Indian Hospitality Industry 8

  In the past, I have written quite a lot about the Indian hotel Industry and also about the great men who ‘Mentored’ the industry during its infancy. Today, I feel that there is a pressing need to write about the ‘Doyens’ who shaped the Indian hospitality industry and who have now faded into the blue, unsung. Today, more than ever before, there is a compelling need to compare the ‘Old School’ industry excellence, glamour and class with the new ‘bohemian ‘style being dished out as‘excellence’. These are the times when the very definitions’ of the hospitality industry have been either demolished or have been trivialized, and mediocrity passes off as a new high. These are the times when a guest is just a potential customer or simply a source of money for; a hotel, a tour operator and a travel agent. The words like,‘Hospitality’, ‘Courtesy’, ‘Guest is God’ are just words /phrases with no intrinsic meaning or responsibility beyond the cold print.

Most of our learned hoteliers of today may not even understand as to why did the  hoteliers of the  years gone by, who  devoted so much time in inspecting the standards of daily  services and the    quality of food production. Furthermore, it is disturbing to realize that the present day bearers’ of the industry would not appreciate the importance of delivering and /or practicing excellence in the hospitality industry.

Therefore the importance of those great hoteliers is felt today more than ever before. I have been fortunate to work or deal with some of them during my professional life and I feel enriched having absorbed some of their values. I have also benefited a great deal by the way they functioned on day to day basis to bring dignity and grace to the hospitality industry. Ironically enough, they never marketed the property, they only concentrated on creating excellence that set industry standards,and they always came unannounced and quietly disappeared. There were no CC cameras to monitor the staffers, yet they delivered perfection.

Today, I seek to honor each one of them, as they were the symbols of excellence in their own right.  To me they represent the ‘Crème de la Crème of the Indian hospitality industry.

1.  S.N.GADHOK 

The charismatic hotelier who founded the ITDC, Mr. Gadhok was the first true professional of the Indian hospitality industry.  He was the best human resource manager, I have ever worked with. Under his leadership the ITDC became the largest hotel company in India and stayed at the top for many years. Apart from being the architect of ITDC hotels, he was also the first head of ITC Hospitality Company. After retirement, he joined a Bombay based hotel company, The Senator group of hotels, which was the first private sector company to start Hotels in Kashmir. Unfortunately his dream of starting of three top class hotels in the valley was cut short due to the rise of militancy in Kashmir. Indeed he remains a ‘Great Hotelier’ and an amazing human being. I have always regarded him as my Guru and I was his ‘Ekalavya’. Mr. Gadhok for me was the best  Man-Manager India ever produced. Stalwarts like Anil Bhandari, KB Kachru, PB Mathur, Psyche Nigam, including me are all his protégé.

2. S K MISHRA

Mr. S.K.Misra served the Indian Civil Services, a devout social worker and father of the current  Indian hospitality Industry  status in India as it stands today. As a young tourism secretary of the Haryana Government  he brought about a  revolution in domestic tourism, by starting large number of hotels, motels and restaurants all over Haryana, making Haryana a very attractive tourism destination. Finally he moved to Central Government and proved his merit in the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation,first, as the Director General and later as the Secretary. His contribution to the tourism industry will remain a great source of inspiration for people in both government and private sectors. He finally moved on to become the Principle Secretary in Central Government and was awarded as Padam Bhushan in 2009, for his contribution to Indian Civil Services.

3. BILLO GOSWAMI

Mr. Goswami was one of the most successful of Director General Tourism. A very important part of Mr. S.K. Mishra’s team. His contribution to the hospitality industry and tourism on the whole was very productive. A friendly and amicable personality, he was always out to extend help to any hotelier who knocked his doors with a problem. He was always down to earth and very approachable person. I remember when we were building a Convention Center cum Hotel and we had major flaws in the agreement with the UP government. When we approached him, he resolved the issue in no time. That was his style of functioning.  

4. P.P.S.LAMBA

For years he was the backbone of ‘Food and Beverage’ services in Oberoi Hotels. One of the great ‘Food and Beverages’ Directors India has ever seen, he is one of three main architects of the Oberoi hotels along with Mr. M.S Oberoi and Guatam Khanna. Lots of people can take credit for what Oberoi Hotels is today, but the fact is that these three men were the ones who gave a very strong base to the finest chain in India.Mr. Lamba was first Indian GM to study in Cornell University. I had the opportunity to spend some time with him when he was the Chairman of ‘Classification Committee’. He was a Great Hotelier and one of the main pillars of Indian Hotel Industry.

5. ASHOK PAWHA

Director General Tourism, a young, soft spoken IAS officer with great vision that any government official should have. It was his plan in 1992-93 to build a cluster of hotels with the largest Convention Centre between Vasant Kunj and Vasant Vihar. For reasons best known to the Government, his plan could not take off, but was later revived close to airport, now better known as AEROCITY .It is today, one of the most successful location for Group of Hotels ever planned in the history of hospitality industry in India. His vision for tourism was path breaking and had a support of the entire Hospitality Industry. He was a thorough professional, very approachable and down to earth. He was indeed a ‘Bureaucrat Par Excellence’.

 6. ADI KATGARA

Inbound tourism  in India got a major boost with the initiative  of two Heroes - Inder Sharma owner of SITA TRAVEL and Adi Katgara the owner of TRAVEL CORPORATION OF INDIA. Mr. Sharma was stationed in Delhi; soon he became a well-known travel trade professional across the country. While Adi Katgara, was a shy travel trade leader from Mumbai. He was man with great vision for the travel industry remained lesser known. He worked hard and created one of the most successful Travel Trade operations in the country. He had an exceptional team, nearly everyone who was working with him, owns a successful operation and the even today they swear by his professionalism and human approach. I had an opportunity to work with him closely on a Hotel Resort project in Kerala. Travel Trade Industry will always be indebted to him for his contribution.

 7. AJIT B. KERKAR

Ajit Kerkar started his career as Catering Manager at Taj Mumbai. His ability and his competence turned Taj Mumbai  into one of the most successful hotels in the country. He took this time and build some of the best Hotels in India- Fort Aguada - Goa, President -Mumbai, Palace Hotels in Udaipur , Jaipur and finally Taj Man Singh Hotel in center of New Delhi, making Taj Group the third largest hotel chain in India, after ITDC, Oberoi, furthermore he brought new levels of service and food experience. Ajit B. Kerkar worked hard and created Taj as one of the finest Hotel Chain in 1980/90s. His style of management was different and aggressive. I remember when I was working for Vijay Mallya and we were planning to dispose  our central Kitchen in Sakinaka, Mumbai. I asked for an appointment, he gave me five minutes. But when we started talking about the Fast Food Industry in India, he refused to let me go for next 90 mints,that was his hunger to understand a new & upcoming industry. His exit from Taj was rather unceremonious due to difference with Rattan Tata. As for me, he will always be a hero and be as it may the present state of Taj Group is rather sad and one of the most expensive ways of managing Hotels.

8. P. B. MATHUR

Tall, handsome, down to earth and amazingly competent; P.B.Mathur was the most charismatic hotelier India has ever seen. I must say that he was the most underrated hotelier in the country. After JP Sharma, he managed The Ashok Hotel, the flagship property of ITDC for years. Then he joined Lalit Suri and made Holiday Inn a brand so successful in India that everybody thought that the brand was a five star hotel. From there he moved on to open Leela hotels  their flagship hotel in Mumbai. He was a people’s manager, very straight forward and honest in his dealings. He was responsible for starting not one but two International Hotel chains in india- Leela Hotels and Lalit Hotels.

9. J.P. SHARMA

He was known as the second pillar of ITDC. He was also the man who managed The Ashok hotel with great professionalism that brought prestige to the property. Ashok hotel was indeed one of the most glorious hotels of its time, during its days of glory all high-profile government functions, state visits of the heads of state, foreign delegations, state banquets  all were hosted by the government at The Ashok Hotel. His ability to design plan and execute large and the most prestigious government function as no parallel up-to-date. Finally he became head of ITDC operations. Unfortunately, his competence as Corporate Chief officer in ITDC, was full of controversies and negativity. As professional, I have great regard for him and will remember him as the outstanding hotelier who once managed The Ashok Hotel.

10. ROGER MONCOURT

Back in the 1970’s, imagine a French Chef heading ‘Rougenoire’ the popular French restaurant in located in largest hotel in the country -The Ashok hotel cum Convention Center, New Delhi. I still remember that his salary was much more than that of the General Manager. He ran his kitchen professionally with great financial efficiency and unbelievable production quality of authentic French cuisine. There was no parallel to Roger in the country at that time and he was, probably the longest serving executive chef in India. This was happening at the time when Executive Chefs’ in Hotels used to report to Food and Beverage Manager. But in Roger Moncourt’s kitchen even the General Manager has to take his permission to enter. He was an introvert and tremendously talented Chef whose contribution to the Indian Hospitality industry was simply amazing considering the life and times during the 1970’s, when 99% of the hotels were managed by self trained or experienced chefs either from Goa or Calcutta.

 11. PSYCHE NIGAM

Ms. Nigam, the lady was my boss for many years, her path breaking contribution to Indian hospitality Industry will always be remembered. It was only due to her efforts, that back in 80’s and 90’s, over forty percent of total work force in industry comprise of ITDC trained staff & officers,  appointed either directly or in directly. She worked as Director - Development and Training of Manpower for ITDC Hotels. At any time ITDC use to have minimum of 700 to 800 apprentices, supervisory and Executive level trainees in their hotels across the country. At any time ITDC would also have over eighty Managers, Chefs and supervisors going through training all over India. She created India’s first Training Hotel (The Qutab Hotel). All this was her vision. To be honest, in last five years of her stay in ITDC, she ran the company. She is smart, charismatic and no-nonsense Senior Executive in the country.

The views expressed in this article are based on the personal experience. The writer most humbly submits that there may be instances of inaccuracies and /or authenticated information as the text flows.

written by Virat Varma and Anil Chak