We Can't Rest On Our Laurels: Parul Thakur

Bikramjit Ray Jun 10, 2016

Parul Thakur has been at the helm of one of Bengaluru most successful hotels. This is the second year of operations for the JW Marriott in city’s posh Vittal Mallya Road, the hotel has had two stellar years with the F&B outlets creating a name for the hotel and the rooms business making them, in terms of fair market share (an indication of a hotel’s overall performance against its immediate competitors), they are number two in their comm set.

“Now that we are entering our third year. The team has changed with Executive Chef Anthony Huang joining us in the kitchen (http://bwhotelier.businessworld.in/article/Chef-Anthony-Huang-Takes-over-as-Executive-Chef-of-JW-Marriott-Bengaluru/31-05-2016-98639/) and Kamakhya Singh (http://bwhotelier.businessworld.in/article/Kamakhya-Singh-Joins-JW-Marriott-Bengaluru-as-Director-of-Food-Beverage/10-06-2016-99039/) joining us as Director Food and Beverage, we have a nice new team raring to go,” Thakur said.

But, the team can’t rest on their laurels, she added. “Once a team changes, we have to make sure it settles in well. We have to come up with new concepts and more importantly continue on the path we have been on,” she said.

“The other thing we are focussing on this year is health and wellness. It's very big for us. We have the opportunity to have a whole floor dedicated to health. We have introduced Crossfit classes on the floor which is seeing a lot of buzz,” she said. With a gym spread over 10,000 square feet along with a spa and heated pool, this was a natural thing to press the advantage.

Because of their central location, banqueting also does extremely well for the hotel, though Thakur added that this year, there would be a concerted effort to get into the wedding market.

“We are all (as in JW Marriott Hotels) setting up wedding studios and have tied up with wedding experts. The plan is to have wedding experts, who will be the sales contact and one point of contact for the client. The whole idea is to have a wedding studio where we have all our partners being actively involved in it.,” Thakur said. The chef would also be involved with the planning from the first meeting, Thakur added, since food was such an integral part of any social function in India. They also wanted to have at least two wedding fairs a year, where they could show customer what the hotel was capable of, she added.