By Anamika Singh TO GET-inspired to write there are two ways to go about it, either you can experience the best or the worst and either ways the words will flow. With Tea, unfortunately whenever I am away from home or the Tea room, the only experience I experience is a strange face and a stranger after taste after I have sipped the beverage that I would have paid far more than its worth. Well there are various reasons for the Tea turning sour on you. Besides not knowing the source, the one catalyst that could either make it into sunshine in a cup or the muddy water of Sunderbans is the water. There is a Chinese proverb that says, ’Water is the mother of Tea’ Here in ambient light amidst sharper notes of the piano which distracts my pauses as I sip Castleton Muscatel which is considered to be rare, exclusive, limited, I know the strength of the Tea hasn’t even infused half of what it is capable of infusing because of the water that the steward would have added to the pot. Water to Tea infused in a pot is like oxygen is to humans in a room full of people. It helps the Tea leaves breathe easy. From the tea tasting salty or flat or alkaline, water plays a substantial role in making Tea taste the way it does. Chlorinated water is the hidden enemy in spoiling the purity of Tea. It is said that Tea should be infused in the water from the same region it is grown.- But having said that, we know the impossibilities of it happening. Hence while sourcing water for your cup of Tea to be served, it is important to keep in mind the pH (potential hydrogen) balance of the water, the aromas and flavours due to the presence of minerals in the water and the interaction of both, the constituents of the water and Tea. Knowing how little relevance to any of this will be given, the point that one can take back home is that if one was treating the water at an institution, one could keep in mind to keep the pH balance between 6 to 7. If the water cannot for some reason be treated, it is advisable to make Tea with mineral water where the minerals are to a minimum content. Remember, if you give emphasis to the ’oxygen’ of Tea, there is no way you will not get a cup that breathes life. The Author is Director of Anandini Himalaya Tea Pvt. Ltd.
Read More
By Bikramjit Ray THE KEMPINSKI Ambience Hotel, Delhi have a very special guest chef showing off her menu at Mei Kun, their oriental restaurant’Chef Kwanruean Saegsitong, (see photo) from the Kempinski Bangkok, Thailand.-Executive Chef Rohit Tokhi told us that Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting was the Thai food ambassador for the entire Kempinski chain and associated with the huge banquet facility in the Kempinski Bangkok. With over 19 years of experience in promoting Thai cuisine across the world, Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting has done successful promotions in Kempinski Hotel Khan Place, Mongolia and Kempinski Hotel Xiamen, China. Some of the signature dishes which Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting will cook during the 10 day long festival ending on July 19, ’PhadPhakRuamMitr’ Mixed vegetables in soya sauce, ’GaengKiew Wan Gai’ Roasted Duck in Red Curry and ’Phad Thai Goong’-Fried Thin Rice Noodles. Puneet Singh, General Manager, Kempinski Ambience Hotel, Delhi said ’This festival is our endeavour to introduce the magic of authentic Thai cuisine to our guests’. But the aim of getting the chef from Thailand is not just for the festival, there are added benefits for the chefs who work with Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting during the 9 days she is here in India. Chef Tokhi shared that Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting would be supervising the getting up to scratch the Thai cuisine chef already working with the hotel. ’Our Thai food is already a hit, but one of the things which Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting has actually taught our chef at Mei Kun is the use of herbs in the variety of salads which we make in the restaurant,’ Chef Tokhi told us, adding that having someone in the stature of Chef Kwanrauean Saegsiting is a great resource for his oriental kitchen to learn from. The Author is Executive Editor of BW Hotelier.-
Read More
By BW Hotelier RADISSON CARLSON Rezidor Hotel Group announced the signing of Radisson Resort Hosur, in Tamil Nadu, expected to open in 2018. This signing strengthens the group's expansion in South India and reinforces Carlson Rezidor's position as the largest international hotel operator in India. Carlson Rezidor currently has 117 hotels in operation and under development in India. Its footprint spans 45 cities, including 14 state capitals, and is on track to meet its target of increasing its India portfolio to 170 hotels in operation and under development by 2020. ’This latest signing underscores our commitment to strengthening the Radisson brand's presence in India and demonstrates our focus on accelerating our growth in the emerging cities of South and West India,’ said Raj Rana, chief executive officer, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia (see photo). ’Radisson Resort Hosur is an exciting addition to our portfolio and we are honoured to be partnering Pushpam Realty on their first hospitality development. We look forward to growing our relationship with them.’ Pushpam Realty is a subsidiary of Pushpam Group, which has operations across India, Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom and the Middle East, and diversified interests in real estate, agro-business, floriculture, international trading, wellness, healthcare and education. ’We are pleased to be partnering with the leader of India's hospitality industry. This partnership indicates the seriousness with which we are entering the hospitality sector. With Carlson Rezidor's experience and expertise, we are confident that Radisson Resort Hosur will deliver an unparalleled resort experience and successfully capture the growing demand in meetings, incentives, conventions events and weddings and weekend leisure segments,’ said Dr Manjunath Reddy, chief executive officer, Pushpam Group. Radisson Resort Hosur is a new build hotel that will have 120 guestrooms and suites. Situated on 12 acres of prime land in a region that is popularly known as 'Little England', the hotel will offer scenic views of the area and a man-made lake. The hotel is adjacent to Pushpam Ranches, a 55-acre, high-end residential township that is being developed by the Pushpam Group. It is less than a 20-minute drive from the Hosur city center and less than 30 minutes away from Electronic City, one of India's largest electronic industrial parks. Radisson Resort Hosur is also within reach of several industrial and manufacturing hubs, including industrial areas in Hosur, Attibele, Jigni and Bomasandra; and Electronic City. The city of Hosur is also connected to Bangalore and Krishnagiri via National Highway 7 and served by Bangalore International Airport, India's third largest airport. Radisson Resort Hosur will have large meeting spaces, including a ballroom, meeting rooms, boardrooms and a business center. The hotel's sprawling lawns will offer additional outdoor venue options that can accommodate formal and informal events and gatherings. The hotel will have an all-day dining restaurant as well as a range of amenities and recreational facilities, including a gym and health club, a spa, a salon, an amphitheater, a cricket pitch, a badminton court, a tennis court, a golf academy and a driving range.
Read More
By Gopal Banerjee MODERN LIVING areas of indoor and outdoor spaces include public and private areas, air-conditioned, ventilated or open air areas like: hotels, restaurants, shops, houses, vehicles; traffic roads; surface and air transportation, urban zone and more. These facilities experience environmental challenges from a variety of volatile, particulate, and microbial air contaminants arising from natural and human sources. The Air contaminants include general pollutants (smoke, dust, pollen, odors), specific chemicals (unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide), and microbial (bacteria, molds). Comfort and health aspects of indoor air environments are affected by these contaminants. The objectives for environmental management are multiple: minimising pollutant sources; providing good air handling; and improving Indoor Air Quality (IAQ). Technologies treating air contaminants involve filtration, adsorption, and electronic processes (Ionization). Demands for more complete treatment of indoor air environments have led to the development of practical engineered systems based upon bipolar air ionization. Bipolar air ionization involves generation of negative and positive ions by applying electrical energy to air molecules. In the ionized air reactive species are created that oxidize volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and agglomerate fine particulate matter (PMx). Air ionization modules are usually fitted directly into central air handling units to treat entire airflows in order to meet challenges from external sources. Modules also can be fitted into existing ductwork, immediately downstream of central HVAC systems. Freestanding devices can also be placed in individual room spaces to meet immediate demands from internal sources. Field applications of bipolar air ionization systems require optimization of process variables of the physical air handling system and the air quality demand. The central process control unit is programmed for fixed situation design parameters (ion level, power capacity, and airflow area), and for monitored demand parameters (airflow, humidity, outside and return air quality, and ozone). Optimal design should take these parameters into consideration during the design process. Some Features and Benefits: The Ions generated are the same positive and negative ions found in abundance in nature, for example, in forests. They turn into OH radicals only on the surface of harmful substances to inactivate them, so they are completely harmless to the human body. The amount of ozone generated Coil*Tech IONIZER is less than 0.003 ppm, significantly below the 0.050 ppm value set as the American standard for industry and for electrical equipment. Compared to passive air cleaning systems that trap airborne contaminants by using a fan to draw air through a filter, air purification systems based on Bipolar Ion Technology effectively eliminate harmful substances by working directly on the air contained in the entire room. Coil*Tech IONIZER emitting electrodes are outside the airflow, so only a small amount of dust settles on them. The Author is CEO, Coil*Tech.
Read More
By BW Hotelier ANMOL AHLUWALIA has been appointed as General Manager of Taj Wellington Mews, Mumbai. He was earlier the Executive Assistant Manager (EAM), Accommodations at Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Anmol has been with the Taj Group since September 2005, when he joined the Vivanta by Taj ’ Fort Aguada, Goa as Executive Housekeeper. He rose to Accommodations Manager position in 2008 at Vivanta by Taj ’ Panaji, Goa. Thereafter Anmol moved to Taj Bengal, Kolkata as an Executive Assistant Manager ’ Front Office and was subsequently elevated to the post of Executive Assistant Manager - Accommodations. Anmol holds a diploma in Hotel Management from the Institute of Hotel Management, Mumbai, and an Advanced Diploma in Hotel Management from The Oberoi Centre of Learning & Development. Anmol began his career with The Oberoi Group Hotels and Resorts in 2000, when he joined the Oberoi Grand as a Housekeeping trainee. He continued his training at The Oberoi Amarvilas (2000-2001); The Oberoi New Delhi and The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla (both in 2001) before joining The Oberoi Mumbai as Housekeeper (2001-2005). He was the Deputy House Keeper at The Trident Hilton, Gurgaon, before shifting to The Taj Group. In his new role, Anmol will report to Taljinder Singh, Area Director ’ Mumbai and General Manager - The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai.
Read More
By Shantanu Jain AUSTRALIA-BASED StayWell Hospitality Group which is present in India with two properties in their budget segment, Leisure Inn, in Gurgaon and Jaipur, took another step towards a more involved expansion in India with the launch of the first Park Regis property in Jaipur recently. Park Regis Jaipur, a four star property, on Amer Road, is located close to Jal Mahal, 30 minutes from Jaipur International Airport and 15 minutes from the railway station. The property offers a basic room which is 270 sq. feet, with suites measuring 410 sq feet in size. Debarshi Sanyal, General Manager of the hotel in an exclusive conversation with BW Hotelier shared that the hotel currently has 72 rooms and he is looking to expand this number by 10 more by the end of the year. Speaking on the banqueting arrangements and other facilities he said, ’We have indoor banqueting space for 150 people and outdoor banqueting space for 550 people. The hotel currently features two restaurants Anand and Palm, which cater to Indian, Mughlai and world cuisines. The staff to room ratio is 2:1 and the executive chef of the hotel is Deepankar Mandal.’ In an exclusive conversation with BW Hotelier Rohit Vig, Managing Director of StayWell Hospitality Group in India (see photos) shared the plans, ’By mid-October 2015, we will be launching a Leisure Inn in Banajara Hills which will be a 90-room hotel with Telengana’s only revolving restaurant. By December we plan to open our second Park Regis in North Goa which will have 120 rooms with a minimum room size of 55 sq. meters--the biggest Park Regis room in the world.’ Speaking on the overall expansion plans of the group Vig stated that ’We have signed 10 hotels and look forward to sign 15 more by in the next two years. The first 10 hotels are difficult to establish, but as we grow in India, I can say we will be signing a new hotel every 3 months.’ When asked about the location of the upcoming hotels, Vig said the group had planned two properties in Mumbai and one in Chennai, as these are key feeder markets for business. After this, the group would shift focus to Kolkata and Bangalore. The StayWell group also hopes to establish a few properties in South India as well. Vig told us that the group’s strategy was to either rebrand existing hotels, or start greenfield projects. The author is Correspondent, Everything Experiential.
Read More
By Sourish Bhattacharyya THE OBEROI Hotels and Resorts pulled off a worldwide coup by being named both the World’s Best Hotel Brand and having its luxury property, The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur, Rajasthan, voted the World’s Best Hotel by the 6.3 million readers of Travel + Leisure magazine, which is circulated exclusively among American Express Platinum Card holders. The Oberoi Group’s Executive Chairman, P.R.S. Oberoi, in a press release issued earlier in the day, hailed the ’main asset’ of the luxury hotel chain established by his father ’ the people working for it ’ and said: ’We have been able to play a small role in ’Make in India’.’ Truly, The Oberoi Group has shown why it is undeniably a glowing example of the heights of quality the idea of ’Make in India’ can achieve. The Travel + Leisure Top 100 Hotels list, in fact, reads like a listing of The Oberoi Group. The other group hotels on it are: The Oberoi Rajvilas (Jaipur) at No. 5, Amarvilas (Agra) at No. 16 and The Oberoi New Delhi at No. 86. The only other Indian hotel to make it to the Top 100 is The Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai at No. 97. This is the elite list of hotels of the world, with iconic brands such as Four Seasons, The Peninsula, Mandarin Oriental and One & Only as well as legendary hotels with the stature of Le Maurice (Paris), St Regis (NYC), Belmond Hotel Cipriani (Venice) and Plaza Athenee (Paris) studding it. Udaivilas, Rajvilas and Amarvilas have completed ten consecutive years on the list and therefore have earned a place in the Travel + Leisure Hall of Fame. By being voted the world’s top hotel brand, The Oberoi Hotels & Resorts has achieved a rare double in the history of the Travel + Leisure awards. It is not often that the hotel that gets the No. 1 spot is also from the group that is crowned the No. 1 brand. The Oberoi clearly is in distinguished company. The others on the Top 10 list are: Aman; The Peninsula Hotels; Rosewood Hotels & Resorts (which finds itself for the first time on the list); Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts; St Regis (which is making its India debut in Mumbai shortly); Auberge Resorts Collection; Belmond; Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group; and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company. The-Photo:-The premier rooms with their semi-private swimming pool at The Oberoi Udaivilas in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The luxury hotel has been voted the world's No. 1 in a poll conducted among 6.3 million Travel + Leisure Magazine readers. For more lists, go to http://www.travelandleisure.com/worlds-best/hotels-top-brands The Author is Consulting Editor of BW Hotelier.-
Read More
By BW Hotelier GETAWAYS WITH pristine beaches and upscale hotels are most likely to top the family vacation destination list for well-heeled Asia Pacific families, according to the Visa Affluent Study 2015.* Family beach holiday The Study, which looked into the travel patterns of affluent consumers in eight major markets in Asia Pacific, found that four in five (82 percent) respondents have traveled with their families in the past 12 months and they also prefer to spend their holidays within the region. Respondents rank Japan (26 percent), Hong Kong (25 percent) and Australia (21 percent) as the most popular destinations over the past 12 months. In the same period, the survey shows the region’s most frequent affluent travelers to be from Singapore and China (3.1 trips each), followed by Hong Kong (2.8 trips) and India (2.0 trips). James Lim, Head of Consumer Products, Asia Pacific, said, ’Family vacations have become important occasions that affluent families in the region look forward to every year. However, where the family chooses to go ’ whether it is for cultural activities, kicking back at a resort, or a shopping and dining extravaganza ’ is highly driven by the types of authentic and discerning experiences that the destinations can offer.’ Beaches are the top draw for Asia Pacific affluent When asked for the main activities when traveling abroad, respondents say their top pick is relaxing on a beach (44 percent), followed by shopping in popular or large shopping centres (36 percent) and exploring landmarks independently (35 percent). More than a quarter (27 percent) also say they travel to try out popular local restaurants. In the survey, relaxing on a beach was the most popular activity among respondents from China (55 percent), Indonesia (51 percent) and India (47 percent). The affluent from Hong Kong (46 percent) and Japan (43 percent) are the most likely to have traveled to explore landmarks independently, while those from Japan (32 percent), China (31 percent) and Singapore (29 percent) are most likely to have followed the food trail to local restaurants. Upscale hotels for the Chinese and boutique experiences for the Australians When it comes to accommodation, the affluent are more likely to pick upscale hotels (48 percent) and luxury hotels (39 percent) over mid-scale hotels (35 percent). Among respondents who chose upscale hotels, they are most likely to be from China (67 percent), Hong Kong (53 percent), Singapore and Japan (49 percent each). For the most discerning, luxury hotels are the choice for those from China (55 percent), Australia (49 percent) and Hong Kong (43 percent). The survey also found that boutique hotels are the most popular with respondents from Australia (49 percent), Hong Kong, China (24 percent each) and Singapore (23 percent). Lim added, ’For the affluent, accommodation quality is just as important as destination offerings for a complete holiday experience. Because we understand these different needs, this is why Visa has created a suite of travel benefits to allow our cardholders to access a world of unique experiences and make each trip extra memorable.’ * The Visa Asia Pacific Affluent Study 2015 was commissioned by Visa and conducted by TNS in November and December 2014. 500 respondents from each market ’ Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Singapore and South Korea were interviewed in online and face-to-face surveys. Respondents have an average household income of USD$ 73,000 per annum and are aged between 18 and 55 years old.
Read More
