I AM 17 jobs old! Now those you out there searching for a life partner or those of you who have finally found your soul-mate will understand that true love takes time. It works just the same in your profession. While some of us are blessed with love at first sight, others settle for the safe bet, whereas a few like me are willing to wait to find that one love that will last a lifetime!
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By Bikramjit Ray JW MARRIOTT, New Delhi Aerocity has two new chefs, both first timers in Delhi and India, who have joined them last month. We got an opportunity to meet both very different personalities to find out what their aims were for the coming season. Half-Okinawan and half-Italian is how Corey E Asato (see photo right), Chef de Cuisine of Akira Back, at the hotel, introduces his background. Asato honed his kitchen skills in Las Vegas. So, in his words, ’a 700 person service isn’t really a big thing. I started off in banquets and in Vegas that can mean much more,’ he told us. We can expect interesting things from Asato, who even during his stint in Vegas owned and operated his food truck. Asato grew up in Hawaii so he has a very unique flavour palate growing up, but he really wants to get to know this new country which he has come to. ’The furthest I travelled before this was Mexico and Canada,’ he tells us. Asato hasn’t really been introduced to the colours and tastes of India, but he is willing to really work on making his menu more streamlined and more suitable for clients in Delhi. ’One thing which I noticed with I arrived here was that everyone really insisted on a lot more spice and sauce in their food, which really kills the subtleties of the dish,’ Asato told us, adding that his job was to make sure that the balance of the dishes are perfect. Asato began his career in January 2004 in banqueting, as the Kitchen Manager for UNLV International Gaming Institute Banquet Hall, Las Vegas, Nevada. In May 2009, he moved on to co-own his own company- Island Breeze Lunch Wagon and Catering- Las Vegas, NV. Following this stint, he worked as the Sous Chef at Island Sushi and Hawaiian Grill at the Plaza Hotel and Casino, Las Vegas, before moving to Kumi Japanese Bar + Restaurant By: Akira Back at Mandalay Bay Hotel. Corey is also a certified mixologist from ABC Bartending Schools of Las Vegas, which could translate to some interesting dishes at Akira Back. In comparison to Chef Asato, Chef Giovanni Ricci (see photo left), the hotel’s Italian Chef de Cuisine is much more of a journeyman, having travelled the world from Italy, where he grew up right in the middle part of the country in Marche (in the calf part of the Italian foot), in the small fishing village of San Benedetto del Tronto. Ricci has worked in as far off places as Beijing, China, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Blagoveshchensk in the eastern part of Russia, in a career which began in 1992. ’I am working on the new a la carte menu at the restaurant and want to make it contain more simple dishes,’ Ricci tells us. His food philosophy, much like Asato’s is about being able to taste the ingredients in the food. ’The first thing I want to do is work on the pasta here, it is one of the most important cornerstones of Italian cuisine,’ he tells us. Ricci, is still a seaside dweller at heart and really enjoys his seafood. His best dish is one his mother used to make, ’It is very popular where I grew up, a seafood soup called a Brodetto, soured with vinegar,’ he said. It’s something which we all hope he will make at the JW Marriott’s K3 restaurant as well.
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By Rishi Puri IN THE last 10-15 years Hospitality industry has grown by leaps and bounds. If we look at the past, people used to travel less as businesses were confined to certain region. Leisure travel was almost negligible with the segment almost being nonexistent. Now with the advent of the technology, the whole world has opened up for business. Another thing is that with double income families becoming norm, the disposable income has grown and with that there is a huge rise in demand for leisure travel as well. All in all there has been exponential growth in demand for Hotel rooms in business, leisure, pilgrimage and the MICE sector. With the increase in demand there has been increase in the supply of hotel rooms too. Many new Hotels have come up. New International Hotel chains have announced major plans for India. But what has happened is that in a short run big cities like Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Chennai had greater influx of hotels then the demand itself. Last few years have been really tough for the industry and Average Room Rent (ARR’s) have actually dropped as the demand has not kept with the supply. But this is a short run aberration and going forward with the economy picking up, the demand is definitely going to rise. Further this phenomenon has remained confined to Hotels in big cities and that too in luxury and super luxury sector only. The one’s in Mid Hotel (which my group Lords Hotels & Resorts belongs to) has grown. The real growth is in tier 2 and tier 3 cities. They are the real hub of business activity and so far the competition from the branded hotels has not yet come in these cities. Our property in Kandla (a major port city in Gujarat) has 100 percent occupancy almost throughout the year. Same goes for our other properties in other industrial cities. Yes there are problems related to infrastructure, problems from local civic authorities and reluctance of top staff to relocate to these regions but this is more than offset by cheaper land values and above all readymade demand. Another segment which is growing and asking for better hotel accommodation is the religious travel. Religious travel was always considered as lowly with elderly who were undertaking these trips were expected to stay in sarais, guesthouses and likewise. But there is a transformation in this sector, with nowadays people demanding better and branded accommodation. And these are recession proof segment. MICE- which is the traditional bread and butter of the Hotel industry is directly related to state of the economy but the religion one at least in India is growing up. Another trend is direct booking by the guests through the website. This has caught on big way in the past 3-4 years. This is not only benefits the guest as they get competitive room fares but it benefits the Hotel Chains as they save on the commissions which they would otherwise pass on to channel partners. So online presence is a major issue and hotels have started allocating good part of their marketing budget on online promotion. One more thing would like to share that Hotels have become very environment conscious. They see it is if in the society’s interest, it is in their interest as well. In our new properties we have built facades in such a way that during day there is least requirement of lighting. This saves power costs and of course can be termed as environment friendly.Similar other small- measures are being taken which contributes to environment conservation. Indian Hospitality Industry across all segments has huge scope and I feel we have barely scratched the surface. The Author is Vice President, Operations, Lords Hotels & Resorts.
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By BW Hotelier AFTER A distinguished career in top restaurants in Beijing that spanned for over a decade, Delhi sees the arrival of Chef Jiayi Hu, popularly known as the Dimsum King, as he takes up his new assignment at The Oberoi New Delhi’s Taipan restaurant. Chef Hu is a master of innovation and can make over 300 varieties of dim sums. He is also trained as a master of handpulled noodles. This is what Chef Hu had to say to BW Hotelier when we asked him why he decided to become a dimsum chef. ’I had been working on my dimsum making skills for as long as I can remember, so it was no surprise that in 2008, when I won a gold medal in the dim sum competition organised by the China Hotel Association, This made me decide to pursue it more passionately. In my opinion, this competition is considered to be the Holy Grail of culinary discoveries, so it’s a great honour’. On his move to India Chef Hu told us he first did some research and spoke to fellow Chinese chefs based in India, when he first got the offer to join Taipan. ’To be part of this restaurant and an iconic hotel such as The Oberoi, New Delhi is an honour and I am looking forward to adding to the legacy,’ he told us.
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By Sourish Bhattacharyya THE F&B revenue of the Trident Gurgaon had been growing by Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2.5 crore year on year. The last financial year, though, beat all expectations, that too in a market shaken up by the new kid on the block, DLF’s immensely successful Cyber Hub ’restaurant mall’. FY2014-15 saw the Trident Gurgaon register a steeper upward line on its growth graph ’ its F&B earnings saw a jump of more than Rs 3.25-crore, the highest in its 11-year history, primarily because of the hotel’s entry into the high-end wedding market. It was a smart move by the hotel’s general manager, Nitesh Gandhi, that did it. Having worked his way up since his green years at Cilantro, the Trident Gurgaon’s all-day dining restaurant, when the hotel opened in 2004 under the leadership of Kapil Chopra, now The Oberoi Group’s President, Gandhi knows the hotel like the back of his hand. And he had this feeling that there was a revenue opportunity waiting to be tapped. It all started with an inquiry from a major international client a year ago for an al fresco upper- crust party for 700 people. Till then, the hotel wasn’t able to entertain such inquiries because it had limited banqueting space to offer. But the client was too important for the Trident Gurgaon to be asked to look for another venue. Gandhi therefore undertook a recce of the property and discovered that it had a vast under-utilised parking lot that could, on occasions, be turned into an open-air banqueting venue. The parking lot, in fact, has two little tree-shaded green islands ’ one ideal for a bar and the other, for a marriage mandap. Significantly, the approach to this parking lot is past the water body at the hotel’s main square, which presents a spectacular sight in the evening when it is lit up by flaming torches. The corporate party was a huge success and it paved the way for the hotel to sell the space for what Gandhi calls ’uber luxury weddings’. Typically, a wedding reception in this league is for 500-700 people and the hotel charges Rs 7,000 per guest. Unsurprisingly, F&B revenues today contribute 55-60 per cent of the hotel’s earnings. The hotel’s two restaurants ’ Cilantro and the Indian fine-dining destination, Saffron ’ have also given Gandhi an additional reason to look happier. Their earnings, year to date, are up by 20 per cent, which means they have bucked what is known locally as the ’Cyber Hub Effect’. In other words, unlike other Gurgaon and South-West Delhi restaurants, they’ve shown a revenue growth despite the phenomenal success of DLF’s Cyber City, which has snatched business out of the hands of established players in the neighbourhood. Even the hotel’s 1,200 sq. ft. bar’s revenue has climbed by 40 per cent, year to date, in the first four months of 2015. All it took was an idea from Chopra, a mentor to many of The Oberoi Group’s young executives, to make this turnaround possible. Post-6 p.m., the lobby-level bar is lit up by more than 40 candles, the tempo of the music is revved up, the bartender, hired from Bacardi, shakes and stirs cocktails infused with birch or apple wood smoke, and the bespoke snacks menu doesn’t have any item priced over Rs 350 per portion. The transformation of the ’bar’s landscape’, to use Gandhi’s expression, has had a dramatic effect not only on the bar, but also on the footfalls at Saffron and Cilantro. ’Once guests have had a couple of drinks at the bar, they want to stay on at the hotel and complete their evening at one of the two restaurants,’ explains Gandhi. Another major attraction is the Harley Davidson parked at the lobby. It will go one fortunate room guest or a diner who spends more than Rs 10,000 on a meal at the hotel. The lucky draw, which got 750 guests to sign up coupons within the first ten days of the prize being displayed, will take place at September-end. For initiatives such as these, Gandhi takes inspiration from the words of the company’s executive chairman, P.R.S. Oberoi: ’If you look after your guests, they’ll look after your business.’ At the Trident Gurgaon, each employee is empowered to spend up to Rs 1,500 on gestures to ensure guest delight, like framing the picture a lady guest kept at her bedside of her daughter and leaving a toy behind for the mother to take back home. The best way to the guest’s heart, though, is through the stomach. ’Food is one of the top three reasons why corporate travellers choose to stay at a particular hotel,’ says Gandhi, offering a rationale for his F&B focus. The hotel, he says, has earned Rs 850 crore in the past 11 years and earned a gross operating profit of Rs 450 crore. ’Each room at the Trident Gurgaon has been sold 3,300 times in these 11 years,’ Gandhi adds with an air of self-satisfaction. Food therefore is the new goal post for the Trident Gurgaon. Few people understand food as well as Gandhi, who’s been primarily an F&B ops person, and his target, set by his president, is to ’bring luxury back to Indian cuisine’. As a first move, Gandhi got Izzat Hussain, a brilliant chef, unani doctor and descendant of Awadh’s last royal family, to showcase his cuisine at Saffron. Throughout 2015, Hussain will be coming back to Trident Gurgaon to share his secrets with Saffron’s chefs. With such inputs, Saffron will definitely find a place at the top of the must-visit restaurants of Delhi-NCR. For Gandhi, it translates into happier guests and the cash registers ringing a bit louder than usual. The Author is Consulting Editor of BW Hotelier.-
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By BW Hotelier JET AIRWAYS, launched its new website jetairways.com, which has been built around the theme ’Designed to Delight.’ The all new website features user friendly navigation, simplified and integrated booking process and responsive design for a seamless experience across desktops, tablets and smartphones. The mobile-first design approach offers guests an improved interface for a consistent experience across devices. In addition, the new website also provides for easy accessibility for differently-abled guests. Designed with a strong focus on innovation, jetairways.com has smart features such as payment in local currency in select countries, Express Checkout and Seat Select options. The website features 61 country specific sites including sites in eight languages besides English. The new smarter and faster booking engine, with country specific payment options and opportunity to combine travel essentials such as car rentals, travel insurance and hotels within the flight itinerary will further enhance the guests’ online booking experience. Cramer Ball, Chief Executive Officer, Jet Airways, said, ’The new Jet Airways website will provide guests with a refreshed, one-stop service for all their travel requirements. The use of latest trends in user experience, design, personalisation and technology, will provide a unique experience which we believe will ensure our guests keep coming back. Jet Airways has always been at the forefront of adopting evolving technology to enhance guest experience across touch points. The new website symbolises our continued commitment to our customer focused ’Guest First’ service philosophy, which is at the core of our business.’ The new website will provide guests quick access to key tasks they wish to complete on priority, like booking flights, check-in, viewing flight status, manage booking etc. Another thoughtful addition, especially for price-sensitive guests, is the seven day timeline at the top of the flight search results page which will show fares on either side of the travel and departure date. Guests will also have the option to sort flights based on price, time of departure and connecting time. The website, designed following extensive research and feedback from frequent flyers, bloggers and travel writers, will also offer guests promotional fares and special deals on flights across the Jet Airways network.
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By BW Hotelier THE COMPARITIVE report of dining costs of hotels worldwide by Hotels.com is out again. This year, the elevated report by Hotels.com ’CSI 2.0 (CSI stands for The Club Sandwich Index)--covers three covers three additional hotel dining items to make the Index a more comprehensive indicator for travelers to understand the costs associated with a full day of dining at hotels worldwide. The CSI 2.0 incorporates the average prices of four main dining options available at three-, four- and five-star hotel properties, including: a burger meal (burger, fries and soda) for lunch, a cup of coffee, a club sandwich and a glass of house red wine for dinner. Based on findings from the CSI 2.0, Geneva is not only the priciest city for a club sandwich ($30.59), but the Swiss city has also topped the charts as the most expensive destination to enjoy a full day hotel dining experience at $86.71. New Delhi, India is placed 20th in the report with a full day of meals with an average cost of $42.55. Bogota, Columbia is the most affordable destination with an average price of $30.08, but Rio de Janeiro ($34.19) and Buenos Aires ($40.28) also give the Colombian capital a run for its money with affordable dining costs. While nine international cities top New York for the most expensive full day of meals, New York has the sixth-most expensive burger meal average at $24.26. Rome does not have the most affordable club sandwich, but its price decreased by 32 percent, dropping nine places from the 2014 Index to an average of $14.53. Hotel guests in South Korea pay the most to get their caffeine fix, with Seoul dominating the list for the priciest cup of coffee at $9.72 on average. Guests at 5-star hotels in Paris pay more for a glass of house red wine ($23.03) than a club sandwich in 19 other cities, including New York, Dublin, Sydney and Berlin. A supplementary poll within the U.S. found that New York’s average meal cost of $59.64 is also the most expensive among 10 major cities. The most affordable club sandwich among the additional U.S. cities surveyed can be found in San Diego, while Orlando and Las Vegas offer the most affordable coffee and wine, respectively. Orlando had the most affordable average meal cost at $41.93, yet that price exceeded eight major global city averages including Berlin, Toronto, Buenos Aires, Bangkok, Madrid, Rio de Janiero, Mexico City and Bogota.
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