef, ITC Hotels in the aptly titled session Being Manjit Gill.
Day 2 also saw three very riveting knowledge sessions which all began with a short presentation.
Sourish Bhattacharyya moderated a session with Perkin Rocha, Area General Manager, Lemontree Premier and Red Fox Hotels, Delhi Airport; Nitin Nagrale, Founder & General Secretary, HPMF; Sunil Relia, National President, Awesome; Ghanshyam Tripathi, Chief Engineer, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai; Rakesh Juneja, Vice President, Hitachi and Rishi Raj Singh, Hotel Manager, Sheraton New Delhi, Saket on air conditioning.
He also conducted a session titled How a Bathroom Can Change your Hotel’s image, with fellow discussants, Sudhir Sharma, Purchase Manager, ITC Maurya; Sanjay Verghese, Director (Materials), The Imperial; Rothin Banerjee, Director, Taj Palace; Sarina Kochhar, Vice-President (Housekeeping), The Lemon Tree Hotels; Vaneeta Arora, Director (Housekeeping), The Park New Delhi and Gorika Shyam, National Sales Manager, Geberit India.
The last panel of the day was on in-room technology and how it helped keep guests loyal. Moderated by Bikramjit Ray, the panel consisted of Gurpreet Singh Marwah, National Manager, Samsung; Deepak Khera, Hospitality Consultant; Gurpreet Chadha, Executive Housekeeper, ITC Maurya; Harish Chandra, General Manager (IT), Sarovar Hotels; Rajat Sethi, General Manager, Radisson Blu MBD, NOIDA; ;Anirban Sarkar, General Manager, Country Inn & Suites, Sector-29, Gurgaon and Puneet Sethi, Director (B2B Business), Samsung.
The day also saw members of Awsome (the Association of Hospitality Engineers); IFCA (Indian Federation of Culinary Associations); IPHA (Indian Professional Housekeepers Association); HPMF (Hospitality Purchasing Managers Forum) and Les Clefs D’Or India (Concierge Association) were honoured.
Photo Gallery: http://bwhotelier.com/bw-hotelier-indian-hospitality-awards-summit-2016-day-2/
All photographs by Sanjay Sakaria.
IF YOU’VE MISSED THE EVENT, HOLD ON, WE ARE GOING TO UPLOAD SELECT SESSIONS SOON. KEEP WATCHING THIS SPACE.