Putting the Marriott Stamp on it!

THE MARRIOTT Suites in Pune has taken over the property known as the Oakwood Premier, in the Koregaon Park area. The smooth takeover and the success of the unit and its team under the stewardship of General Manager Subhash Sinha hasn’t been without its challenges, but the hotel seems to have transitioned well.

BW Hotelier spoke to Sinha about the challenges of his job running this 199 suite hotel which already had a strong following for it’s F&B before Marriott took over (I mention this because Sinha used to be in the Kitchen before switching over).

I began by asking Sinha whether the existing staff at the Oakwood was let go off, or integrated into the Marriott. “We follow our founder’s philosophy of taking care of associates who will take care of the customers,” he began, explaining that everyone working for the earlier unit continued to do so. “There have been multiple trainings starting from the introduction sessions to the Marriott world, to things like art of hosting. As the transition has been over a short duration of time, the trainings will continue taking place over time,” he added.

There has been a significant change in terms of service, the look and feel of the room, in rom amenities, since the switch, Sinha said.

Sinha said that the guests of the Marriott Suites are a mix of business travellers as well as weekend leisure travellers. We have a good mix of transient as well as extended stay guests. “We are also very near Mumbai so we do attract people on weekend getaways, given our location in a verdant part of the city,” he added.

The hotel also has a good F&B offering, both indoors and alfresco, something which was popular even before Marriott came into the picture. “Being from the F&B background, I personally conceptualise and taken keen interest in all food promotions. In the coming months we will be showcasing a huge array of food festivals from different regions of the world,” Sinha said. Recently the hotel curated an Awadhi food promotion. “We are also introducing the Cuisine of Naples at Bistro, with specialty Chef Cristian Cabrera in August,” he added. Given the vast network of Marriott in India and the chefs available within the subcontinent itself, this would be a part of the hotel which would go from strength to strength, he said.

“We have several priorities across disciplines. Driving higher revenues and a stronger bottom line are the obvious ones however a lot of emphasis is on elevating the overall service delivery. Over the past few months our team has worked diligently to bring about the standardisation in service that a Marriott guest is accustomed to,” Sinha concluded while explaining what lays ahead for the hotel.