By BW Hotelier ARIF SAID Khan has been appointed the Director of Sales & Marketing of Taj Krishna, Hyderabad effective October 2015. In his new role as the Director of Sales & Marketing, Khan’s responsibilities would entail driving revenues, marketing activities, positioning initiatives and revenue maximization for Taj Krishna. Khan is a seasoned hospitality sales and marketing professional who has worked in multiple markets with Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces in India including a stint in the Middle East. He started his career in the hospitality business in 1996 in Sales and Marketing after his MBA specializing in Marketing. He is known to be a strong strategist and team player with strong inter personal skills. He relishes challenges and has never been known to turn his back to complex and challenging assignments. His unique ability to get the best out of his team distinguishes him from many others.
Read More
By BW Hotelier STARWOOD HOTELS & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has announced that its Four Points brand will more than double its footprint in India over the next -five years with the signing of three new hotels and landmark debuts in Bhopal, Vijayawada and Vembanad Lake in Kerala. Dilip Puri, Managing Director India and Regional Vice President South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, said, ’India today is still an ’under-hoteled’ market, and the demand for high-caliber lodging is expected to far exceed current supply for at least the next three to five years. As domestic travel increases and Indian travelers continue to demand more sophistication in terms of both quality and experience, we have significant opportunity to grow our brands across the spectrum in gateway cities and tertiary markets as well as in resort destinations.’ Sudeep Jain, Vice President Acquisitions and Development, South Asia Starwood Hotels and Resorts, added, ’Tier 2 markets provide untapped growth opportunities for us, particularly for our Four Points brand. As the urban Indian landscape continues to evolve, demand will come from new markets and leisure destinations and we believe our widely recognized and admired brands are well-positioned to meet this demand.’ Starwood currently operates nine Four Points Hotels across India, including properties in Agra, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Dehradun, Jaipur, Pune, Mumbai, New Delhi and Visakhapatnam. Seven other hotels are in the pipeline in Dahej, Gurgaon, Tirupati, Vadodara, Aurangabad, Hyderabad and Tiruchirappalli. Globally, Four Points is experiencing incredible growth momentum, having recently crossed its 200 operating hotel milestone. Boasting Starwood’s largest pipeline, the brand is set to grow its global footprint by fifty percent in the next five years and India will continue to play a key role in driving this growth momentum for the brand.
Read More
By BW Hotelier KEYS HOTELS has signed up with AxisRooms Travel Distribution Solutions, a Bengaluru-based hotel distribution company for an automated online distribution of its hotel inventory. Keys Hotels which at present operates business and leisure hotels in the country will have their inventory and rates aligned with AxisRooms distribution platform to automate bookings online. AxisRooms are the developers of new age hotel Global Distribution System (GDS) and offer a single access point for hotels to gain effective control and enhanced connectivity to all travel partners and consumers. On this collaboration, Anshu Sarin, CEO, Berggruen Hotels Pvt. Ltd., (see photo) said ’We wanted to have a completely automated and seamless distribution system through a single dashboard instead of maintaining multiple online channels. We signed up with AxisRooms in order to ensure that our inventory reaches all our partners in a cost efficient manner and in real time.’ Anil Kumar, CEO, AxisRooms Travel Distribution Services, further added ’We have always aimed to revolutionize travel distribution. All our distribution solutions are built with the aim to automate offline businesses thereby reducing costs and increasing profitability of our customers. We thoroughly believe in benefiting our customers, therefore we have tailored our services to best suit the requirements of Keys Hotels.’
Read More
By BW Hotelier ASHWANI GOELA joins Crowne Plaza Jaipur as the General Manager of Crowne Plaza Jaipur Tonk Road hotel. His key role will include overseeing the complete operations and ensuring the hotel is set up for a successful launch. The hotel is expected to launch in December 1, 2015. Goela comes to Crowne Plaza from Crowne Plaza Okhla, where he was working as an Executive Assistant Manager. Goela brings to Crowne Plaza Jaipur a wealth of industry knowledge in the upscale and business travel segments. His most recent position was Executive Assistant Manager at Crowne Plaza Okhla where he was instrumental in setting high standards in achieving guest satisfaction and profitability for his division. Prior to this, he has served in hotels like Crowne Plaza Gurgaon, Radisson Delhi, The Imperial and Intercontinental The Grand. He is a graduate of Hotel Management and has done his bachelors in Business administration from Newport University California.
Read More
By BW Hotelier BHARAT MALKANI, Managing Director, Hotel Transit, Mumbai has been elected as the new President of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) at the AGM held in New Delhi recently. While TS Walia, the former President, FHRAI will be the Vice-President in the new committee while Luv Malhotra, Jt. Managing Director, CHL Hotels and Syama Raju, Managing Director, Hotel Maurya, Bangalore will continue to hold the Vice President’s post for another term. Vivek Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, Hotel Leela Ventures has been elected as Hon. Secretary. Garish Oberoi and K Murali Rao will be the Joint Secretaries and, Sudesh Poddar the Treasurer of the Federation. The legal committee of the Federation will be headed by Pradeep Shetty, while the Classification Committee will be headed by Nirav Gandhi. SM Shervani is the new Constitution Committee head. ’The association has completed fifty years and has made substantial progress in these years for the betterment of hospitality industry. The next decade will have to be strategically defined and we will orient ourselves to addressing issues that affect the industry the most. The Federation will take up the hotel classification issue with the government as a priority. We feel that the classification job should be given to the industry experts which is the practice world over,’ stated the new president. ’We believe strongly in the India growth story and want to be partners of growth in India Inc. So we will do what it takes to back the bigger objective of making tourism one of the pillars of prosperity in the country. From time to time we will engage with the various government agencies and bodies to constructively create new methodologies for the development of the industry,’ concluded Malkani.
Read More
By BW Hotelier MANMEET B SINGH has recently been appointed as the new Director of Food and beverage at The Westin Pune Koregaon Park. In his new role, he will be responsible for enhancing and sustaining guest experiences at all restaurants, bars and events at The Westin Pune. Honing a varied set of skills and being the ’Quintessential People’s Person’, his leadership qualities and ability to work in a team has been a key impetus, helping him achieve numerous organizational goals. In addition, Singh would be taking on multiple responsibilities such as strategic decision making and planning for the food and beverage department, recruitment and training of staff, as well as developing and implementing marketing strategies. Prior to The Westin Pune Koregaon Park, he worked at the Hyatt Regency, Ludhiana as the Director of Food & Beverage. Singh’s career in the hospitality industry spans over almost two decades and includes maximum experience in the Food and Beverage department, being associated with hotel chains such as Hyatt and InterContinental Hotels. After receiving his Diploma in hotel management from IHMCTAN (’98) and several other certifying courses, he started off his career as the Catering Supervisor at HMATC Mumbai in 1998.
Read More
By BW Hotelier ACCORDING TO the findings of the research conducted by ICRA Research Services on ’Online Travel Agents: Boon or bane’? an estimated 8.4 million Indians likely to book hotels online by 2016 up from 3.5 million in 2014. The hotel bookings is one of the least penetrated segment within the travel categories in India; the Indian online hotel industry to be USD 1.8 billion by 2016 from the current USD 0.8 billion; Online bookings account for 16 per cent of the hotel booking currently and are expected to grow to 25 per cent by 2016.; in the absence of Online Travel Agents (OTAs) as a marketing tool, to maintain the same GOP of 22.0-22.5 per cent, transient occupancy has to increase from 45.6-51.2 per cent at 25 per cent higher rates were some of the key findings of the report. The report highlights the emergence of OTAs in India: Internet and mobile penetration on the way up; increasingly competitive online space; various models available; key differences in experience between OTAs and hotel websites; impact of OTAs on profit margins of a hotel and evolution of online travel related services. Feature-Hotels Online travel agents
Read More
By BW Hotelier GOLDEN TULIP Hotels South Asia has announced the appointment of Sandipan Bose as General Manager, Golden Tulip Chattarpur. In his new role as General Manager, he will be responsible for overseeing the hotel operations, maximizing revenue generation, training and leading a team of department heads. Prior to joining the hotel, Bose has worked in the hospitality industry for over 18 years. He was Food & Beverage Manager at the Carlson Rezidor, and prior to that spent 3 years at ITC Hotels Ltd. He has also been associated with Intercontinental - The Grand, Park Royal now Intercontinental Eros and started his career in hospitality in 1998 as a Management Trainee for Hotel Golkonda. Bose holds a master’s degree from University of Kurukshetra and a Diploma in Hotel Management from Institute of Hotel Management, Meerut. In the past, he has been associated with Park Plaza Noida and Radisson Blu Noida as the Food and Beverage Manager responsible for elevation of operations and services of Food & Beverages. On his appointment, Vimal Singh, Managing Director, Golden Tulip Hotels South Asia, said, ’As we focus on accelerating the pace of growth and realizing the tremendous potential of this company, we are excited about the appointment of Sandipan Bose to grow the top-line and capitalize on the many opportunities that exist in a dynamic and rapidly changing industry. His exhaustive experience and leadership skills will prove beneficial to the hotel and help its evolution as one of the MICE and Wedding destinations in the country.’ Taking charge at Golden Tulip Chattarpur, Bose said, ’It is certainly an honor to take on the role of General Manager of a property that offers a plethora of options to consumers for fulfilling their formal and social needs. I look forward to working with a talented team and scaling new heights with Golden Tulip Chattarpur. We are looking forward to offering our guests a warm, sophisticated and a Golden Tulip lifestyle experience that will contribute to and elevate the luxury hotel experience in the city.’
Read More
