fhraimagazine

may 2012

A MONTHLY ON HOSPITALITY TRADE Vol 12 Issue. 5 Pages 72 Rupees 50 A DDP Publications

Who is the right one?

Industry’s perennial search for that perfect candidate Road Journeys in Style

BYOD

Olivea’s luxury coach gives a unique dimension

Growing demand of anytime, anywhere network access

Goa Tourism Upbeat

State Govt. reduced Luxury Tax for the off-season

May 2012 Cover Story

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Bull’s Eye New hotels and restaurants are opening up giving a wide scope for employment.

A number of hospitality institutes have opened up as well. Yet there is a void in finding the right candidate. The industry tells why it is so and what actually they are looking for…

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Cover Story

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News You Can Use

contents EVERY MONTH President’s Message FHRAI Desk News Updates Products & Services Movements Events

8 32 38 64 66 68

FEATURES

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Twinings Tea

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Arvind Saraswat Talks About Air Catering

Education Features (A Marketing Initiative) Hospitality institutes share their 16 thoughts on education and the approach towards training future candidates Analysis: Goa’s Off-season Pitch Goa’s hospitality tell us 30 about the approach Technology: Bring Your Own Device Organisations are allowing 48 anytime, anywhere network access to enterprise resources

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Explore Clarks Inn Alwar

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Etcetera: Book Release An account of short stories 50 presenting emotions from real life experiences in hospitality Goa’s Luxury Tax Reduced For Off-season

CHAIRMAN PUBLICATIONS SUB-COMMITTEE Vijai Pande EDITOR Deepa Sethi - deepa@ddppl.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Sanjeev Bhar - sanjeev@ddppl.com DESK EDITOR Neelam Singh - neelam@ddppl.com PHOTOGRAPHER Simran Kaur

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ADVERTISING Gunjan Sabikhi - gunjan@ddppl.com DELHI Prateek Sahay - prateek@ddppl.com Shovan Kanungo - shovan@ddppl.com Prem Sagar - prem@ddppl.com MUMBAI Harshal Ashar - harshal@ddppl.com KERALA Vinu Nair - vinu@ddppl.com

Products & Services

Travel: Luxury on Road Olivea’s proposition in making short distance air travellers to choose surface transportation Beverage: A Sip of Success Since 1997 Twinings has shown a slow and steady growth and now takes a fresh approach to grow further Chef Talk: On a Flight of Taste Arvind Saraswat shares the challenges that exist in air catering

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DESIGN Shivali Shakdher FHRAI - MARKETING S.P. Joshi

FHRAI B-82, 8th Floor, Himalaya House Kasturba Gandhi Marg, New Delhi 110001 Tel: 91-11-40780780, Fax: +91-11-40780777 Email: fhrai@vsnl.com

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FHRAI Magazine is published, edited and printed monthly

by DDP Publications Pvt. Ltd. On behalf of Federations of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India and published from DDP Publications Pvt. Ltd. 72 Todarmal Road New Delhi 110001 Email: talk@ddppl.com Tel : 91-11-23731971 Fax: 91-11-23351503

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Movements In Hospitality

Guest Column: Booking Volumes and Hotel Rates Bookings are struggling to keep pace with prior year levels, not only in India, but around the world.

This issue of FHRAI Magazine contains 68+4 pages cover All information in the FHRAI Magazine is derived from sources, which we consider reliable and a sincere effort is made to report accurate information. It is passed on to our readers without any responsibility on our part. The publisher regrets that he cannot accept liability for errors and omissions contained in this publication, however caused.

Similarly, opinions/views expressed by third parties in abstract and/ or in interviews are not necessarily shared by FHRAI Magazine or DDP. However, we wish to advice our readers that one or more recognised authorities may hold different views than those reported.

Material used in this publication is intended for information purpose

Explore: The Hospitable Face of Alwar Clarks Inn Alwar actively promoting tourism of the city through its focused hospitality

PRINTED AT CIRRUS GRAPHICS PVT. LTD. B 62/14, Phase-II, Naraina Industrial Area New Delhi 110028

on information contained in this publication which is provided for general use, and may not be appropriate for the readers’ particular circumstances.

Contents of this publication are copyright.

No part of FHRAI Magazine or any part of the contents thereof may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system or transmitted in any form without the permission of the publication in writing. The same rule applies when there is a copyright or the article is taken from another publication. An exemption is hereby granted for the extracts used for the purpose of fair review, provided due credit in bold is given and two copies of the same publication are sent to us for our records. Publications reproducing material either in part or in whole, without permission could face legal action. The publisher assumes no responsibility for returning any material solicited or unsolicited nor is he responsible for material lost or damaged.

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product or services offered.

The publisher reserves the right to refuse, withdraw, amend or otherwise deal with all advertisements without explanation. All advertisements must comply with the Indian and International Advertisements Code. The publisher will not be liable for any damage or loss caused by delayed publication, error or failure of an advertisement to appear.

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Technology

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Greetings of the season!

Dear Readers, Our industry is one of the largest employment generators for the employable in India.Our biggest strength till yesterday – right manpower resource – is today becoming the toughest challenge for all of us.

To deliberate and focus our attention on this most important aspect, we have decided to have “Employment Generation: Engine of Inclusive Growth” as our theme for our FHRAI Convention .This issue’s cover story is also based on the Hospitality Industry’s perspective on recruitment of ‘Freshers’ followed by a special feature on education along with our FHRAI IHM’s perspective on it.

Is manpower resource such an important aspect of our industry?

Internationally, tourism’s contribution to employment is estimated to be 6–7 per cent of the overall number of jobs (direct and indirect).Global employment in Travel and Tourism industry (both direct and indirect) in 2009 was actually 250 million or 8.6 per cent of the employed. Women make up 70 per cent of the labour force in tourism sector and worldwide half of all tourism workers are 25 years or under..

In India, Travel and Tourism accounts for 5.9 per cent of the GDP and 9.2 per cent of total employment. The total number of jobs (direct and indirect), in the tourism sector in 2010 was 53 million and 49.8 million in 2009, followed by 13.1 million in automotive and 10.2 million only in the IT sector, in 2009.. Our sector estimates around 77.5 million jobs by 2016.Our Travel and Tourism sector is estimated to create 78 jobs per million rupees of investment compared to 45 jobs in the agriculture sector and only 18 in the manufacturing sector for similar investment.

Along with construction, it is one of the largest sectors of service industry in India.

An additional employment of 24.5 million (direct and indirect) is likely to be created during 2010 to 2016.

Year

Employment (in Lakhs)

2011-12

43.84

2012-13

47.26

2016-17

63.79

Where are these employable going to come from? How are we looking at bridging this gap?

During 2010-2011, 9869 service providers were certified under Government’s ‘Capacity Building for Service Providers’ scheme as against a target of 5500.Youths trained in 2010-2011 under this programme were 6981 against a target of 5500.

Given the high success and wide acceptability of this programme, MoT has expanded this scheme to cover courses like Housekeeping & Utility, Travel Agents, Bakery, etc. 100 per cent utilization of allocated fund of Rs.350 crores was achieved under these schemes during the first 4 years of the 11th Plan.

As you are aware, the Hunar-Se-Rozgar scheme

was introduced by us to the Government, but it will only address to an extent the basic entry level jobs deficit.. The difference is in the units between thousands and millions.

For the semi-skilled and skilled level entrants we still need to head-hunt at the main-stream and catering colleges, of which the decreasing number of entrants and increasing number of drop outs are causes of grave concern, leave alone the graduates joining the non-tourism industries, leaving behind a huge gap of demand and supply.

Elsewhere, in order to realise the potential of our sector, the Government would need to adopt a ‘pro-poor tourism’ approach aimed at increasing the net benefits to the poor from tourism and ensure that tourism growth contributes to poverty reduction. The benefits may be economic, social, environmental or cultural. A wide range of actions are needed to increase the spread of benefits from tourism to the weaker sections through this employment exercise.

There is a need for diversity of actions, from micro to macro level, including product and infrastructure development, marketing, branding and promotion, manpower planning, policy and investment.

Let’s meet in September at our Convention in Goa to discuss more…

I also introduce to you a new look of the FHRAI Magazine and look forward to your feedback and suggestions on our approach to remain dynamic.

Kamlesh Barot President FHRAI

kamleshbarot@revivalhotel.com (facebook.com/kamlesh.barot; twitter: @KamleshBarot)

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The concerns are related to quality manpower irrespective of the fact that the last decade has seen the rapid growth of institutes to address this issue

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Bull’s Eye W

hen the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Government of India, Jyotiraditya Scindia rose to speak for the session titled “Inclusion through Industrialisation” at Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) Annual General Meeting and National Conference 2012, he said something interesting on the manpower issue. According to him, the role of businesses in inclusion can be broadened by not just looking at CSR as a tax saving mechanism but should be seen in the form of trusteeship. Greater investment in skill development, R&D and in connecting educational institutions with industry can go a long way in achieving inclusion.

If his viewpoint is read in an isolated manner, it completely relates to the concerns of hospitality industry. The statement focused on streamlining educational institutions with industry’s needs of developing skill. After all, hospitality industry is tipped to be one of the largest employment generating sectors. Invariably, the concerns

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The onslaught of rising supply of hospitality businesses has made recruiting a perfect candidate a challenging assignment. This intensifies further as the source markets, i.e. hospitality institutes, are not churning out the quality industry searches for. The demand of fresh talents by the hospitality and its supply by the institutes has to be on the same plane to address qualitative growth of hospitality holistically.

SANJEEV BHAR are related to quality manpower irrespective of the fact that the last decade has seen the rapid growth of institutes to address this issue.

But the problems still lurks in…

Existing Imbalance “Hotel management institutes are only meaningful if education imparted is of quality. Numbers of these churning out students having paper degrees is doing injustice even to the students who aspire to go high but lack the right approach,” remarks Wing Commander (Retd.) Rakesh Pathak, HR Director, Le Meridien New Delhi.

Manas Krishnamoorthy, EAM, The Imperial New Delhi, feels, “None can deny that the concern about paucity of trained manpower is because of the demand supply equilibrium for manpower tilted towards demand, especially in the luxury hotel market.” The problem essentially lies in seriousness of the institutes towards imparting

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bring industry and institutes on a single platform of understanding the need. In the service industry, manpower reflecting strong interaction skills overrides their selection. But, apart from institute, it is the management of hotels who need to plan and impart well-designed training schedule round the year. Pathak believes, “Though today’s youth has to measure up to high expectations of the industry, but their failure is due to lack of practical approach in their education. To bring practicality, we also need to look at the course curriculum, methodology and facilities while a student is undergoing a course.”

CCD Approach

The aim is to achieve a right candidate in terms of aptitude, attitude and personality. Krishnamoorthy further informs, “At times, it takes 50 interviews to successfully recruit one. Problem is related to some course contents which are archaic.” He elaborates, “In a world of online bookings, to be taught how the ‘Whitney Rack’ works is a moot point. The role of technology is yet to feature as part of curriculum. a is yet to find a place in the syllabus.

Similarly, giant leaps in gastronomy with molecular cooking, organic wines, processed food, etc., should be known to a graduate.”

Café Coffee Day has different formats of outlets pan-India. With the existing 1200 outlets, the growth targets are in place, and the company takes a distinctive approach. Sajan Varghese, Head – HR, Café Coffee Day says, “Hotel management institutes prepare students for the top level. But they need to understand that as one goes up, the pyramid hierarchy narrows down. For our kind of formats where we might have five personnel manning a café and 8-15 personnel required for a Lounge depending on its size, we go for consultants, NGOs, where we can find working staff.”

Imminent challenge is faced due to the onslaught of rising supply. “With lots of hotels opening, employee retention and selecting the right profile is a big problem. I feel for Hospitality industry as there isn’t enough exposure given to students on current industry standards and grooming, required to face future challenges,” says Pratima Jain, Corporate Director, The Claridges Hotels & Resorts.

Another set of challenge for the hotel industry is the easy choice available to today’s youth. “Career in hospitality is somehow taking a back seat. Input of students in institutes is shrinking affecting manpower acquisition. I feel that our education system doesn’t train students keeping in mind its relevance on the shop floor,” Ramola remarks.

The QSRs emphasise on giving their own training to suit the requirement of their work philosophy. “For CCD, it is imperative that the staff understand coffee and know the art of brewing coffee with different blends, types and knowledge enough to interact with the customers. In fact, we would love if institute partners with us so that we train students with the knowledge in this area which is seldom taught in institutes,” Varghese adds. CCD has a training department with multiple level of training.

Zeroing in on Right Sources There might be many challenges but still, the industry has to fall back upon the existing institutions preparing bench strength for

quality education. According to Kishore Ramola, Director of HR, Swissotel Hotel, Kolkata, some factors discourage to enhance the talent pool in the hotel industry through the institutes: •ROI in terms of remuneration, easy life and growth prospects are not very bright initially in hotel industry so students are opting out for other careers.

•Every hotel management student eyes to get Promotions into management training or operational training nowadays happen programme and once they don’t qualify they opt out quite fast. for other career options.

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But on the other hand, hospitality sector is still struggling to come to the mainstream career option.

“We are faced with individuals who are here because they did not qualify anywhere else,” Krishnamoorthy feels.

events

A bright candidate can be a manager in a span of 5-6 years

Imminent Challenges In view of the situation, immediate challenge will be to

Good Shephard Institute, Darjeeling

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future. “Institutes need to focus more on personal development and communications.

The institute ranking on India basis and its past recruitment experience helps us identify our source for bright candidates,” informs Jain. Prima facie, counteracts Krishnamoorthy, Kishore Ramola an institute by itself does not determine the selection of candidates.

“Therefore, we recruit individuals, not the institutes, and it would be unfair to candidates if they were not given an opportunity to enter the recruitment exercise based on the institute they come from,” he adds.

Swissotel Hotel, Kolkata, for example, follows some facts to identify candidates: Institutes’ image, proximity to the hotel, past placements in five star hotels, faculty’s experience and number of students available for recruitment.

A candidate is like a product for an organisation. Therefore, everyone expects to invest on the one that proves beneficial.

Pathak says, “We obviously look for a reputed institute while planning campus selection drive. Generally, the institutes under the NCHMCT have a good crop of students who have planned for a career in hotel management. We do, however, invite smaller institutes to participate in campus recruitment.”

Campus recruitment is stressful task for employers too as much as it is for the candidates. “Our limits of interviewing skills and intuition in determining a right candidate play an important role where institute’s reputation plays as a precursor in making it simpler for us to be able to choose our future employees,” avers Krishnamoorthy.

travel

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In the service industry, manpower reflecting strong interaction skills overrides their selection

Role of Hospitality Institutes Earlier, institutes were probably meant to guide students towards an industry with the basic knowledge to make an easy entry. But now, with the advent of specialised education, institutes are expected to make Wing Commander the student almost perfect for (Retd.) Rakesh Pathak the job right from the first day.

But during the process, the line between expectations and reality was lost. Students expect something but achieve far less as a professional. Jain adds, “The students should not aim to start as management trainee only. The institute should guide them aptly and make them believe that even after starting at the ground level they can achieve their goals with correct attitude.”

Counseling is being tipped as a key to resolve this issue.

Elaborating the positive scenario, Ramola remarks, “Promotions nowadays happen quite fast. A bright candidate can be a manager in a span of 5-6 years.” All graduating students want to be at the best place, which is theoretically impossible, argues Krishnamoorthy. “Therefore, a reality check on each candidate should take place in the institute itself. This will help

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Olivea

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Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland

IPS Academy, Indore

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Qualities for a perfect candidate process 5.Smart, focused, having a vision, enthusiastic about new roles/challenges and a positive attitude.

6.A caring and pleasant attitude, sound knowledge, communication skills, leadership quality, conceptualisation skill and overall attitude toward hospitality.

7.Institute, therefore, should look for these traits in a candidate and nurture them during the course duration.

individuals to get a direction and thereby build on their interests” he says.

Pratima Jain

On the other hand, Pathak says, institutes should plan and provide right exposure so that knowledge and skill remain in harmony and course contents should be as per the industry norms with sufficient practical exposure.

Institutes also need to keep the syllabus dynamic and should go for an overhaul. “The faculty needs to keep visiting new hotels to learn the latest in the industry and accordingly train the students,” feels Ramola. Krishnamoorthy points out an interesting thought where hotels per se, are challenging yet satisfying environs to work in. “But, seldom in the long-term would an employee will be able to gain a satisfying career in this line of work if he or she is not innately passionate about hotels. This apparent ‘lack of passion’ acts as a sieve in recruitment process,” says Krishnamoorthy. With opportunities galore, growth is assured for hospitality graduates. Industry believes that Manas Krishnamoorthy the one who showcases patience and the audacity to hone up skills to match industry’s understanding by adapting quickly will go the distance.

Glion Institute of Higher Education, Switzerland

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It would be unfair to candidates if they were not given an opportunity to enter the recruitment exercise based on the institute they come from

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1. Irrespective of the profile of the role, a candidate has to be a pleasing personality with

good communication skill, confidence and knowledge of the core area concerned 2.Having business acumen (for they have to take decisions throughout the day to meet organisation’s goals and objectives) 3.Training should be the joint responsibility of institutes and hotels alike by investing time and effort on individuals 4.Motivation level, influencing style, work style, relationship management and thought

MIHMCT

FHRAI Viewpoint

Vijai Pande

Vijai Pande, Executive Committee Member of FHRAI, has a strong opinion on the subject. According to him, less than three star hotels are not maintaining standards in terms of service. In fact, according to a hotel survey, manpower can be such a critical issue that can lead to business shifting from one property to another.

Also, employees should be motivated with salary at par with industry standards along with HRA and good working environment. Hospitality industry acts harshly, and therefore, need to adopt a friendly behaviour with the students who take up this high pressure jobs. They need to be remunerated aptly according to their qualification and service quality.

SRM Institute Chennai

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Industry’s Recruitment Philosophy Swissotel Hotel Selection criteria on values and attributes Respect, Integrity, Ownership, Genuine Hospitality, Intuitive reliability and Excellent Quality.

Process of selecting a fresh candidate: Group Discussion, Extempore and individual interviews.

Training imparted 3 days extensive induction orientation programme with core brand trainings by Training Department Departmental Induction Programme Staffing trends in hospitality Hotels have already started depending on Aviation Institutes with one year diploma Most of the brand will come up with their own institutes Methods to search potential candidates Data Bank Employee Referral Job Portals Hotel website Consultants Creating data bank of candidates Job Portals Direct applications

Claridges Hotels & Resorts Selection criteria on values and attributes: Right attitude and fire in the belly.

Process of selecting a fresh candidate: Group discussion, extempore and individual interviews.

Training imparted Making the candidate ready for the job Staffing trends in hospitality Multi skilled is preferred

Methods to search potential candidates Group discussions aptitude test Face to face interaction Creating data bank of candidates Internal referrals Internet sources Consultant Newspaper advts.

Le Meridien Selection criteria on values and attributes Self-confidence, presence of mind, attitude and suitability for career in hospitality sector.

Process of selecting a fresh candidate: group discussion, written test and personal interviews Training imparted Making the candidate ready for the job Staffing trends in hospitality Candidates are provided opportunity to get into a hotel at entry level, supervisory level and executive level through suitably designed selection process followed by specific training schedules; these are called entry level, MOST (Meridien Operations Service Trainee) and Meridien Executive Trainee.

Creating data bank of candidates Hotel Website Campus Recruitment Employee References Walk-In Consultants

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Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Developing Broad Range of Leadership Swift Institute of Hospitality aims to empower the hospitality industry by preparing candidates through the course which is a blend of academic theory, industry experience and unique teaching methodology.

Dr. Gopal Munjal

Swift Institute of Hospitality offers a Bachelor Degree in International Hotel Management. It is affiliated to Royal Roads University, Canada, which is located in the capital city of British Columbia – Victoria. The course is a leading-edge programme that builds professional credentials and advances careers in the hospitality industry. Designed with ongoing input from hospitality leaders, this dynamic programme aims to develop a broad range of leadership, analytical and interpersonal skills and provide a firm grounding in hospitality management. Since the course is affiliated to Royal Roads University, Canada, we offer Canadian Curriculum in India.The course offers flexibility too, i.e., two years can be done in Swift campus and remaining in Canada.

•Ability to succeed in key areas of hotel operations •Critical thinking, writing, analytical and decision-making skills •Awareness and knowledge of latest industry trends and best practices •Substantial cost saving & flexible programme with an opportunity to study in India as well as Canada

Employment Opportunities

Hospitality Industry is directly proportionate to the tourism industry. More than five million annual tourists arrive in our country and around 562 million are domestic tourists.

This has given boost to the hospitality industry.

About the Royal Hotels: Placements in different categories of hoRoads tels ranging from Indian chain of five star properties About Swift international chains to ancillary segments like University Institute of Hospitality to chain of restaurants.There are different departments WIt is a top public University in Canada which Swift Institute of Hospitality is backed like Front Office, Housekeeping, Food & Beverage is ranked as the best (Number One) by students.

by Ind-Swift (Fortune 500 Group) Service and Food Production to choose from as per It is situated at a premier location in Canada and which offers a Bachelor Degree in interest.

International Hotel Management. The its faculty members command a global industry demand of the course is such that every Airline Industry: Airline Industry is also experience. student wishing to excel in the hospitala good option for the hotel management students. ity field aspires to get connected with One can join as an Air Hostess and Flight Steward. the course. (Hospitality industry is not Training & Develop- only limited to the hotels these days Some of them can also join as ground staff or as Pubbut it also includes airlines, cruise lines, ment lic Relationship officers. restaurants, ancillaries, etc.)

Swift Institute of Hospitality offers a hoRetail Sector: Retail sector provides a wide listic approach in preparing the future range of opportunities for hotel management graducandidates of hospitality. It empowers the ates. It includes PVR, Malls, and Back Office jobs. students with the followings: Teaching: Teaching can also be an option; students may join one •Opportunities to apply theoretical and practical knowledge to real-life of the IHMs or private colleges after approx. one year of experience case studies and assignments depending upon their academic performance.

•Dynamic internship experience that establishes you as a hospitality Entrepreneur: Another option is opening one’s own restaurants professional with marketable skills in high-demand within the industry or working as consultants for building up hotels or restaurants. They •Recognise the interrelated complexity of hospitality operations within can also provide services for special decoration in themed parties as a global context contract services. Having the back-up from Ind-Swift (Rs. 2000 Cr) •Focus on applications of problem solving skills particular to hospitality company, we proudly share that placement is guaranteed for students management issues who opt for this course.

•Knowledge, skills and experience through individual and team-based activities within a multi-cultural environment (The writer is the President of Swift Group of Colleges.)

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Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Hospitality Industry Booming Again The hospitality industry is booming again. After the government, the hospitality industry is the largest employer in the world. For students from India, studying international hospitality management at one of the Laureate Hospitality Education (LHE) institutes is the right move.

For Indian students, LHE provides a broad range of options throughout the world. Senior Vice President, Global Marketing & Admissions, Michael Huckaby of Laureate Hospitality & Design, talks about the advantages for Indian students to join one of the LHE schools, “There are many opportunities in the hospitality industry, both in India and around the world. We have welcomed over 300 Indian students over the last five years to our reputed institutions in Switzerland, Australia, Spain, China and the USA. We, at Laureate Hospitality Education, are working closely with the industry to prepare our students for a successful and exciting career. There are many opportunities for the people in India who want to make a career in this fast growing industry and LHE is there to assist them in a professional way,” he explains.

Students from more than 100 countries come each year to LHE institutions to kick-start their careers in the diverse and growing hospitality industry. The mission is to offer the best hands-on and academic curriculum, coupled with professional internships, to create the industry leaders of tomorrow.

Addressing Industry Needs

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, the global travel & tourism economy will grow by 4.3 per cent over the next 10 years, implying that its share of the global economy will rise almost to 10 per cent. This will help to create an additional 66 million jobs and one in every 9.6 jobs in India will be in the hospitality industry.

Further, going by a recent global survey by a reputed UK-based research firm Taylor Nelson Sofres, LHE hospitality institutions are ranked by industry hiring managers as among the top in the world for an international career. “The ranking proves that we have a very close link to the industry,” Huckaby says.

He further adds, “We listen to the needs of the industry on a worldwide scale. Over 50 international companies are coming

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to our campuses each semester to recruit our students, both for a professional career after graduation or for an internship.”

The students at the LHE institutions take advantage of the excellent relationship with the industry. “On average, each student gets three job offers upon graduation. Over 90 per cent of our students have an employment contract signed within three months after graduation.

These figures are not only showing that the hospitality industry provides many career opportunities, but also shows the success of the LHE schools,” remarks Huckaby.

Another major advantage of the eight LHE schools is the international transfer possibility. “Students can start their education in Switzerland for example and then move to Australia for one or two semesters,” Huckaby explains adding, “and that’s not the only international advantage. Students are able to explore the world during their internships as our institutions have contacts with over 15,000 hiring managers in more than 75 countries.” LHE, thus, brings on platter an international career for the Indian students.

About LHE

Laureate Hospitality Education is a unique and global group of institutions that provides hospitality, tourism, event, sport and entertainment management education to students from over 100 countries. It is comprised of eight premium and leading institutions in five countries and four continents, thus offering the industry an amazing pool of talents.

The group includes Glion Institute of Higher Education; Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Switzerland; Les Roches International School of Hotel Management in Spain; Les Roches Gruyère University of Applied Sciences in Switzerland; Les Roches Jin Jiang International Hotel Management College in Shanghai, China; Kendall College in Chicago, USA; Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and Australian International Hotel School in Australia.

For more information, please visit: www.laureatehospitality.com

Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Bridging the gap There exists a missing link between the academics and hospitality industry. It is often a crisscross situation with regards to training and placement of the students pursuing hospitality education.

Dr. D.Antony Ashok Kumar

ensures a successful hospitality career. To meet the rising demand The hospitality education curriculum should be developed on keeping the current trends and recent developments in the industry. and bridge the gap between the industry and educational institutes, SRM Institute of Hotel Management (SRMIHM), Chennai, believes SRMIHM realised that the students must possess exemplary that educational institutes and industry should have a forum to communication skills, operational skills and managementdiscuss the industry requirements, current issues and expectation oriented education to be the future hospitality leaders. We offer from the students to meet the current demands. comprehensive courses in English language, presentation skills and The time frame scheduled by academic institutions often does not soft skills to develop the overall personalities of the students. The match with the industry requirements. It is seen practically that institute focuses on activity-based learning and unique pedagogical exposure, actually obtained by the students, sometimes relates to tools such as role plays, interactive workshops, case studies, class a single department which is not need-specific of the academic seminars, Group discussion and projects, task and assignments institution and industry. The industry is to acquire more practical knowledge. The students expected to address the real time need of are given extensive technological training such as About SRMIHM the students pursuing the hospitality studies property management system, computing skills, in proper coordination with the academic guest lectures, seminars, ethical practices to keep Established in 1993, SRM Institute institution, thereby bridging the gap abreast with current trends and recent development of Hotel Management, now nearly between the education and actual industry in the industry. Exposure to managementtwo decades old, has been offerrequirements in terms of fresh manpower oriented education such as concepts of marketing, ing quality hospitality education needs. organisational behaviour, research methodology, and skill training to several thouservice management and entrepreneurship helps sand students so far. The institute boasts of 3 star deluxe hotel in our students to be on top of their counterparts from Institute’s the campus spread over five acres other institutes. A semester of industrial exposure Infrastructure of land to provide hands-on traintraining for the students is organised in the best of Ranked number one by several magazines, ing to the students pursuing hotel hotel in the country like Taj, ITC, Oberoi, etc., to SRMIHM boasts of extraordinary management. Eminent personaliprovide greater understanding of hotel operations. infrastructure. Apart from smart class rooms, ties such as our present president We have MoU with international universities audio-video rooms, SRMIHM also has wellMrs. Prathibha Patil visited our such as IMI Switzerland, At-Sunrice in Singapore, equipped labs for various departments like, Campus and Present Prime Johnson Wales in USA, etc., and we have ‘semester Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, infront office, food production, F&B Service, abroad’ programmes for learning global trends and augurated the 98th Indian Science accommodation operation, etc. Further, standards.

Congress held at SRM University technical training is provided for students We encourage and motivate our students to from 3rd to 7th January 2011. relating to housekeeping operations. participate in co-curricular activities and team building exercises such as organising theme lunches, seminars, Training & paper presentation, cultural and sporting events and Education Techniques various competitions to improve their organisational capabilities SRMIHM has been relentlessly putting its effort in rendering not and leadership skills. Our faculty members are well-qualified and only hospitality education but also imparting holistic education to are high profile professionals who are always in touch with latest its student community. The institute strives to achieve a perfect technological developments to bring out the best in our students. blend of personal and professional competencies to develop the (The writer is the Director & Principal, SRMIHM, Chennai.) overall personality and leadership qualities in a student which

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Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Nurturing talents The hospitality industry is one of the most important industries that demands special requirements and skills in those who are willing to be a part of the course. Michael Arul. J There is a debate on the quality standards of the students passing out of the hotel management institutes. This argument poses some major questions emphasising the main problems that, if answered, can help solve root problems of reducing the gap existing between the academia and industry needs.

There are three categories that represent the main parties of the hospitality career viz. hotel managers, hospitality educational professionals and students. Responses from each of the stakeholders focus on the problems faced by all, thus suggesting the ways to overcome them.

Developing Skills & Competencies

Many institutions are not good enough for the students to underst and beyond the basics of hospitality. Training provided by the various institutes is outdated and requires an update of curriculum. The courses do not equip the students with necessary skills required to sustain in the industry. Somehow, there are only a few training institutes that are good which goes beyond imparting education to aid in developing skills and competencies in the future candidates of the hospitality industry.

Today’s talent wants to make quick money by jumping from one job to another. It is a problem for both the employees and employers. The solution can be found in organisations nurturing the talents and not just pampering them. Industry should come up with a holistic approach addressing salary, work timing, insurance and other general facilities for the employees. Also, they seek respect and dignity from organisations.

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About MIHMCT Madras Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology was established in 1996 by Saraswathi Educational Cultural & Charitable Trust, Chennai. It has been successfully commencing its 15th year. The institute has collaborative programmes with Alagappa University accredited with ‘A’ grade by NAAC and Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi. Our institute has also tie-up with universities in U.K. Switzerland, Australia and Holland for higher education in hospitality management.

The institute is located in a spacious 30,000 sq ft plinth area near Sri Ramachandra Medical University and Saveetha Medical University. The institute offers Degree & Diploma (3 Years) courses in Catering & Hotel Administration. It also conducts One year Certificate courses in Food Production and Pattisserie, Bakery and Confectionary, Food and Beverage Service, Front Office and Housekeeping.

Training and Education Techniques

• Fully interactive CD-ROM Training by Futura Australia • We provide our students with various IET levels • LEVEL 1:- 4 Month IET in various 5 star and 7 star hotels in all departments.

• LEVEL 2:- Weekends training in various star hotels • LEVEL 3:- Part time training in Hotels like Taj Group, ITC Group, Le Royal Meridien, GRT,

Hyatt, Oberoi, etc.

• Training provided to students by conducting various media cookery shows in various TV shows.

• We also conduct various language practical sessions for the student such as English, Hindi, and French • Conducting various carving workshops for student • Italian cookery festival workshop conducting

by Italian chefs from Italy • Various personality development programmes conducting by various consultancy and top people from leading industries • We also conduct behavioural management training for our students • We conduct bartending training by professional bartenders from 5 star and 7 star hotels • We also conduct various cruise line programmes • Every year we conduct food fest in our college campus • We send our students in various cookery competitions organised by various institutes and hotels such as no oil cooking, microwave cooking, no fire cooking, etc.

Institute’s Infrastructure

Many The campus is fully-equipped with modern infrastructure. Facilities that are provided in the campus are: basic training kitchen, quantity training kitchen, advanced training kitchen, bakery and confectionary, conference room, training restaurant with bar, housekeeping lab, library, hostels and canteen.

(The writer is the Principal of Madras Institute of Hotel Management & Catering Technology)

Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Creating a Win-Win Situation

IPS Academy Indore while addressing the needs of the industry also looks into students’ aspirations, calibre, skills and corporate challenges that they match up to when they get into the industry. Dr. S. L. Kale

The shortage of appropriately skilled and trained manpower across arena of IPSA abreast with current dynamic environment of many industries is emerging as a significant and complex challenge industry. to India growth story. The dynamic investment climate in India, CII Yi Indore launched 3rd Net Chapter at IPS Academy. A coupled with high paced growth, has greatly enhanced the demand Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed betweenYi office for knowledge workers with high levels of technical & soft skills. bearers and IPS Academy. ‘Samvardhan’, an initiative of Yi Indore on However, there exists a significant demand supply gap, quantitatively Industry Institute linkage by a pool of faculties and students, will & qualitatively between the business schools and industry. Student’s be closely interacting on problem areas of the industry. UVIPSA is aspirations, calibre, skills and corporate challenges have to match Yi Net Chapter IPSA which conducts regular sessions on Industry up properly. issues in collaboration with local industries and also conducts social and other activities related to leveraging knowledge from current Industries should support the institutions in the form of chair industry trends and issues. This provides a live professors, consulting & collaborative research platform to students to learn and understand and look at it as a part of CSR. Institutions About IAI the industry well before their academics which on their part should update their syllabi gives them an edge to be empowered and in tune with the high speed changes and IPS Academy Indore is a large professional charged to deliver as cutting edge technocrats current industry requirements and develop academy established in 1994 running more and dynamic managers. innovative solutions for industry problems than 70 undergraduate and postgraduate that would enhance their credibility to solve courses in its 16 colleges. It has the biggest the problems of real world as opposed to campus placement-interview centre designed Institute’s being perceived as ivory tower theoreticians. by keeping in mind the unique recruiting Infrastructure needs of corporates. It helps them facilitate This would result in a win-win situation for The academy is located in 58 acres lush green a fair and systematic recruitment process. both. sprawling campus with more than dozen

Training & Education Techniques

The institution is recognised by renowned bodies like UGC under section 2(f); All India Council for Technical Education, New Delhi; Council of Architecture, Pharmacy Council of India, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Directorate of Technical Education, Bhopal, affiliated to four Universities viz. DAVV University, Indore; R.G.P.V. University, Bhopal; Rajiv Gandhi Technical University, Bhopal; Raja Mansingh Tomar Sangeet & Arts University, Gwalior; M.C.R.P.V. Bhopal, & ISO 90012008 Certified Institute.

IPS Academy Indore (IAI) has a well organised, full-fledged industry-academia interface cell that functions at the institute under the abledleadership of Director, Career Management Group, IPSA, for bridging the skills gap with active industry-academia partnership and collaboration.

The IAI Cell interacts with professional associations such as the CII’s Young Indian (Yi) Indore, IMA, NEN, Tie and NHRD. IPS Academy is a member institute of CII where IPSA is represented by a nominated member where, along with CII, the IAI cell team works close to the industry thereby leveraging knowledge and expertise and keeping academic

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buildings with state of the art infrastructure which includes classrooms equipped with latest gadgets, laboratories with modern equipment, libraries with lacs of books, journals, magazines, e-library, auditoriums, hostels, playgrounds, stadium, etc.

The institute boasts a mess, a canteen and a seminar hall that allows students to conduct a variety of activities such as conferences, presentations, contests, etc. The seminar hall consists of plethora of audio–visual aids such as LCD projectors, collar microphones and cordless microphones with large seating capacity.

(The writer is a Professor & Director Admissions for IPS Academy, Indore)

Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Keeping Pace with Time The constant change the hospitality industry is going through demands professionals to learn more to keep pace with today’s industry needs. Elizabeth M. Johnson Robert L. Steele III

Globally, hospitality is constantly changing. Hence, hospitality-specific education offering a tangible reward in terms of job performance, employability, and personal and professional growth becomes critical. “A well-trained workforce is the key to staff retention, guest satisfaction, and profitability,” says Robert L. Steele III, CHA, President and Chief Operating Officer of the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute (EI). He adds, “EI is proud to help our industry achieve these goals by providing hospitality training, education, and professional certification, globally.”

EI’s extensive product line encompasses DVDs/videos, online learning, skills guides, and self-paced hospitality courses. EI also administers professional certification programmes for all levels of hospitality professionals, including the prestigious Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA). “Professional certification raises the bar for hospitality industry performance, which benefits individuals, employers, investors, and most importantly, guests,” says Steele.

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EI is well respected in the Indian hospitality market. Both The Federation of Hotels & Restaurants Associations of India (FHRAI) and The Hotels & Restaurants Association of Western India (HRA-WI) have signed memoranda of understanding with the educational institute to connect their members with EI’s products and services. Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces chose EI to provide online staff education throughout their brand, noting that the materials keep learners current on industry trends and practices. In addition, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) offers many of EI’s hospitality management courses, as do many other colleges throughout the country.

EI’s online learning programmes make it flexible and convenient to meet one’s professional development goals. Best of all, EI’s competency-based training is immediately applicable to one’s job. It’s education that makes a difference.

(The writer is Senior Public Relations and Marketing Manager with American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute.Views expressed by the author are personal.)

Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Flexible Career Choices There is a lot of scope for employment in the hotel industry apart from operational areas of hotels, restaurants like the holistic or healthcare industry, which seem to be the new mantra. Alvin LamaJohnson About GSIHM GSIHM is owned and managed by a charitable trust. It is affiliated with the IGNOU as well as AH&LA USA, for our degree programme.

The institute is located in the hills of Darjeeling, at Kalimpong and we have students from India, Nepal and Bhutan. Above all, we have an immaculate placement record. Website: www. gsihm.org, E-mail: gsihm@ sify.com

With the advent of the mall culture and food court culture, the opportunity for hospitality students seems endless.We at Good Shepherd Institute of Hospitality Management (GSIHM), Darjeeling see these opportunities and guide our students accordingly. They definitely need to explore new opportunities apart from the four major operational areas.

It is about creating a niche without getting trapped into the conventional stereotype mold. Only then, the industry concerns will be aptly met by the institutes. At GSIHM, we keep the basics right; be it theory, practical or about behavioural aspects. Apart from the classroom situation, we focus on application of what students have learned. Our training is absolutely employment-centric. For us, attitude matters the most. Then there are communication skills, discipline, grooming, punctuality, dependability, ability to cope up with that to add on to the industry demands.

The institute houses lecture halls, class rooms and all sorts of labs. Our students are regularly involved in banqueting as well as in our various restaurants at our applied training centre resort - ‘The Club Royale Banquet & Resort’. We have lounge bar, restaurants, karaoke restaurants, etc.

Our campus is Wi-Fi enabled and we have moved beyond the computer labs with i-pads and laptops. On recreation front, we have swimming pools and provision for indoor and outdoor games. Further, all students are members of Rotaract Club International and are made to involve in various social and community service activities that build their strong character.

(The writer is Founder Director of Good Shepherd Institute of Hospitality Management, Darjeeling,West Bengal.Views expressed by the author are personal.)

Education Feature (A marketing initiative)

Hospitality Paradigm: From Managing Money to Managing Manpower

The change in the think tanks of hospitality business has been grounded for a long period but has now risen to an all time high importance. Navin Kumar Nanchahal The hospitality industry in India is facing acute problem in terms of having quality manpower along with operating efficiency, as the average room to manpower ratio for Indian hotel industry is 1:2.01. Due to contemporary teaching methodology and syllabi, it is still not possible to transform the students from just being recognised as a steward or a commi than to a complete hotel manager. The industry requires multiskilled manpower that can do multi-tasking and thus saving the manpower cost of the hotel.

Dearth of Middle Level Manpower

The hospitality industry in India does not recognise any difference in an ordinary BSc. degree and an Honours degree in hotel management at graduation level as well as no impetus on hiring candidates at the middle level or those who are postgraduates in the same field. As per a study, there is a dearth of trained and qualified personnel at the middle level across the industry.

The hospitality courses should be strategically crafted suiting to the basic requirement of skills and value along with imbibing the business acumen. Another very important and persistent factor for a long and widening gap between academia and industry is the recurring increase in the cost of education due to implied factors but the compensation packages offered by hotels do not match the same.

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Training & Education Techniques

The teaching pedagogy followed at FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management (FHRAI – IHM or FIHM) is based on skill enhancement along with customer-centric approach. The students are taught using modern audio/visual tools of teaching and putting students through real time situations through frequent industry visits for a more relevant understanding of the theoretical concepts.

FIHM through its wide network with the member hotels of FHRAI, which is an apex body of the hotel industry in India and the

About FIHM Keeping in view the commitment of the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) to promote quality hospitality education in the country, the FHRAI Education Trust, a constituent body of FHRAI in collaboration with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), launched Undergraduate and Postgraduate courses in the field of hospitality in July 2009 at FHRAI Institute of Hospitality Management, Greater Noida.

The programmes are designed to impart knowledge and skills in the basic and functional areas of hospitality and management. FHRAI-IHM also focuses on providing tailor-made courses as per the requirement of the students & industry.

governing body of the institute, has been successful in imparting current trends in the hospitality sector.

The students at the institute have been fortunate to have their trainings and placements with some of the big names of the Indian hotel industry in the likes of the Leela, The Taj, The Oberoi Hotels, The Park, Lalit Hotels, Accor Group and Carlson Hotels, to name a few.

Institute’s infrastructure

FIHM is situated in one of the most planned cities of the country and is well connected with the national capital. It has a lush green campus of 6.28 acres, housing state of the art infrastructure facilities in terms of: •Four Training kitchens (BTK/QTK/ATK & Bakery) •One Restaurant & one Fine Dine Restaurant •Housekeeping Lab & Model Guest Room •Front Office Lab •Language Lab •Seminar Hall •Enriched Knowledge center with national & international journals •Fully-equipped Computer Lab with Micros Opera •Separate fully-furnished Gentlemen & Ladies hostels with a wide range of amenities (Room Coolers/Room Heater/ Internet/Gym, etc.)

(The writer is Director of FHRAI – IHM, Greater Noida.)

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Goa’s

Off-season Pitch The BJP government in Goa has offered an incredible 50 per cent concession on the luxury tax to the mid-scale and upper-segment hotels during the off season – from May 1 to September 30 – to ensure that off-season remain occupied. Megha Paul Goa has just marched ahead to redefine, its foremost position in the travel map of the country. The Manohar Parrikar-led BJP government has offered an incredible 50 per cent concession on the luxury tax to the mid-scale and upper-segment hotels during the off season – from May 1 to September 30. To cash in on the concessions provided by the state government in Goa, the tourism and hospitality industry has raised a toast as well. Extremely bullish on the off-season

market this time, they are designing attractive packages to lure more travellers.

According to Swapnil Naik, Director Tourism, Government of Goa, the present government’s 50 per cent concession on luxury tax will boost the industry. The travel industry will now be able to pass the benefits of this concession to the customers. Consequently, packages will become far more attractive. A number of cheaper and more competitive deals will be available now.

Highly optimistic about the upcoming season, Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG) spokesperson Ralph D’Souza says, “Earlier luxury tax varied from 5-10 per cent, depending on the star category of the hotel. From this year on with the luxury tax discount, the off-season luxury tax will be in the range of 2.5-5 per cent, which is a great boost to the hotel industry and the travel industry in large.”

Elaborating on the benefits of this discount, D’Souza informs, “In Goa, there are

mainly two seasons. The winter season sees a lot of foreign traffic. However, in season 2 or the off-season, we receive more of domestic tourists and groups.

In the recent times, with the central government pushing up airfares, the packages to Goa have become more expensive. Also, with the neighbouring destinations such as Thailand and Malaysia becoming more affordable, the hoteliers and tour operators who form an alliance to sell packages to Goa have been finding it difficult to sell economy packages. Hence, this price correction was the need of the hour.”

According to the TTAG spokesperson, the local taxes on the ATF have also been slashed. This will now encourage airlines to land in Goa and attract more footfall. In its pre-budget memorandum submitted to Parrikar, the TTAG had urged for concessions to the industry.

The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has also termed this

Extremely bullish on the off-season market this time, goa travel operators are designing attractive packages to lure more travellers.

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Going bullish during Off-season 50 per cent concession on the luxury tax.

Applicable to the mid-scale and upper-segment hotels.

Period of concession is off season i.e. from May 1 to September 30.

The Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) has also termed this reduction as a ‘smart move’.

Industry bullish on the off-season market this time, as they are designing attractive packages.

Goa hotels during the off-season are planning to cash in on the online marketing system to draw more travellers.

Market expects to register a rise of 10 per cent in occupancy in comparison to last year.

reduction as a ‘smart move’, which will keep economy vibrant even during the off-season.

Market estimates reveal that around 1,500 medium and big hotels will gain from the incentives. Expecting a high occupancy this off-season, D’Souza reveals, “Last year’s off-season was blessed with the long weekends, which saved the industry from facing losses.

The average occupancy was around 75 per cent during weekends and approximately 60 per cent during the week days. We expect this off-season to be as good as last year. There are high chances that occupancy in this offseason would even surpass the last year occupancy,” he hopes.

Guitry Velho, General Manager, The Heritage Village Club, Goa, asserts that the move will help bring in more domestic tourists during this off-season. “In the summer months, the hotels are forced to drop prices and become more competitive to cater to the domestic and MICE market.

This reduction in tax is a welcome step and will help hotels promote the summer months aggressively and thereby, facilitate the cash flow of the hotels during these months.” From May to September in the last financial year, The Heritage Village Club, Goa, achieved a healthy occupancy of approximately 52 per cent. This year, the hotel forecasts

a surge of about 10-12 per cent in the domestic market, which will increase occupancy to 62-64 per cent.

Anurag Jain, Director – Sales, Best Western Devasthali, Goa, feels, “We are expecting a good off-season this year but this is not due to the recent tax discount. Our property is more in the budget category, and hence, the luxury tax was never that high for our hotel.” The hotel that witnesses an average of 30 per cent occupancy during the off-season is planning to cash in on the online marketing system for drawing more travellers.

“We get almost 90 per cent of our business via online marketing.

Going forward, this off-season we will be aggressively promoting our property through this medium,” he added.

Priti Chand, VP Corporate Communications, Zuri Group Global, opines, “For the first time the government has tried this out. It is a new concept for us too. We are quite certain that it will make some difference in occupancies during the off-season.

From what we can foresee, there should be 10 per cent increase in occupancy in comparison to last year.” According to Chand, the occupancy in The Zuri White Sands, Goa Resort & Casino is around 70 per cent on average during the offseason.

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A New Look Vijai Pande Chairman FHRAI Publications Sub-committee vijaipandit@yahoo.co.in Vivek Nair Honorary Secretary, FHRAI

In tourism, good ambience, decor and inviting look in addition to tasty food is very critical to attract tourists.

Similarly, the FHRAI, along with DDP Publications, has brought about a new look of the magazine incorporating more interesting topics to spread knowledge to our members and hospitality at large. The new improved look lays emphasis on special thoughts like education and analysis which are changing the industry constantly. Just like the slogan - Atithi Devo Bhava - of the Ministry of Tourism, FHRAI also treats its members in the same manner.

We wish to serve our readers with

information that is worthy and could be used for their development. We hope the topics are appreciated and will look forward to feedback and suggestion to incorporate issues that are of your concern.

Our president, Shri. Kamlesh Barot, has been constantly striving to take FHRAI to a higher pedestal and this magazine presents one of the reflections of his approach. Under his abled support, FHRAI is organising FSSA 2006 seminars in association with the regional hotel and restaurant associations across the country to enlighten all about the new Act. We are trying to bring

perspectives from experts in service and quality to make ourselves strong and achieve international standards in food hygiene. I request all concerned to participate and gain knowledge from these seminars.

Government policies are always articulated in detail by FHRAI. We expect to obey those which are acceptable and addresses the concerns of hospitality industry. But we should also raise our disagreement when we think otherwise. The room for debate and justice should remain open to ensure that Indian hospitality continues to strive to achieve the best.

FHRAI proposes amendments in the Harmonized List of infrastructure Sub Sectors Vivek Nair Honorary Secretary, FHRAI

wrote a letter to i FHRAI Dr. Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic

with a population of less than 1 million which has been specified in the Harmonized List of Infrastructure Sub Sectors published in the Advisor, Ministry of Finance, Government Official Gazette dated March 28, 2012. Due of India, on April 27, 2012, intimating to this anomaly, 95 per cent of the Hotels him about our request for Inclusion of in India do not get covered in the intended “Hotels of 3 star and above Hotels category benefit of Infrastructure, i.e., extended located across India” instead of “3 star and tenure of repayment of loans up to 15 years above category outside city limits with a instead of 8/10 years at present, lower rate population of less than 1 million” which of interest for borrowing from Industrial has been specified in the Harmonized List Development Financial Institutions like IIFL of Infrastructure Sub Sectors published in the Official Gazette dated March 28, 2012 & IDFC and availing ECB as Hotels earn substantial foreign exchange and thus have a presented by us to the Hon’ble Finance natural hedge. We presented our viewpoint Minister. Further, we enclosed a copy of whereby only if the above important the letter addressed to Hon’ble Finance recommendations for the inclusion of hotels Minister, Govt. of India, dated March 5, across India in the Harmonized List of 2012, requesting for the inclusion of 2 Star and above Hotels across India instead of 3 star Infrastructure Sub Sectors and various postand above category Hotels outside city limits budget recommendations are accepted would

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the industry be able to achieve the target of about 17 million foreign tourists from the present 6 million. However, to accommodate that additional capacity of about 180,000 guests, more rooms are to be added to the present hotel inventory of 163,000 by 2021.

The capital investment required to setup the additional rooms by 2021 is about Rs. 127600 crores, i.e., about US$ 25.5 billion. This is indeed a staggering amount to be raised to fund the additional guest rooms, and therefore, if only the aforesaid incentives such as inclusion of hotels in RBI’s Infrastructure Lending List, would the capital expenditure be invested to increase the accommodation infrastructure in the country.

We hope that Dr. Basu will render his kind and immediate intervention on the above issues.

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post budget

memorandum

A letter dated April 19, 2012 was written to Shri R. S. Gujral, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, Government of India, by Vivek Nair, Honorary Secretary of FHRAI and Sushil Gupta, Chairman – FHRAI Legal Sub-committee, thanking him for having given an opportunity to present their views in pre-budget meeting, a few out of which have been accepted, i.e., Direct tax - allowing investment linked benefit under section 45AD to such hotels which have entered franchisee agreement of operating hotel by an outside agency, Service Tax - admissibility of Input tax credit on Mandap keeper Services, Shortterm accommodation and also sale of food by an air-conditioned restaurant having license to serve liquor.

Somehow, corresponding changes in the Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 and Service Tax Rules, 1994 have yet to be made. Later, the same was also notified to the Additional Secretary (Budget), Shri. Shanti Kanta Das vide a letter dated April 28, 2012.

Despite having granted some relief, the hospitality industry in India continues to be heavily taxed due to multiplicity of taxes that are applicable and have to be paid. Thus, International Tourism in India is becoming an expensive proposition in comparison to neighbouring Tourist Destinations. Therefore, in order to encourage International Inbound Tourism particularly when due to adverse financial position world over exports from India have suffered a serious setback, it would be appropriate to consider the amendments in the Budget detailed herein below:

Direct Taxes

Provision: Income Tax Sec 32 Suggestions/Recommendations: a) Massive Investments in Hotel Rooms required in India. Further, the cycle of renovations in Hotels has reduced from 15 years to 7-8 years. Rate of deprecia-

tion may be scaled up from 10% to 20% b) Since the usage is for commercial purpose which is round the clock for 24 hours specially designed for special use and when compared to other building, this, therefore, results in more wear and tear. c) Benefit of additional depreciation should be made available to even service sector including hotel sector which is contributing in a good way to the economy. Another factor, which also needs consideration, is that in the current scenario to have competitive advantage, service sector makes substantial investment in Plant and Machinery including intangible assets.

Provision: Income Tax Sec 35AD Suggestions/Recommendations: Whether demolition of existing hotels and construction of new hotel would be eligible for deduction u/s 35AD is to be clarified.

Provision: Income Tax Sec 80-IA/IB (Infrastructure Status) Suggestions/Recommendations: a) Given the acute shortage of quality hotel rooms to keep pace with the Indian economic developments, hotel Industry is to be granted infrastructure status. b) Suggested course is to extend benefit to tourism sector to cover hotel projects located in metro cities.

Provision: Income Tax Sec 80-ID Suggestions/Recommendations: a) Considering the tourism potential in India, it is suggested to extend benefit to cover hotel projects located in all metro cities. b) The deduction should be given for 10 years as the gestation period of new hotels itself is around 4-5 years.

Provision: Income Tax Sec 194H (TDS) Suggestions/Recommendations: a) Under section 194H, commission of hotel booking may be treated on the same lines under section 194C in case of payment to transporters and no tax is to be deducted if transporter submits PAN. b) To exclude commission payments as TDS amount deposited is

to be recovered back. The recovery in such cases cannot be forced upon the travel agents, as there is no statutory provision governing such recovery.

Provision: Income Tax Sec 195 (TDS) Suggestions/Recommendations: a) Benefit should be conferred upon as specified ill exemption section 10(6A) that was applicable till June 1, 2002 whereby tax was not considered as taxable income in the hands of non-resident. b) Alternatively and for simplicity sake TDS rate on technical services, which is scaled to 10%, should not be linked to the date of the agreement but should be linked to fees arising after 01/06/05 irrespective of the date of the agreement as provided in section 115A(1)(b).

Provision: License Fees Suggestions/Recommendations: Considering the fact that hotels are already subject to multiple taxes and the hotel building is effectively used for residential purpose and renting of residential dwelling for use as residence is not subject to service tax as per the negative list, the exemption available earlier should be continued.

service Tax

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Issue: Immovable property – Hotels – Licence fees

Suggestions/Recommendations: Huge investment is involved while constructing a hotel. The Hotels are the backbone of both National and International Tourism. The reason for keeping Hotels outside the immovable property is to keep tourism industry competitive to the neighbouring tourist destinations as there is huge potential of earning precious foreign exchange. Due to international slowdown in the economy, exports have been hit adversely. Therefore, it has become all the more important to attract more and more tourists to earn foreign exchange by encouraging inbound International Tourism, and

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are subjected to service tax, both the Industry and the Nation would be losers.

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Issue: Sale of Food Airconditioned Restaurants having license to serve liquor

Suggestions/Recommendations: The law commission having recognised the fact that the service element in case of sale cannot be extricated and no value can be attributed, it has by way of 46th Constitutional amendment by inserting entry 29(A)(f) has made the service element as a part of Sale, therefore, service tax cannot be levied.

Hence, the levy of service tax may please be withdrawn as it is contrary to Board initiative ‘How to reduce Litigation’.

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Issue: Short-Term Accommodation

Suggestions/Recommendations: Since, the rent on Hotel Rooms is subject matter of luxury tax, in view of Mission Statement of National Litigation Policy, it is expected that the Govt. should act as a responsible litigant that has been defined under Policy as ‘Government must cease to be a compulsive litigant. The philosophy that matters should be left to the courts for ultimate decision has to be discarded. The easy approach, “Let the court decide,” must be eschewed and condemned’.

Even CBEC has invited suggestions from Trade, Industry, Chambers and professionals on the subject ‘How to Reduce Litigation’.

Therefore, by withdrawing levy of service tax on short-term accommodation, Government would move in a right direction.

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Issue: Commission paid to Travel Agents in convertible Foreign Exchange (Notification No. 14/2008)

Suggestions/Recommendations: Though as per the proposed place of

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provision rules, the service provided by intermediary would not be taxable in India.

However, there are host of other services which are provided in relation to booking of an accommodation, which would be taxable now. It would lead to undue financial burden on the hotels. The benefit under the said notification should be continued.

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Issue: Payment by Intl.

Tourists in Convertible Foreign Exchange

Suggestions/Recommendations: There is a need to put in place a suitable mechanism so as to make India as an affordable Tourist destination to earn more foreign exchange.

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Issue: Services to Oneself

Suggestions/Recommendations: The present proposal is in contradiction to the basic concept of taxation as for levy of service tax there have to be two independent parties, i.e., Service Provider and Service recipient and customer client relationship must exist. Therefore, by any stretch of imagination one cannot render service to himself/herself regardless of its location in taxable/non-taxable category. This proposal would also open flood gates of avoidable litigation.

As per the basic concept of service tax, service provided by one person to other for a consideration is subject to service tax.

Therefore, service provided to oneself is not subject to service tax. The location of service provider and receiver may be in different taxable territory, however, as long as it is provided to oneself it should not be subject to service tax.

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Issue: Contractual recipient vs. Actual recipient

Suggestions/Recommendations: This proposal would once again open Pandora ’s Box for litigation. As per terms of

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Contract Act, the beneficiaries to a contract are the parties to the contract. A third party who is stranger to a contract can never be treated as the beneficiary of contract. In normal parlance, the third party cannot be beneficiary of any transaction. Going by this perception, even VAT authorities would extend the taxation of the Sales purchase transaction between two parties to the buyer of the Buyer, which is impermissible in law.

The proposal is diametrically opposite to the mandate of National Litigation policy and the Government would not be a responsible litigant.

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Issue: Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004

Suggestions/Recommendations: As per the existing rule 6(3A)(b) to calculate provisional ratio, the amount of Exempt services and Total turnover, are taken as per the previous year. However, once the notification No.13/20l2 is made operational from a notified date, certain services which were exempt in previous year would become taxable in between the year, and hence, would create practical difficulty in calculation of provisional ratio prior to the notified date and after the notified date. Further, there is no clarity on actual reversal ratio calculation at the end of the year, i.e., would there be two actual reversal ratio - one for the period prior to the notified date and second one for the period after the notified date. Proper clarification along with an illustration has to be issued in this regard.

i

Issue: Definitions – Exempted Services

Suggestions/Recommendations: There is a need to amend the definitions of ‘Exempted services’, Abated services and also Rule 6 of the Cenvat Credit Rules 2004.

MOT’s Interactive Session with Stakeholders’ Associations of Tourism & Hospitality

An interactive session was chaired by Secretary (Tourism) with the stakeholders’ associations of Tourism & Hospitality sector on Friday, March 30, 2012 at Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, New Delhi.

i

Shri Sanjay Kothari, Special Secretary, (Tourism), Additional Secretary then, welcomed the stakeholders by stating that 70 to 80 per cent of the issues have been resolved. The prime goal of the Ministry is to keep working together for achieving micro and macro level goals resulting in the growth of domestic and foreign tourist traffic within the country.

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After the welcome comments, Shri RH Khwaja, Secretary (T), gave a detailed analysis of the goals/targets and achievements of the Ministry during the last few months. On January 19 this year, MOT had the first meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee set up by the Prime Minister’s Office under the chairmanship of Shri Pulok Chatterjee, Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. Secretary

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(T) further informed that the 2nd Meeting of the Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee is likely to take place in April this year. (With reference to this point, FHRAI intimated Secretary Tourism that a letter has been sent to Shri. Pulok Chatterjee

by Mr. Kamlesh Barot, President and Mr. Vivek Nair, Honorary Secretary of FHRAI, dated January 25, 2012 expressing gratitude for this visionary policy initiative and offering association’s full support and cooperation.) Shri Khwaja briefed about the

i.Shri M.D. Kapoor, Secretary General, FHRAI: Whether the hotels located

outside Delhi city (such as Noida, Faridabad, Gurgaon, etc.) be covered under the harmonised list. The boundary limits need to be specified.

ii.Shri Rakesh Mathr, Representative - IHHA:

a) Several heritage buildings in the country are occupied by Government offices.

These places do have accommodation shortage. This shortage can be addressed if these Government offices located in downtown area are shifted elsewhere and these heritage buildings are converted into hotels. This is a good way of adding capacity. b)Heritage hotels should be included under the ambit of Section 35 AD of IT Act. c) INTACH had earlier offered its premises for having cultural programmes with the help of the trade.

iii.Dr Lalit Pawar, CMD, ITDC:

ITDC has invited Expression of Interest from leading Hoteliers, Real Estate Developers and all investors to develop six acres of land available (with 40000 FAR) in Ashok-Samrat complex to develop convention centre with 3000+ capacity, state having nine activities short listed which include state of the art facility, business centre I exhibition area and a multilevel basement level car parking, banqueting area, committee room, two specialty roof top restaurants and spa facility. This will be done on revenue sharing model. Also, requested the trade to offer their feedback. ITDC is willing to provide their services for developing convention centers on PPP mode outside Delhi provided the land is given by the State Government.

iv.Shri S.M. Shervani, President, HRANI & VP, FHRAI:

Restaurants facing problems due to the new Food Safety Standards which has huge ramification on the industry. MOT

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progress made in this direction. There has been a change in the approach of many colleagues in the Government Ministries visà-vis tourism. This change is directly linked to the fact that for the first time the Prime Minister’s office has set up this Committee.

He listed out various step in details. Then the house was opened for suggestions from the participants. Some of the comments / suggestions related to hospitality industry by the stakeholders are given below in brief:

may kindly take up this issue.

v.Shri R.M. Puri, Secretary General, HAI:

a) The working group of the 12th Five Year Plan has recommended additional rooms in the classified category. To create this additional accommodation, huge resources are required which would be to the tune of approx. Rs. 2,000 crores.

That kind of money cannot be accessed by the industry unless they have the infrastructure status under 81A of the IT Act. b) The tourism industry should create a Tourism Export Promotion Council to be registered under the Companies Act.

•ADG (T) informed that Ministry

of Tourism has decided to extend nonfinancial assistance to the tourists coming in groups of 15 or more. The tour operators were advised to submit the proposal to the overseas offices at least one week in advance indicating the details of the group and itinerary. This scheme would result in tourists feeling happy about their visits to India as well as saving them from being misguided by the touts. This idea was welcomed by the members of trade.

•ADG (T) further stated that

relaxation of two conditions for restaurants, i.e., restaurants in malls and restaurants in heritage buildings have been taken up for consideration by MOT for approval. Circular has already been issued

by MHA that Immigration officials will take TVOA fees in rupees as well as in dollars.

For portals on guide, the RD’s and TGFI have been asked to certify the data which should be corrected and thereafter the portal to be launched.

•ADG (T) briefed the gathering

about the Campaign Clean India. MOT will identify 50 key destinations. 5-10 locations in each destination would include station to destination. The destinations will be adopted by the corporate (PSU/ Hotels’ Travel trade partners) to provide funds for sustainable cleaning up of these places by outsourcing through an agency.

Schools and educational institutions will visit monuments for awareness generation cum excursion visit every two weeks where

they will have shramdaan. Ten IHMs and IITIM have already adopted 10 of the 36 monuments which ASI had given to MOT under the Clean India Campaign.

There will be a web based website which is interactive and linked to Athithi Devo Bhawah website.

•AS (T) further added that once the place is cleaned up, there will be a third party like Quality Council of India which will evaluate it and on the basis of the evaluation, a separate award will be created in the form of incentive money.

•AS (T) expressed his surprise by stating that IATO is not coming forward to share the cost on 75:25 basis with MOT for participating in overseas road shows.

The three associations did not respond to the suggestion of MOT for participating in Medical, Wellness and Adventure tourismrelated road shows in overseas markets where MOT was incurring the maximum expenses and willing to share 50% of the costs. MOT has frozen the list of calendar of events for the associations to respond.

MOT is also willing to share 50% of the cost for producing promotional films by the associations.

•AS (T) stated that MOT has a creative agency which will be preparing a five year vision. MOT has given them the targets and vision for Incredible India Phase II to make a presentation to the Travel Trade in mid April 2012.

•JS (T) responded to holding the annual convention of USTOA in India. Instructions have already been issued to India Tourism New York to extend all possible support for the event. MOT has no objections for transport Operators having Incredible India branding on their coaches.

•The Secretary (T) summed

up by stating that second meeting would be held shortly with Principal Secretary to the PM. The strategy would be as follows: a) Focus on issues which have a vital bearing on the health of the industry. b) Meeting with the PM’s Principal Secretary will have a number of agenda items and some of the points made in this meeting will also be covered. c) All issues relating to taxation at the Central Government level will be covered.

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modifications in

Classification

Bharat Malkani Chairman MOT, HDPB and Classification Sub-committee

This Sub-committee has been working criteria diligently for the last six months with one single aim in mind to make our classification guidelines contemporary for the entire hotel and restaurant industry. We have gone threadbare into the details of the issues that concern the industry and have made our recommendations to the MOT for modifications of the existing criteria for classification.

Fundamentally, the changes proposed by us ensure that modernisation with sustainable development is the key to the future growth of this industry, where we have found the current classification criteria falling short of international norms. We have unilaterally chosen to ask for upgrading the same from the MOT. An example being that 3 star hotels in urban areas must now be fully air-conditioned. Globally, all 3 star hotels come under the ‘Standard’ hotels classification and expecting them to be only 50 per cent air-conditioned is, in our opinion, inadequate to meet today’s global standards.

On the other hand, we have removed requirements for the same category of hotels to have piped music, as we are aware that in today’s day and age, music essentially streams into our lives from TV. While we have accepted most of the norms proposed by the MOT, there are a few fundamental changes we have proposed for classification that are a departure

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from the past, but extremely relevant to global standards. A few examples are mentioned below:

Hotels under 100 rooms NEED NOT have kitchens to be classified: This is essential in view of the FSSAI and its impact on the industry. We will see higher quality food production centers emerge with modern equipment and control systems. A small kitchen can never compete with these larger facilities and we have now requested the MOT to do away with this mandatory clause for classification. The hotel continues to have the option of making its own kitchen nonetheless. However, the hotel will still need to conform with the current requirements of classification for dining areas. This will offer a fantastic flexibility to hotels that are small to offer an extended menu of food in their restaurant by outsourcing the same to FSSAI approved kitchens.

Removal of the requirement of a Bar for classification:

With a number of places being ‘dry’ in our country and as well as to promote development of top quality hotels in pilgrim locations, this regulation is counterproductive and needs to be deleted.

Application of local municipal laws for installation of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in new hotels:

Currently, the MOT asks the hotel to produce a certificate from the Pollution control board for classification. However, not all Municipalities or local authorities have a specific requirement for the same in their bylaws. This creates a situation where when a hotel applies for this certificate the local authority is unable to comply with the same, as its not yet issuing these in that

area. Net effect is that the hotel is denied classification.

Construction of facilities and toilets for differently -challenged people in Heritage properties:

Heritage properties are by virtue of their design extremely difficult to manage in terms of civil construction. There are specific requirements laid down by law that do not allow heritage properties to be damaged and it’s our duty as citizens of this country to respect the cultural heritage of this land. In light of the above this has been proposed.The MOT has been very positive, forthcoming and sensitive to these proposals being made by us. They have also launched a Hospitality Development and Promotion Board (HDPB) on their website where the MOT has offered a ‘Single Window Clearance’ for new proposals being made in India. This is the first time since Independence that such a facility has been created and developed by the MOT and we urge all aspiring hoteliers to take full advantage of the same. This committee is dedicated to its members in an effort to rationalise and modernise the hospitality industry.

Sanjay Kothari

Climbing the ladder of success

Shri. Sanjay Kothari has recently been elevated to the position of Special Secretary, Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Prior to his new profile, he was serving the ministry as Additional Secretary.

FHRAI takes the opportunity to wish him success and looks forward to his continued steadfast support, outstanding leadership and abled guidance.

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Interactive awareness

seminars on FSSA 2006

enactment of Food Safety & i The Standards Act and establishment of the

Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a landmark development which will have a pervasive impact on all segments of the Indian hospitality industry. It becomes obligatory on all food business operators to acquire license under this Act either before the expiry of their existing license or by August 5, 2012, whichever is earlier.

The processing of the license takes 60 days.

Therefore, the license should be applied by June 5, 2012 (60 days prior to the due date of obtaining the license/renewal of license).

The Seminars will benefit Owners, GMs, Operational Heads, Chefs, F&B Managers, Hygiene Managers, Engineers, Quality Control Executives, Materials Managers and Housekeepers.

Seminars held so far It is FHRAI’s endeavour to familiarise its esteemed members about the legal and regulatory aspect of this Act. The Sub-committee Seminars of FHRAI in association with respect to regional associations have conducted awareness programmes as per details given below with pictures of the seminars held in Kolkata and Guwahati.

• • • • • • • • • • •

March 16, 2012 – Delhi March 20, 2012 – Kochi April 20, 2012 – Vizag April 12, 2012 – Bengaluru April 16, 2012 – Indore April 17, 2012 – Bhopal April 25, 2012 – Kolkata April 26, 2012 – Guwahati May 4, 2012 – Chennai May 11, 2012 – Lucknow May 12, 2012 – Agra

Glimpses of awareness seminars on FSSA 2006 held in Kolkata and Guwahati

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DDA mulls FSI hike in

Delhi hotels

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) is considering a proposal to increase the floor space index (FSI) for hotels in Delhi from the existing 2.25 to 3, which would help many hotels to add a number of rooms to their existing capacity. DDA had earlier increased the FSI for hotels in Delhi from 1.5 to 2.25 in 2008 to help add more rooms in anticipation of the rush of tourists for the Commonwealth Games.

Reacting to the recent development, S. M. Shervani, Vice President, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), said, “An increase in FSI would imply a rise in the number of rooms. There is an evident room crunch in Delhi, and hence, this is surely a welcome step.”

Delhi has around 14,000 approved hotel rooms. If the FSI goes up, then around 5,000-6,000 rooms could be added in Delhi.

Late last year, the civic authority had invited suggestions for a mid-term review of the Delhi Master Plan 2021 where the FHRAI had recommended that the FSI be increased to three, aligning it with what is prevalent in other parts of the country. Currently, DDA is also inviting suggestions from all stakeholders while discussing the master plan.

However, DDA has also clarified that the higher FSI will not be applicable in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone. This includes hotels such as the iconic Taj Mahal, Shangri La, Le Meridien, The Oberoi, Taj Palace, ITC Maurya and Claridges. Hotels that are part of a larger commercial establishment will also be kept outside the purview of the higher FSI. Commenting on the situation, Shervani feels, “FSI should be applied to all hotels equally to increase the room

supply. Excluding the hotels in the central hub of the city is unfortunate. I don’t see why the increase in FSI in these hotels will damage the heritage value of the region.” One of the prime hotels that will benefit from this hike is The Leela Palace New Delhi, Shervani adds.

“This is a loss of opportunity for hotels in the Lutyens Bungalow Zone. In all countries hotels exist in the central locations. So being a part of the larger commercial establishment does not mean the hotel cannot add to its existing infrastructure. For example, Taj Mansingh has so many floors. How will the addition of one or two more floors harm the environment of that area? Hence, I would firmly urge that FSI should be hiked unanimously for all hotels in Delhi,” he advocates.

According to Peter J. Leitgeb, President & CEO, The Claridges Hotels & Resorts, the deluxe boutique hotel, “The Claridges, New Delhi, has an inventory of only 140 rooms. An additional FSI would have definitely enabled us to add more rooms and suites. This would have generated more revenues and significantly, improved the bottom-line of our hotel.”

Ratan Marothia

S. M. Shervani

Talking about the varying FSI in different territorial regions, Ratan Marothia, Vice President, FHRAI, urges, “FSI should be increased for all regions jointly. First, there was an increase in FSI in Mumbai and then Delhi witnessed a boost in FSI in the name of the Commonwealth Games.

Would then Kolkata have to celebrate the centenary of Rabindranath Tagore to get a sanction for hike in FSI? Hence, I would urge the government to raise FSI in all metros collectively.”

Peter J. Leitgeb

“We are looking at both owned and management proposition to establish our budget brand, i.e., Budget Inn. There is a void of quality budget accommodation and whatever is available, 80 per cent of those are of poor quality standards.

Hence, we chose to venture into this segment.”

The properties would be midsized with 40-100 rooms with Rs. 2000 or below per room night.

“Our emphasis would be on higher RevPars,” he added.

Aman Syal

With a strong background in providing human resource solutions, Laurent & Benon Group made its entry into hospitality industry two years back. Now, the group is getting into budget segment by launching the brand - Budget Inn. In a conversation with FHRAI Magazine, Aman Syal, Director Business Initiative, Laurent & Benon Management Consultants, informed,

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of hotel market. To address leisure travellers, we recently launched Laurent & Benon’s Heritage Collection. Within this, we have two operational properties in Rajasthan,” he informed. At present, the Heritage Collection comprises of ‘Indra Vilas’ in Alsisar and ‘Thar Vilas’ in Jaisalmer. The former has 48 rooms while the other one has 80 rooms and eight suites both of which are managed by the hotel group.

The company manages corporate guest houses across India as part of its B2B approach and has an inventory of 1200 rooms pan India in 10 cities. “We expect to grow to 16 cities by the end of 2012 with addition of 300 rooms within June, as there are many negotiations underway,” revealed Syal. Around 40 per cent of the inventory is dedicated to clients on long-term basis for its inventories across the segments of operation.

“The company has earmarked Rs. 200 crores as investment for the next two years. It would be accrued through debt and equity. The company aims to achieve 40 properties by March 2014 where one fourth of the properties would be owned,” outlined Syal. The company would be even looking for projects internationally, he summed.

Laurent & Benon launches a budget brand Earlier, for two years, the group gained its ground in hospitality with business brands –Corporate Inn, The Corporate Residence and serviced apartments, Corporate Stay Solutions & Expat Residence Solutions. It commands presence in both owned and management formats. It is now eyeing metro and non-metro cities which hold business potential. “We want to be present in every segment

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CCD Lounge considers hotels as opportunity for growth Though opened as an elegant outlet to take the concept of café a notch higher, the CCD Lounge is now looking beyond. relax “Given an opportunity we would consider the hotels as a place where CCD Lounge could be established,” remarked Ramakrishnan K., President – Marketing, Café Coffee Day, a division of ABCTCL. According to him, there are a few considerations which are to be taken into account before such an interest could be looked into coming from a budget to an upscale hotel where the ‘CCD Lounge’ brand can fit in. “We are essentially marketing Lounge on the kind of elaborate food & beverage offering that is an elaborate set up vis-à-vis CCD outlet. It has more space and offers a toned-down ambience. So, for a proposition in hotel, we have to see that not too

many changes are involved that dilutes Lounge’s brand proposition,” Ramakrishnan explained. The Lounge format effectively looks for a space with 1200 sq ft where 250 sq ft is required exclusively for kitchen. In case of a CCD outlet, 650 sq ft is the basic requirement of space. With overall count of 1330 outlets in all segments of CCD, the company expects to increase to 2000 by 2014. At the moment, out of total, only 35 Lounges have been established pan India. The concept has brought in the option of all brewing concept where one can choose coffee brewing techniques like French Press, Siphone and Pour Over. Further, Ramakrishnan added, “We have introduced ‘Mixology’ for concoction drink options in addition to extended cuisine menu from serving pasta and salads to parathas and biryani.”

Jindal Stainless pitches with Krome16+ for Kitchenware Jindal Stainless,one of the largest manufacturers in the stainless steel product segments, is now aggressively targeting the kitchenware segment of Ratan Jindal hospitality industry. In an exclusive conversation with the FHRAI Magazine, Ratan Jindal, VC & MD, Jindal Stainless Ltd. (JSL), said, “We are trying to popularise the usage of Stainless Steel (SS) in various applications across the industries including hospitality industry. However, initial focus would be on the kitchen and F&B area of operations.

In this particular section, JSL is promoting Krome 16+ grade specifically for its unique qualities built exclusively for Hospitality segment. ” In hotels and restaurants, cooking is a concern as hygiene is the vital subject to take care of. Jindal added, “Hence, we are propagating the usage of SS instead of

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Aluminum because it is safe to use for food and beverages.” Further, JSL has introduced a new grade of SS, i.e., Krome16+, which is in compliance with AISI 430 Food Grade.

It is a ferritic solution offering various advantages in the fabrication of cookware and utensils. Chromium, and not Nickel, is the key ingredient for the corrosion resistance. Krome 16+ contains minimum 16 per cent Chromium to conquer high corrosion resistance. This new offering of unique grade, which was not popular in India earlier, is going to replace the existing line of SS in kitchenware segment, he remarked.

According to Jindal, this distinctive grade of Stainless Steel is used for enhanced durability of product and to make utensils maintenance free. Additionally, Krome 16+ is quite safe SS grade for kitchenware usage as it does not react with food ingredients.

The company has a long-term approach to promote the new grade of SS and has scaled up its operations accordingly. The company has already commissioned its new plant at Jajpur in Odisha. “As we move forward, we

plan to expand the existing stainless steel capacity at Odisha to 1.6 million tones. This plant will deal with the growing demand level of future. We are expecting 14-20 per cent YoY growth in demand. At present having a production of 1.7 MT annually including both Hisar and Jajpur plants, we expect to increase the production capacity by another 0.8 MT through Jajpur plant in near future,” Jindal informed. The novel plant capacity after full expansion will be about 2.5 MT per annum. The existing capacity of Hisar plant is 0.8 MT per annum.

Further, JSL is aggressively looking to strengthen the reach of its two divisions: JSL Lifestyle (brand - Arttd’inox) and JSL Architecture (brand – J-Arc). The former creates exclusive SS lifestyle products, while the latter promotes SS products and technology solutions catering to architecture, building and construction needs. This division delves in street furniture, cafeteria furniture, modular kitchens, lighting and signage apart from other architectural requirements.

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Imparting ‘business understanding sense’ key to hospitality education

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GHM enters India with two properties

Dr. Anthony Erb

Expansion

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Kenneth Pereira

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application in real time environment.

The institute believes in soft skill training as a key for success. Erb said, “Our students are building their communication skills, selling and service attitude skills and team work skills.

We want to address the need of hotels that are increasingly looking for students with both business and hospitality education and experience, as promotion options are increasingly based on business understanding.”

Streamlined hotel operations require different skill sets, including strong foundations in business, and hence, BHMS has adjusted its curriculum to include all core business subjects.

In order to address placements of students after the completion of the course, BHMS works with numerous international placement agencies that specialise in placing graduated students in Europe, Asia and North America.

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The General Hotel Management (GHM) which is known for conceptualising, developing and operating exclusive group of hotels and resorts has entered India by forming management tie-up for two properties to begin with. GHM is coming up with a property at Dadar, Mumbai, with the Kohinoor Group. Giving details about the development, Kenneth Pereira, Director of Development, Middle East and Asia for the group, informed, “The Mumbai property will be at the 45th to 50th floor of a mixed used building where at the 50th floor we will offer 25,000 sq ft of open courtyard. The hotel will have 46 keys with 60 sq m room size.” The entire building will boast high-end offices, restaurants and retail space and is expected to open by December 2013.

Further, the group has signed a deal for an old heritage property in Delhi at Mehrauli which is expected to be operational by 2015.

Pereira further informed, “It is an existing property which will be positioned as a uniquely defined luxury. Tentatively titled as Chedit Qutab, the property is expected to have each room with a small private pool.”

The company ties up with the Leading Hotels of the World and the new property additions in India would also be brought under the marketing fold.

BA’s In-flight Service

Completes 85 Years

British Airways

Business & Hotel Management School (BHMS) is going by the fact that today’s hospitality education has to take into account business acumen in order to prepare students for a sound career in the industry. Responding to FHRAI Magazine query, Dr. Anthony Erb, DBA, MBA, CHE, International Marketing Director and Dean of International Education Programs, BHMS-Switzerland, said, “European hotels are streamlining their operations to increase efficiencies and profit outcomes. This requires better trained and multi-skilled staff.

In order to achieve that, our students undertake each study year with a paid six months internship in hotels, where they are exposed to international guests and practice in real work conditions in various departments.”

According to him, students are prepared to work within the new requirements of hotels to imbibe wider understanding of academic knowledge and its

Chedi Muscat

On May 1, 2012, British Airways completed 85 years of its first in-flight meal service on a commercial aircraft. Since 1927, Imperial Airways (predecessor to British Airways) introduced the Silverwing branded air service on the London to Paris route. The flight offered the first luxury on-board meal service. On that flight, a male steward dressed in a smart white tunic served just ten passengers on the flight, which took around two hours. Since then, serving food in the air has come a long way.

On-board was a small cabinet carrying four gills (servings) of whisky, a dozen bottles of lager beer, two siphons of sparkling water and twelve assorted bottles of mineral water. They also carried a packet of sandwiches and biscuits and one or two thermos flasks of hot water, within which the steward made coffee or beef tea to serve the passengers during the flight. The service represented the height of luxury, up until this time, passengers had to fend for themselves, packing homemade snacks for the journey.

Bill Francis, British Airways’ Head of in-flight service, said, “At British Airways, we have an incredible history.We’ve developed the service for our customers and even as we’ve grown from small propeller aircraft to 747s, we’ve managed to maintain the magic that makes flying special.”

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NABL accredits Intertek’s food & water testing lab at Gurgaon Intertek, a leading provider of quality and safety solutions serving a wide range of industries around the world, has announced that the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) has granted accreditation for its Gurgaon-based food testing laboratory. Intertek laboratory has fulfilled all the requirements for getting the international accreditation, including requirements for quality management system and technical competence of staff, equipments and test methods in accordance with the international standard ISO 17025:2005 General Requirement for Competence of Testing and Calibration Laboratories.

The Lab is equipped with 175+ test gadgets with sophisticated equipment Intertek laboratory such as LCMSMS, GCMS is equipped with 175+ and now accredited for test gadgets with several food products sophisticated equipment such as Honey, Bakery such as LCMSMS, GCMS and now & Confectionery, Sugar, accredited for several Milk & Dairy products, food products Baby food, Cereals & Pulses, Fruits & Vegetables, Drinking Water & Packaged Drinking Water, etc.

The testing capability includes residual pesticides, antibiotics, heavy metals, aflatoxins, melamine, pathogen analysis, fatty acids & cholesterols, Vitamins, Antioxidants and other commercial chemical and microbiological parameters.

Rajesh Saigal, Managing Director, Intertek India, said, “Intertek Food Laboratory with state of the art facilities at Gurgaon has also undergone extensive Proficiency Testing program and continual training of manpower to build up on the competency. This meticulous approach not only secured the ISO 17025 certificate, but it ensures that Intertek’s clients get the most effective service possible, with accurate, traceable test results following globally harmonised test methodologies.”

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Accor adds properties in Bengaluru, Gurgaon Bengaluru Techpark

Accor’s Pullman Gurgaon Central Park

The upper mid-scale hotel brand of Accor Group - Novotel, has finally made its entry new in the city of Bengaluru. Named Novotel hotels Bengaluru Techpark, the hotel is located in the heart of the emerging business district.

It is a part of the first combo property for Accor in the country which forms the largest hotel property in South India. Sharing the same site is ibis Bengaluru Techpark, the international value hotel brand of the group which opened in November last year.

Speaking at the inauguration of the Novotel, Denis Hennequin, Chairman & CEO Accor, says “We are delighted with the growth of the Novotel network in India and now with the addition of Novotel Bengaluru Techpark, we are launching the fifth Novotel in the country. Our expansion plans for Novotel on the sub continent are ambitious as we set about delivering quality upper midscale accommodation to cater to the increasing demand in this key segment of accommodation.”

On the other hand, Puneet Dhawan, General Manager, Ibis & Novotel Bengaluru Techpark, enthuses, “Bengaluru is one of the most promising hospitality markets in the country for domestic and international travellers alike. With the increasing cosmopolitan attitude of the city people and their need for quality offerings, we are certain that Novotel Bengaluru Techpark will create a unique niche for itself.

The property will deliver globally renowned contemporary accommodation along with high-end services and facilities, raising the bar for business and leisure destinations in the city.” Further, Accor also opens up the competition by opening Pullman Gurgaon Central Park, its first Pullman in India, which is an upscale brand of the group. Located in the corporate satellite township of Gurgaon, the featuring 285 rooms include 120 Superior Rooms, 90 Deluxe Rooms and 75 executive Floor Rooms including 22 Suites. Jean-Michel Cassé – Senior Vice President, Operations Accor, India, added, “This property will further strengthen our portfolio in the upscale market. It is a vibrant and cosmopolitan brand that has maintained a reputation of innovation and comfort in a highly demanding market. Positioned in the upscale hotel category, with smart use of technologies and distinguishable service differentiators, Pullman Gurgaon Central Park will provide an extensive range of tailored services with access to ground breaking technologies.” The hotel is aimed to target the business and MICE segments in India.

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Hotel Hindustan International Opens in Pune Hotel Hindustan International (HHI) has forayed in Maharashtra by launching its new property in Pune having started with 50 keys. The hotel will be the group’s fifth property in India. D. K. Jaiswal, Chairman & Managing Director of the HHI Group, said, “We are delighted to add Pune to HHI’s footprint and it is our first entry into Maharashtra.” The hotel targets the business destination city whilst also aims to offer exciting leisure opportunities for relaxation, dining and entertainment.

Located in the business hub, the HHI Pune offers a comprehensive range of leisure and business facilities. To meet the needs of the discerning business travellers, the HHI Pune has two well-equipped banquets Crystal I and Crystal II. The banquets offer an assortment of amenities of international standard, ideal for an array of meetings, seminars, business events and social gatherings.

The interiors and facilities in the rooms, viz. Colony and Colony Premium, will address the need of leisure traffic.

Jaiswal further added, “The Pune property is stylish, upscale and is set to cater to India’s fast growing business travel market. It is created to achieve the best world class new hotel

Park Hyatt enters Hyderabad

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standards in hospitality, comfort and luxury.”

The hotel is marketing its F&B options. Conceptualised by the interior design firm from Los Angeles, its resto bar & lounge, The Eye Club, presents a combination of a restaurant and a lounge offering choicest selection of spirits and exotic global cuisine. El Fresco, on the other hand, is the open air restaurant with delicacies from live barbecues and customised mini tandoors with finger licking Indian, Mexican, Italian and Spanish preparations. The hotel offers spa facilities with exotic massages and therapies as well.

Hyatt Hotels opened Park Hyatt Hyderabad new recently which is hotel also the first hotel in Hyderabad to offer fully serviced luxury apartments - The Residence-- with five-star facilities and amenities. Centrally located, the hotel is just 15 minutes from the technology hub of Hi-Tech City and the business district, and 45 minutes from Hyderabad’s international airport.

Designed by the renowned architecture firm of John Portman & Associates, the modern, eight-story Park Hyatt Hyderabad includes 185 guestrooms and 24 Suites on the first six floors with 42 service apartments on the two uppermost floors. The city’s first fivestar serviced apartments are attached to the hotel and offer an exclusive experience with a wide range of services and facilities. The residences are built in flexible configurations of one, two and three bedrooms, measuring from 927 square feet to 2,317 square feet (approximately 90

square meters to 225 square meters).

All apartments are fully furnished with hardwood floors and luxurious features, such as Michelangelo Marble kitchen countertops, oversized work desks, spacious walk-in closets, and contemporary bathrooms with luxurious soaking tubs and rain showers.

“Park Hyatt hotels are premium luxury hotels designed to cater to the discerning individual seeking the privacy, personalised service and luxurious elegance of a contemporary hotel,” said Sven Hoffmeyer, General Manager of Park Hyatt Hyderabad. “This new hotel will maintain the brand’s emphasis on art and culinary excellence with locally inspired artwork in the public areas and a signature restaurant headed by experienced chefs. I am delighted that the majority of our associates have been recruited from other Hyatt hotels in India, as well as from around the world, which will ensure that our guests receive an authentic and true Park Hyatt experience during their stay in Hyderabad,” he added.

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T

oday’s growing demand for anytime, anywhere network access to enterprise resources has expanded to include the use of personal mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, smart phones, e-readers and more. In response to this consumerisation of IT, many organisations are allowing employees to choose their laptops and use their own smart phones and tablets at work in support of bring-your-own-device (BYOD) initiative.

While organisations may still 1.Ease of working outside the office require access to confidential 2.Staff have relevant equipment resources via a company-owned 3.Attract and retain top talent (any age) device, they are creating more 4. Reduce device management costs flexible policies that also allow 5.

Attract and retain younger workers access via personally-owned 6. Attract and retain other worker types devices. (such as home-based) As a result, the number of devices 7. Reduce training and on-boarding costs per employee is growing from a 8. Enable self-service IT one-to-one relationship to a one9. Improve business continuity to-many relationship. A single 10. Easiest way to handle proliferation of devices user today will interchangeably 11. Speed of on-boarding third-party connect to the network using a workers/contractors laptop, smart phone and tablet throughout the day.

Drivers for ‘BYOD’ Trend

Strategic Planning

byod

Assumption by Gartner By 2016, 60 per cent of large enterprises will implement limited access network zones to limit the connectivity of personally-owned mobile devices.

Current Status

Since it emerged in 2003, Network Access Control (NAC) has always been about protecting the network through policies that govern network access. The policies have changed over time in response to changes in the threat landscape and changes in endpoints.

Bring Your Own Device A framework for deploying successful Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) initiative can add to the way an organisation achieve far better efficiency. ravish jhala

BYOD Interdependencies Enterprises will need to become proficient in the

& Framework

following order to implement and operate BYOD:

Authentication Profiling Enforcement policies Differentiated, secure access for all users and devices Dynamic device provisioning and management Perform automated checks via persistent and dissolvable agents Check for up-to-date antivirus, antispyware, and firewall software Check for USB storage and peer-to-peer applications and services, such as Skype and BitTorrent

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Centralised Policy Management Multiple administration levels and role-based access Web-based management Access analytics and reporting Redundancy and failover Application development platform with the ability to add network intelligence services Implement a limited access network Add granular policies to the limited access network Protect the wired LAN

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Business with bYOD •Adopting BYOD initiative includes choices the ability to quickly respond to user needs, boost user productivity, and in many cases, reduce expenses •Granting enterprise access to personal devices has direct implications on security, network control and even helpdesk resources •Security challenges range from understanding who and what is on the network to keeping the network malwarefree, and include proper enforcement of access policies and maintaining compliance and audit requirements •Helpdesk resources can

be quickly overwhelmed as IT struggles to find the time to configure user devices for secure network authentication and corporate use • Network access solutions that fail to adequately simplify the use of personally-owned devices make it very difficult for IT to fully embrace BYOD •The organisation’s need provides a simplified framework for deploying secure BYOD that can accommodate all device types and work with existing infrastructure (Sources: Gartner and Aruba Networks) (The writer is Systems Manager, Trident, Bandra Kurla and Founder, Hospitech - The Hospitality Technology Leaders Forum. Views expressed by the author are personal.)

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“Hoteliers are Modern Sadhus” a lot of sacrifices, sometimes the ultimate…our brave colleagues at the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai, who laid down their lives during the 26/11 attacks, are the real heroes and the general manager who lost his family while ensuring the safety of his guests first… I salute them,” Rao says.

Book Release

‘Venus Bytes – short stories’ presents a bag of emotions taken from real life experiences in hospitality and deciphered innovatively for a fictional reading.

‘

The book is available online at www.sapnaonline.com, besides leading stores such as Shankars (Mumbai, Pune, Kochi, Trivandrum), Strand, Sapna Malls, etc.

‘

In his debut book, ‘Venus Bytes – short stories’, Venu Rao, hotelier and Director at Peacock Group, a hotel consultancy firm based out of Bengaluru, presents his first collection of 16 imaginative short stories and three reflections of a girl named Venus in a Heavenly hotel, drawn from his experiences in the industry. “This book is a tribute to my fellow hoteliers. Being a hotelier is not only challenging, but demands

author’s experiences Rao shares some of his experiences from his book that taught him many things.

He mentions three instances from the book:

Sun Set Bar

‘Sun Set Bar’ is a poignant story of two women, with a message in it. We hoteliers tend to get carried away living a five star life. The guest, Satdev, in the story shows that helping and caring for the weak/sick is very satisfying for one’s soul. We need to do our bit for the society. This he does at the expense of his personal luxury and made a big difference to a young girl. Can she ever forget him? No.

mixed emotions

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Seven Five AM

This story has taught me to be grounded and not let go off the handle just because you are the boss. Despite good intentions and willingness to help the hotel in sourcing people, one should not forget the basic communication skills and send out wrong signals. The results can be dangerous. Therefore, analyse, study the persons and do background check s - these are a must for any hotelier-senior or junior. The message of the story ‘Just a sign away’ is similar.

It teaches us how to be careful and behave in a foreign country and not get carried away by pretty girls or indulge in careless drinking.

Heavenly Hotel

by Venus

The author has described the rooms and the food in the ‘Heavenly hotel by Venus’ in a very useful manner. Even a layman or a potential owner who plans to build a hotel can get a good idea of the components that make a room or how a restaurant/banquet works. A couple of colleges such as Culinary Academy, Hyderabad and Asan Memorial, Chennai, have put the book in their libraries, wherein the students can get a peep of the industry.

These works of fiction invite the reader into a world of intrigue and fantasy, of dark endings and equally joyous ones, altogether unexpected and hard hitting, but all enjoyable. According to him, ‘Some give up their homes, families and pleasures to achieve something in life. Earlier they were called Sadhus. Today, we call them Hoteliers!’

Work can be very stressful at times for hoteliers. The monotony often makes them look for something to pep them up – humour or interesting anecdotes. They work hard so that others can enjoy, and in the process, meet many wonderful guests. And that is where the book finds its inspiration from.

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LuxurY on Road Olivea’s Operational Routes

Road journeys to not so far off cities have never been so convenient by road for business travellers who would often spend more time in air journey. Olivea gives a proposition worth exploring.

Sanjeev Bhar

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Olivea

owadays air travel has become far more sophisticated and a comfortable experience with good airports giving respite from the clogged visuals that stayed for long with the frequent travellers. Still, when it comes to travelling to nearby cities which are just 4-5 hours of drive, air travel still perceived as pain due to the time schedule and planning it demands to make this city shift through air. Here surface journey can become a boon for the travellers who would like to get the sophistication, service and convenience incomparable, provided good road conditions prevail.

In the fag end of the last year, the Blue Hill Group, promoted by the Directors of the Nilgiris, a renowned supermarket chain since 1905, announced the launch of the north India operations of Asia’s most premium and arguably this only luxury coach service. The luxury coaches are in multi axle chassis of Volvo and Mercedes Benz that have been converted by DC

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Designs. The look and feel ensures that one gets a feel of getting into squeezed airline carrier with all amenities comparable to standards India never experienced on road.

The market need

In a perfect road setting, Olivea promises to offer a comfort par excellence. This is comparable to business class seats of an airline carrier with perfect hospitality setting having a butler service onboard.

Prabhu Ramachandran, Managing Director, Blue Hill Group, feels that by offering this unique product in travel, the company has well positioned itself with a first mover advantage. “I believe that we have taken the first step towards revolutionising the Indian ground transportation sector,” he adds.

According to the company, Olivea offers an experience in the lines of a premium legacy air carrier. “We are operating with an average load factor of 85 per cent

Olivea uses the multiple levels of fares with a foolproof back-end reservation system. It is always 40 per cent lower than any LCC at any given day, the company claims.

•Bengaluru : Chennai : Bengaluru •Bengaluru : Cochin : Bengaluru •Bengaluru : Hyderabad : Bengaluru •Bengaluru : Mysore : Bengaluru •Bengaluru : Puducherry : Bengaluru •Bengaluru : Tirupati : Bengaluru •Chennai : Puducherry : Chennai •Delhi : Agra : Delhi •Delhi : Chandigarh : Delhi •Delhi : Ludhiana : Delhi PAN India,” says Koustav M. Dhar, CEO & Executive Director of the group. There has been a steady expansion of the routes with constant market need surfacing where the demand for intercity connectivity through quality surface transport is seen as a bonus. Air connectivity between two cities in proximity still takes as much time as it would take for a comfortable road journey. Apart from the scheduled services, the coaches could be chartered by corporates according to their needs for intra-city and/or inter-city movements.

At the moment, the company is operating with 12 coaches across

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the country and intends to add two coaches every month to its fleet. It is presently operating in 10 routes panIndia. With an acquisition plan to acquire more coaches within the end of this year, the company initially started by investing Rs. 50 crore for 25 coaches. “We plan to invest Rs. 250 crore in the next three to four years for acquiring more such coaches,” informs Ramachandran.

Sophisticated Hospitality

The concept is such where all the travellers are issued a ‘Boarding Pass’ similar to what one receives in air journey. The boarding pass has the customer name printed with designated seat number and also the boarding and final destination name imprinted on it. The travellers, in case of Delhi-Chandigarh route, arrive at Royal Plaza Hotel’s Olivea Lounge. There snacks and welcome drinks are served and Prabhu Ramachandran boarding pass is issued. Similarly, the coach rests at the Chandigarh Ashok on NH-21.

The safety aspect has been kept in mind too. With continuous GPS tracking and IP TV cameras which Track 24/7, the coach operations become highly sophisticated. The super luxury coaches have in-built washrooms and toilets, the standards of which are at par with what is experienced on flights. With properly stationed refrigerators and microwaves, food is served hot onboard for a delectable experience one seldom comes across during a road journey.

Koustav M Dhar

Luring Services

Onboard, Olivea gives a new dimension to travel. A butler at service to take care of all the food and beverage needs makes the experience really unique. The fascinating aspect is the onboard entertainment and WiFi service that is provided, vital for business travellers who want to remain connected virtually on the move.

The coach provides highgrade near flat 165 degrees leather reclining ergonomic seats from best of aircraft seat manufacturers with electronically operated calf support, lumbar support, multilevel head rests, and finest on-board entertainment because of the individual high definition DTH for each seat screening movies and music on demand plus live satellite television.

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A Sip of

Success

With its presence in India since 1997, the growth has remained a slow and steady approach for the renowned tea brand - Twinings. Now, it is finding that the market has been brewed well to start sipping the success.

M

Corporate Relations of Twinings, says, “Like elsewhere in the world, the tea market in India is very competitive.

Twinings is well placed with a range of high quality tea to the discerning Indian tea drinkers. So, while the range is currently quite limited, we are actively looking at which teas will be introduced to Indian tea drinkers next.”

hot cuppa

Georgina Durnford

aster blender Georgina Durnford, associated for Twinings, feels that every country/region distinguishes itself based on culture and taste. For example, she says, the Middle East enjoys loose leaf tea, the Irish enjoy strong Assam and Germany and Japan enjoy light and fragrant teas.

India has different regions to offer, and therefore, different tastes get generated even when tea is the subject matter.

India, as a market, with its own sets of tastes is a challenge for the F&B segment. Twinings as a brand, at present, offers 18 different teas in 20 cities across India and aims to further expand its reach. This shows its approach to offer the distinctiveness as varied as its target market is. Stephen H B Twining, Director,

Talking about the India market, Twinings has a broad knowledge and experience of all tea cultures around the world. “Since the 1800s, Twinings developed a reputation for exposing quality tea around the world. We now sell Tea to over 130 different countries. Our tasting expertise has been handed down over generations.

We travel relentlessly to broaden our skills,” remarks Stephen Twining, the 10th generation member of the famed Twining tea family. The company, in fact, started in a very small way, back in 1997. It built the business very slowly without compromising on their quality standards. “In the last five

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Stephen H B Twining

India Presence

years, we have seen some very strong and consistent growth figures of around 25 per cent every year which we are delighted with. We are excited about the possibilities for the future and looking forward to getting to know our tea drinkers in India better, so we can offer them the wonderful teas that they would like to drink on those special Twinings tea moments,” says Twining.

The company has established close relationships with a number of five star hotels as well as some of the catering facilities with the large upmarket companies. “In fact,” Twining adds, “we had introduced the brand through hotels and the institutional sector when we started in India in 1997. Roughly speaking, across these two sectors we do around 20 per cent of our business in India.”

In India, the tea market is estimated at Rs. 10,000 crore out of which Rs. 4,200 crore is the packaged tea market. Almost 20 per cent of this is the premium tea segment in which super premium tea contributes

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approximately 25 per cent. The company enjoys around 35 per cent market share in the premium and super premium teabag category that are sold at the highend retail outlets, grocery stores and supermarkets, thus making it one of the leading players in the teabag industry in India today.

Twinings use its tasting expertise to develop blends that specifically address the end-market consumers.

Durnford adds, “Taking into consideration the style in which tea is enjoyed, professionally, we taste tea in a similar fashion across the industry. This ensures we are speaking the same language.” A lot of overseas training is also carried out for company’s tea tasters to develop their palate further.

This famous 300-year-old tea company that pioneered tea culture in Britain has a proven track record in the premium teabag segment around the world and is aiming to bag the market in India too. “We hope to grow the premium teabag market in India over the next five years and as leader of the category, it is our role to increase awareness and penetration of tea bags. We will be investing in ATL & BTL to achieve this objective,” Twining asserts.

The Art of Tea Tasting

Georgina Durnford describes the art of tea tasting in the following manner: 1. It takes a lot of patience 2. Takes time to develop your palette and experience of several seasons (the annual seasons) to become an expert 3. Nurturing the craft by tasting alongside senior tasters to align with their organoleptic taste buds 4. Training time spent on the tea fields and factories 5. Understanding the art of tea making and learning from the institution of tea makers over a lifetime 6. A fantastic vocation that has an extremely broad career option 7. You can be tasting top quality new seasons 8. Darjeelings one day and visiting many corners of the globe in pursuit of the best quality tea available 9. Tea has a great culture in which everyone is passionate about the pursuit of quality and delighting the end-consumers

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fact that while the meals are produced on ground they are consumed in air and produced in large quantities, in a wide variety produced much in advance. Most importantly, the time gap between production and consumption is substantial.

Some of the unique features set it apart from conventional catering.

There is no direct contact with the consumer and our customer, i.e., airline companies, are not the consumer of our product.

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How the technical challenges are met regarding offering food aptly at an altitude of 35,000 feet?

Human taste buds lose almost a third of their sensitivity at high altitude and react badly to low humidity and pressure, diminishing the potential enjoyment of meals. The low relative humidity of the cabin (less than 25 per cent) dries the mucus membranes lining of the nasal cavity and reduces the sense of smell. Dryness of mouth affects the taste receptors.

Also, strong odourant used in the cabin masks the flavour of the dishes.

We modify dishes so that they have stronger and more robust flavours.

In sophisticated flight catering units, ‘Hypobaric Chambers’ for meal testing are installed, where all kind of food and beverage items can be tested in simulated conditions. I, apart from my regular duty, have to regularly involve in meal sampling so as to taste meals in virtual taste condition.

On a flight

of taste

For a chef who has recently won the national honour being adjudged as the ‘Best Chef’ in the National Tourism Awards 2010-11 by the Government of India, it is easy to fly high. But like a sane mind, Arvind Saraswat, Director – Food Production, Taj SATS Air Catering (TSACL), prefers to stay grounded to craft food for those who fly above in the sky. chef talk

How the ball game changes when we talk about air catering in terms of preparation on a mass scale?

There are many intricacies in flight catering with the large number of activities that go unnoticed by an ordinary airline passenger. It is not just remarkable that air traveller do dine well, it is also remarkable that they can do it in a well manner. What makes it unique from the conventional catering is the

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Tell us about the process of trying chef and testing with new recipe ideas talk as they not only have to be good in taste but also have to pass the technical factors of surviving in the sky?

It is needless to mention that a lot of thoughts go into the process before finalising an airline menu. For example, the menu should focus on what really works in air, research is carried out on physiological and emotional needs of customers, packaging and cooking innovation to create optimal food experience.In terms of the personality, style, tone of the menu, it should be vibrant, unpretentious, contemporary yet elegant and incorporate a certain amount of flexibility. It should present a right meal at the right time with a mix of light and substantial dishes. The menu ought to be hydrate and refuel, incorporating quality, fresh and seasonal ingredients to make it balanced in terms of ingredients used. In case of local dishes on the menu, same should be executed authentically.

In terms of presentation, it needs to be as appropriate as possible to the dish being served. Good presentation cues freshness, cleanliness, quality and attention to details. Other aspects like airlines profile are weightage, style guide, policies, etc., that are taken into consideration while developing dishes for airline.

chef talk

Which are the challenges you have relished over the years of your journey as a chef?

I relished not being associated with publication of books or being awarded by the international culinary bodies or catering for distinguished personalities like Heads of the States and royal banquets in India and abroad. But the fact that I had the privilege to train more than 600 budding chefs, who are all holding high offices and prominent positions in the industry, gives me immense pleasure.

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Since, most of them came up with new ideas and concepts that struck blow to the conventional wisdom. But, at the end when accepted, these ideas helped bringing the Indian culinary world where it is now.

The continuous changes in the style of presentation of food change in taste buds, availability of raw and fresh ingredients and the adaptability of different cultural food by the Indian society continue to amuse me.

Finally, all these experiences would not have been a reality had I not been a part of the Taj Group of Hotels and Taj SATS Air Catering that shaped my career.

What are the key trends in air catering and servicing that you expect to see in coming time? chef talk

Recently, the decision by many airlines - notably low-cost carriers - to cease to provide free in-flight meals has forced airline caterers to re-think their business plans. Some renowned flight caterers have reacted by offering new products, such as a fully disposable meal box, and by taking over retail sales on board for some airlines, while it also provides ready-made sandwiches.

Keeping in view with this changing trend of aviation catering market, every in-flight caterer will have to revamp themselves that require alternative meal offerings resulting in offerings like finger foods/takeaway meals/low-cost structure and expertise in frozen and shelf stable meal production. It will enable caterer to serve different airline segments using different product offerings and cost structures.

You must have had vivid experiences being the part of the execution team (food production) for the Commonwealth Games 2010, Athletic Village Catering, and Formula One Grand Prix in 2011, etc.

What is your take on the learning? chef talk

Catering to these mega events were ‘once in a lifetime’ experience, since these events were held at locations where no

movements

existing catering facilities were available and the entire process needed scrupulous planning in advance and military style execution. There, the core team was a multicultural one as it was comprised of staff and volunteers from all over the country.

Logistics had a great role to play as huge quantities of supplies from a large number of vendors were received round the clock to keep the kitchen running. The precision with which the food production was carried out needed to be seen to believe. As many as 36,000 meals were churned out daily with four services from four continents viz.

Western, African, Oriental and Indian.

How has food as a commercial subject changed since you joined this profession? What advice would you give to the entrepreneurs (including chef entrepreneurs) in this trade dealing in F&B? chef talk

The growth in nuclear families, particularly in urban areas, exposure to global media and western cuisine and a large section of women joining the workforce have had an impact on eating out. Worldwide, fast food is one of the largest growing segments in food business. Indian fast food industry is also growing significantly in recent years and in no way is being subdued by the competition from its western counterparts. With the opening of India’s Economy, a host of opportunities opened up for big corporate dealing in food outlets. This also intensified competition amongst the brand while Indian entrepreneurs also joined the bandwagon. With an increase in international and domestic travel, the demand for food outlets and hotels went up manifold. Success for young entrepreneurs in food industry depends on honesty, integrity and correct pricing of the product. You may have the best of interiors and comfort, funds to run the business, prominent location but still may have to wind up, if the food does not connect with the consumer. The success of an eatery mainly depends on taste of the food, correct pricing and portioning while other parameters like presentation, nutritional value, hygiene and service standards are yet to be on the priority list for normal Indian consumer.

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For Emerging Food Entrepreneurs and use of high i Availability quality raw materials of the latest manufacturing i Use processes and technologies i Continuous market research

i i i i

to know changing expectations of consumers for making appropriate strategies Building an effective supply chain Deploying appropriate strategies to create scope for selling food products Focus on food tradition and its history and the indigenous processing techniques Addressing human resource concerns to meet customer expectations

What has been the most intriguing factor that has grabbed your attention as a chef?

My journey in the professional world of cuisine had many ups and downs. It was full of challenges, which at times were enjoyed and at times were nightmarish.

However, the overall journey remained very interesting, since it gave me plenty of opportunity to experience cuisines of various cultures and also by the virtue of being in a long stint at the helm of the affair given me an opportunity to observe the change in trend with the passage of time.

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the hospitable face of Alwar

As the only chain hotel in the branded segment in Alwar, Clarks Inn Hotel is capturing the corporate segment effortlessly.

Apart from that, it is also creating avenues to market the city as a potential leisure destination in order to lift its status as an emerging prominent spot on Rajasthan’s tourism map.

Sanjeev Bhar

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nown as Matsya Nagri, Alwar is a little city that is aspiring to emerge big. If not by its spread, at least by its sheer prowess of ‘inviting hospitality’ it commands and the scope of tourism, which is waiting to explode. “The quite and calm nature of this small city attracted many retired couples to set up their homes, as it is very safe for elderly couples,” says Manish Bhatia, MD of Clarks Inn Hotel, Alwar. “It is almost emerging as a re-settlement city for aged people even though it is a hub for the corporate segment due to the existence of various industrial plants and offices in and around the city. Also, city’s close proximity to industrial townships has also ensured that it goes through a change,” he adds.

It is primarily due to other reasons also that the city is going through a drastic makeover in its character. According to Bhatia, residents are now open to dine out. Resident Manager

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Manish Bhatia

of the property, Pradeep Mukherjee informs, “They are relishing food outside home. We have, in fact, emerged as a strong eating out place being the only major hotel in the organised segment. It is happening because of the rising income levels and the demand of changing lifestyle.”

But this change of accepting hospitality has a different connotation for Bhatia. Way back in 1964, Bhatia’s grandfather built Alwar’s first hotel named Ashoka Hotel. Being from the first family of hospitality of the city, Bhatia has also taken the onus to promote the city as much as he could in every possible manner.

With an interest in hospitality, Bhatia went through professional education and passed out of Merit Swiss School Asian School of Hotel Management in 1998 to take hospitality to a new level of understanding for the city.

He ensured that a branded chain emerges in Alwar which will also increase the standard of hospitality in this township making way for the future.

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Business Dynamics Clarks Inn Alwar happens to be the fourth hotel of the Clarks Group. It also makes Bhatia’s hotel the only chain hotel in Alwar. “The hotel was started in 2008 and we chose Clarks Inn considering the market demand and the kind of hospitality we wanted to bring to the city. I decided to bring Clarks Group into Alwar to bring an organised approach of hospitality to the city,” Bhatia remarks.

Primarily, the Alwar market is driven by corporate business. “We get an average occupancy of 6570 per cent commanding an ARR of Rs. 2,300 per night, which is fair enough in comparison to Jaipur in proximity,” elaborates Mukherjee. Alwar is noticing a growth of leisure business but it is still considered negligible. “We get leisure booking of 4-5 per cent of the total occupancy annually, but we expect it to grow to 20 per cent in future,” Bhatia affirms.

The Clarks Inn Alwar is also going through renovation to add seven more rooms. It has three categories of rooms viz. Deluxe (19 keys), Club (19 keys) and Suite (2 keys). Mukherjee adds, “We have introduced ‘Express Check In’ service for the comfort of the guests where they are escorted to the room where they can go about the registration formalities.”

In the month of May, the hotel is organising Awadhi Food Festival. In fact, as part of its strategy, the hotel celebrates a cuisine for nine days of each month. “We inform the corporates and loyal customers by mailers about the details and it has received appreciation from them. This concept has given Alwar the opportunity to taste unique cuisines the city missed earlier,” he informs.

The sales strategy of Clarks Inn has been kept flexible to meet its guests’ needs. “We have adopted ‘Never Say No’ policy and pamper guests.

We even upgrade loyal guests to VIP category,” he adds.

unexplored Alwar Apart from hospitality, Bhatia’s interest has always been towards promoting the city in a holistic manner that benefits the travel trade. “There is so much to explore about this city which remain hidden. Alwar’s name is missing on the travel map and that irks me. The township that has emerged into a city culture holds a lot of promise and is a hidden gem of Rajasthan,” he says.

The hotel arranged camel cart city tour for in-house group guests during winter that was appreciated a lot

Places of tourism interest in and around Alwar • Bala Quila • Moosi Maharani Ki Chhatri • Company Bagh • City Palace • Bhangarh • Siliserh Lake • Sariska Tiger Reserve • Kankwari Fort • Sariska • Neelkanth • Vijay Mandir Palace • Jaisamand Lake

We have adopted ‘Never Say No’ policy and pamper guests. We even upgrade loyal guests to VIP category...

The leisure traffic for hospitality industry in Alwar is just 1per cent and remaining come from the industrial sector.

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city tale

Where is Alwar Missing Out? The fact is people who are Jaipurbound from Delhi can actually take a detour via Alwar and add on one more fascinating place to their itinerary.

Delhi to Jaipur – approx. 250 km Delhi to Alwar – approx. 150 km Alwar to Jaipur – approx. 150 km Manish Bhatia, MD, Clarks Inn Alwar, says, “Additionally, tourists visiting to Sariska are given the proposition of the route, i.e., Delhi – Shahpura – Sariska – Jaipur.

There can be an additional route too, e.g., Delhi – Alwar – Shahpura – Jaipur, where one can go to Sariska while staying at Alwar. Somehow, the proposition has not been promoted yet and even travel agents are missing out on this opportunity to enlarge their itinerary horizon.”

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“

There are so many places of interest in and around the city which is famous for its proximity to industrial zones like Bhiwadi, RIICO, etc., falling at a convenient location while coming from Delhi

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The hotel has also taken initiative to let people know about the various facets of the city that are tourist attractions. The hotel wants people to take notice of this destination as a weekend leisure getaway option from Delhi, Jaipur and even Agra. “We undertake weekend promotions to capture the travellers from Delhi, Jaipur and industrial belts of Rewari and Bhiwadi. Due to rapid growth of real estate, the scope of the city has increased tremendously. It is time to just convert the potential into actual business,” Bhatia informs.

Projecting Hospitality and Beyond The hotel is not restricting itself in promoting the property only. It is promoting the Sariska National Park extensively as part of its package and also, beyond it. It has published pamphlets about the notable places that could be visited, keeping Alwar as a focal point for stay. “There are so many places of interest in and around the city which is famous for its proximity to industrial zones

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Alwar has emerged into a city culture with a lot of promise and is a hidden gem of Rajasthan

like Bhiwadi, RIICO, etc., falling at a convenient location while coming from Delhi,” says Mukherjee.

Not Explored Not Promoted Jaisamand Lake

Jaisamand Lake

The leisure traffic for hospitality industry in Alwar is just one per cent and remaining come from the industrial sector. According to Bhatia, the problems are immense. “Accessibility is an issue as there is no clear demarcation on NH8 from Delhi about the four lane highway to Alwar (SH25).

The route from Gurgaon to Bhiwadi to Alwar makes for a comfortable journey which many are unaware of and is not promoted enough,” he adds. He points out that Alwar actually falls under NCR! Somehow, he elaborates, “The NCR office is in Jaipur, reason for which is unknown to me.

Further, Alwar Hotel & Restaurant Association has approached many time the local tourism department regarding the promotion of Alwar’s places of tourist interests.” He suggests, “Alwar’s promotion can easily take place if Alwar’s Tourist Office is strengthened.”

Bhatia informs, “Bala Quila, situated on a craggy hill and dominating the town from above, is a great architecture facet built in AD 928 by the Nikumbha Rajputs. This marvel remains restricted and permission to visit the place is needed from Police as it is an ammunition depot for the armed forces. I believe, it should be popularised by levying a fee, which could support the state treasury to address the concerns of restoring the old fort being undertaken by the government.” His argument is that not enough is being done to promote Alwar as a tourism city/ destination.

Nonetheless, the city is getting recognised as an educational hub, industrial zone and slowly as an interesting leisure location. Yet, Bhatia feels that the opportunity to promote the destination and hotel further is huge, “We are focusing on Saturdays and Sundays to bring in traffic and make Alwar a great weekend destination for the leisure travellers.”

Itinerary Propositions

Some more itineraries are being coined by the Clarks Inn Alwar. It suggests some possible routes that could easily be worked out by travel agents in getting additional day or two in their existing itineraries. Like – • Delhi: Alwar :Bharatpur: Delhi • Delhi : Alwar : Mathura/ Agra :Delhi • Delhi :Alwar :Jaipur:Delhi We have even linked Alwar tourism’s website with our own so that we can let people know about the various things one could explore in this city.

We undertake weekend promotions to capture the travellers from Delhi, Jaipur and industrial belts of Rewari and Bhiwadi.

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Booking Volumes and Hotel Rates

For India, which achieved incredible gains in 2011 over 2010, the challenge to grow above and beyond those cumulative gains is even greater. Julie Parodi respectively, in 2011. Therefore, even Bookings are struggling to keep pace with though reservations in March 2012 have prior year levels, not only in India, but dipped below last year by -14.7 per cent, around the world. Early growth attained booking volumes are still robust and reflect since the recession’s downturn, plus the an impressive amount of travel activity. reality of a slow global economic recovery, has made additional reservation growth difficult. However, for countries like India, who achieved incredible gains in 2011 over 2010, the challenge to grow above and beyond those cumulative gains is even greater. February had the benefit of an extra day this year; otherwise that month’s Similar to worldwide trends, hotels in India reservations would have decreased from are continuing to be booked further ahead prior year by -2.2 per cent. One must keep of arrival than prior year. India’s average in mind, however, that India’s bookings not booking lead time only grew by double-digit for rooms reserved margins during 2011 over in March was 19.98 2010, but had increased days versus 19.01 by the astounding margins last year. While this of +50 per cent, +42 per increase of +5.1 per Rate performance cent and +43 per cent for cent isn’t as great is further proof that the months of January, as that for Asia February and March, India’s powerful Pacific or globally, travel demand is alive it nevertheless and well. ADR represents a (average daily rate) significant margin has stayed within and trend.

Longer booking relatively close proximity windows indicate to prior year growing consumer confidence to schedule vacations and stable demand for conference and meeting travel, which typically involves registering and reserving further in advance.

A distinct advantage India has is that its guests are staying longer per trip on average than those in the Asia Pacific region as a whole or globally, and that the average length of stay is growing at a faster pace over prior year. Trips booked in March were for an average of 3.29 nights versus 3.20 nights last year, increasing by +3.0 per cent, whereas trips essentially stayed the same length as prior year for Asia Pacific and shrank by -1.4 per cent globally. Longer trips signify a growing willingness and ability for consumers to

Longer Booking Windows

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spend more per trip; a nice trend since more nights per stay also means more revenue per stay. To encourage this trend, hoteliers can offer extended-night stay promotions. These types of promotions have the added benefit of keeping your pricing structure intact and upholding rate parity, which will help to keep your ADR and revenue growing.

India’s Travel Demands

Rate performance is further proof that India’s powerful travel demand is alive and well. ADR (average daily rate) has stayed within relatively close proximity to prior year. After lessening by -9.4 per cent in February, March’s ADR rose back to within about -5 per cent of prior year. This type of overall rate resiliency is especially commendable for India given the added hotel development and room supply the country has been experiencing. As seen below, without the added hurdle of having to overcome faster supply growth, global and even regional ADR has had an easier time growing over prior year.

It takes added diligence and discipline to adhere to profitable rate strategies in an environment where both demand and supply are rising faster than average.

However, it is important to recognise and not demean the value of your hotel and its destination by slashing rates to unnecessarily low levels that would leave money on the table, distort consumers’

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net avg booking lead time (days)

march12

march11

change

india

19.98

19.01

5.1%

asia pacific

21.44

19.38

10.6%

global

22.07

19.78

11.6%

perceptions and only make it harder to return to proper price structures.

comprehensive

Marketing Strategy

‘

It takes added diligence and discipline to adhere to profitable rate strategies in an environment where both demand and supply are rising faster than average

(The writer is Senior Director of Strategic Planning and Editor, The Pegasus View. Views expressed by the author are personal.)

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To encourage more business or leisure travellers to book your hotel period, however, you need a comprehensive marketing strategy that not only maximises the potential for online bookings starting with your website, but maximises the advantages of partnering with travel intermediaries. Being better connected with travel intermediaries, and the channels they use, enables you to tap into larger audiences of potential guests. Especially for increasing your share of visitors from other robust and growing travel markets such as China, make sure you are well-represented across their distribution channels and that your hotel content accessed through those channels is translated into their preferred language. International travellers are also known to stay longer and spend more per trip than domestic travellers, and that translates into more revenue as well.

net avg length of stay (nights)

march12

march11

change

india

3.29

3.20

3.0%

asia pacific

2.78

2.76

0.9%

global

2.13

2.16

-1.4%

india, regional, global–% change over prior year gds & ads channels combined net reservations

net ADR

net revenue

india

Mar ‘12 vs ‘11 Mar YTD ‘12 vs ‘11

-14.7% -6.0%

-5.1% -6.7%

-16.5% -11.5%

asia pacific

Mar ‘12 vs ‘11 Mar YTD ‘12 vs ‘11

0.6% 3.5%

1.2% -0.3%

2.8% 3.3%

global

Mar ‘12 vs ‘11 Mar YTD ‘12 vs ‘11

-7.6% -2.3%

5.2% 4.8%

-4.2% 1.1%

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i HOME Dual

Alarm Stereo Clock Radio

1

AKASA Conveyor Toaster

The new iHome iD91 is a sleek versatile dual alarm clock radio specifically designed for the iPhone, iPad and iPod. The App – enhanced Dual Alarm Stereo Clock Radio with FM Presets – is the Signature model from iHome. This is readily acceptable in the hospitality sector as a complete in-room entertainment device and bedside solution.

A built-in Universal dock charges and plays the Apple devices while docked. One can wake and sleep to a custom play list or to FM radio. A time sync button syncs the clock to your iPhone (which is always current via cell phone towers) to set the time quickly. The iD91 allows setting two separate alarms with different times on different days with its 7-5-2 feature. The iD91 also includes 6 FM presets, EQ controls, 3D sound and Reson8 sound technology for exceptional audio.

Conveyor Toaster is designed to toast many i AKASA slices of bread and is generally used in the hotel

industry for its suitability in large-scale use. With 250300 slices per hour, conveyor toasters becomes an ideal product for a self-serve buffets and large restaurants that are constantly busy with growing demand.

Toasters are ideal for caterers who are i Conveyor required to serve large quantities of toasted bread,

crumpets, etc., with a minimum of fuss and preparation time giving perfect food product every time. It has top and bottom heaters which enable uniform toasting on both sides of a bread slice. The browning of bread can be controlled as per the requirement. The product is easy-to-load rack type with front and rear discharge of toasts. It has a steel outer body that gives it a sturdy and compact look.

Pergo’s Patented

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‘Natural Variations’

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may 2012 I www.fhrai.com I

Pergo has introduced a new, patented design feature Natural Variation from Pergo, a unique production process that gives each plank a chalked and rustic look and creating endless pattern variations just like wood.

Pergo’s Natural Variation feature is the company’s latest technological advancement aimed at making laminate flooring more sophisticated.

The Natural Variation is offered in Classic Plank format with four bevelled edges and featuring Pergo’s new Embossed-In-Register (EIR) surface texture. Decors vary from light Blonde Oak to dark Coffee, with Grey and Taupe in between. All Natural Variation products feature the company’s TitanX™ surface, which makes them suitable for high-wear domestic environments as well as moderate-wear public areas.

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McCain Foods

Idli Sambar Combo Pack McCain Foods India, the Indian subsidiary of McCain Foods Canada, has launched a new product for the Indian market - McCain Idli Sambar Combo Pack. Created to appeal to Indian tastes and sensibilities, it offers twin benefits of convenience and nutrition.

Made from real rice and lentils, the product is free from preservatives and can be prepared in 3-5 minutes flat. With its multiple cooking options, McCain Idli Sambar is microwaveable or can be cooked on a stove top. The product addresses the concern of small food outlets as well and is also suited to caterers to reduce time and add convenience in preparing Idlis in no time.

The company is confident that the product will be a hit with the institutional segment as it offers convenience to its consumers.

4

Ritu Mukherji, Marketing Manager (Left) with Vikas Mittal, Managing Director, McCain Foods India (Right) at the launch

Firebrand’s Environmental Friendly Charcoal

Company Firebrand recently i Australia-based launched its barbecue charcoal in India.

Known as the fine quality charcoal provider in the world, Firebrand BBQ Charcoal is a choice for all expert charcoal-based cooking, including the restaurant sector, charcoal chicken, Korean BBQs, Spit roast or simply for home BBQs, claims the company. The brand is being introduced in India by StingRay Lifestyles Private Limited, its national distributor.

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Firebrand BBQ Charcoal is produced by converting the highest quality by-products from the saw mills into a useful energy source. Firebrand BBQ Charcoal burns cleaner and longer than any charcoal available in the world market, which makes it 100 per cent chemical free and environmental friendly.

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‘Meru Plus’ Car Rental Service

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V-Link Travel Solutions, which launched ‘Meru’ in 2007 in Mumbai, has launched Meru Plus - a superior car rental service - using world-class technology and best-in-class customer service standards. The service will first be offered in the city of Mumbai initially and then rolled out to other major cities in India.

Apart from the travel within the city, the service is also available to travel from Mumbai to Pune and Nasik. This service will not only cater to the retail consumers, but will also be available for the corporate houses.

V-Link Group, founded by Neeraj Gupta in 2000 with a fledgling fleet management operation in the city of Mumbai, has been growing to provide transportation solutions to some of the leading BPO operations in Mumbai, Pune, Gurgaon and Hyderabad.

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Florian Kohli has been appointed as the General Manager of Formule1 Greater Noida, the first international low-cost hotel from Accor, launched in April 2012.

Director of Sales JW Marriott Mumbai

Director of Sales & Marketing JW Marriott Bengaluru

Jaya Mishra has been appointed as the Director of Sales & Marketing for the JW Marriott Bengaluru. Prior to this assignment, Mishra was handling the Bengaluru Regional office of Marriott International and was responsible for driving outbound business for pan India Marriott properties. Her past assignments include a long and successful stint at The Imperial, New Delhi, where she worked as Director of Sales. In her new role, she will be responsible for functioning as a strategic business leader, creating key and innovative strategies to position the hotel, developing concrete business and marketing plans for the hotel, building a strong team to drive key businesses and exploring new business opportunities.

General Manager Formule1 Greater Noida

Ravneet Arora

Jaya Mishra

i

Florian Kohli

Ravneet Arora has been elevated as Director of Sales at JW Marriott Mumbai.

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Arora joins JW Marriott Mumbai after a successful stint at Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport.

In her new role, she will be organising and directing all sales efforts towards achievement of objectives and operational goals for the property. She was the Assistant Director of Sales at the then newly opened Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai.

Prior to working here, she took on the challenging role of Marriott Executive Apartments (MEA) Manager in April 2009 where her prime responsibility was to increase the market share for MEA. She successfully contributed to the MEA ramp up. Arora has also been the Assistant Sales Manager at Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre. She is a hotel management graduate and has been with Marriott International Inc. since July 2007. Apart from her passion for work, Arora loves travelling, reading and is a movie buff.

i

With over six years of experience in various roles in the hospitality industry, Kohli is well aware of the challenges in managing properties in varied market situations. His association with Accor started in 2007 when he joined the Novotel Hyderabad International Convention Center as part of the Sales & Marketing Team.He moved to Novotel Hyderabad Airport in the preopening phase in the Sales division. In 2009, Kohli joined the Integrated IMHI Cornell Programme in Paris which was followed with a two year Masters in Business Administration, while he was also working with one of the biggest ibis hotel in operations management ibis Berthier Porte de Clichy Paris.

He joined Hotel Ibis Delhi Airport in September 2011 as part of the pre-opening team as Front Office Manager. Kohli’s interests include international politics and keeping track of global news.

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Vazid Ali Shaikh

Chandan Thakur

Assistant Director Food & Beverage Jaipur Marriott

F&B Director Le Meridien Kochi

General Manager JW Marriott Bengaluru

Jaipur Marriott announced the appointment of Vazid Ali Shaikh as Assistant Director - Food & Beverage.

Chandan Thakur has been appointed as Director, Food and Beverage at Le Meridien Kochi.

Rajat Chatterjee has been appointed as the General Manager

by JW Marriott Bengaluru.

i

In his new role, Shaikh will spearhead and manage all food and beverage operations, including marketing, planning, menu structure and, most importantly, service. Vazid has nine years of experience and has knowledgeable expertise of the industry. Before joining to Jaipur Marriott, he was associated with Taj Lands End as an Assistant Food & Beverage Manager, and prior to that, he was with JW Marriott Mumbai as Restaurant Manager. He holds a Diploma in Hotel Administration and Food Technology from Sophiya Polytechnic College, Mumbai.

i

Thakur brings with him over 13 years of hospitality experience with expertise in F&B, holding many positions in various other hotels in the past.

In his new role, Thakur will oversee all food and beverage activities in the hotel, and will be responsible for the hotel’s F&B outlets, along with the conference and banqueting facilities.

Prior to joining Le Meridien Kochi, Thakur worked at The Westin Pune in the capacity of an F&B Manager. He has also worked at Rajvilas, Jaipur, Le Royal Meridien Mumbai and Grand Hyatt Mumbai.

Anuraag Bhatnagar

Rakesh Chauhan

General Manager The Westin Pune Koregaon Park

Team Leader Food & Beverage Peppermint Hotel Jaipur

Anuraag Bhatnagar has been appointed as the General Manager of The Westin Pune Koregaon Park.

i

Rajat Chatterjee

Bhatnagar is a hospitality veteran with 22 years of enriching experience in the industry, 10 with the Starwood Group and the remaining 12 with the Oberoi Group.

His previous assignment was that of General Manager of Le Royal Meridien Mumbai. An alumnus of IHM Pusa, New Delhi and Delhi University, Bhatnagar is known as one of the finest general managers of the IBM region. He is on the Global General Manager’s Advisory Board of Starwood Hotels & Resorts as the representative for India and Asia Pacific.

Jaipur Peppermint Hotel has appointed Rakesh Chauhan as the Team Leader – Food & Beverage.

i

In this new role with the company, he will manage all Food & Beverage operations, including marketing, planning, menu structure and service. Chauhan has 12 years of experience and brings knowledgeable expertise of the industry. Before joining Jaipur Peppermint, he was associated with Park Prime Hotel Jaipur as Food & Beverage Manager.

i

In his current assignment, he will be heading the key operations and will play an integral role in launching the first JW Marriott in South India.

He will also be given additional responsibility to oversee the Marriott India Business Council. Chatterjee joined Marriott group in 2002 as Director of Rooms at JW Marriott Mumbai. In May 2005, he was promoted to the role of General Manager of the Courtyard by Marriott, Chennai. He was subsequently transferred to the Goa Marriott Resort as General Manager in June 2007.

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Of soups and salads

book release

On April 10, 2012, Chef Davinder Kumar, Vice President of Food and Beverage Production, Le Meridien New Delhi, launched a tasteful compilation of the recipes from his kitchen through his new set of books on Soups and Four Seasons Salads at the hotel.

Published by Shubhi Publications, The book was launched by Kapil Sibal, Minister for Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology, Government of India. S. Y. Quraishi, the Chief Election Commissioner, was the guest of honour. The book showcased 400 quick and easy recipes for every occasion. Chef Kumar laid out a banquet of delicious vegetarian Indian and international food ranging from the everyday to the exotic in his new set of books.

The books are positioned as a ready reference for

both amateur and professional cooks considering the fact that there are more than 200 delectable soup and salad recipes to choose from. He said, “I have explained each dish in a very simple language so that even a beginner can try his/her hands on cooking and be successful in this art. I strive to add more scope to the culinary art of India.” The glitterati launch saw many well known personalities like the famous ghazal artist Ghulam Ali to noted theatre personality and playwright Aziz Quaraishi, noted journalists Vinod Dua and others.

GITB’s 5th edition

promotes Indian hospitality & travel

i

The fifth edition of the Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) 2012 was formally inaugurated by the Rajasthan Minister of Tourism, Bina Kak, at the Birla Auditorium on April 16, 2012. The Principal Secretary, Tourism, Usha Sharma, President of FICCI, R. V. Kanoria and the Chairperson of the Tourism Committee of FICCI, Jyotsna Suri, were also present on the occasion. Aimed at promoting the Indian hospitality and travel trade by attracting foreign operators to sell packages, this show is getting better each year.

This year, over 8000 pre-fixed and structured B2B meetings

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may 2012 I www.fhrai.com I

were held in the course of two days. As many as 264 foreign buyers from 54 countries had B2B meetings in 253 booths and 11 State Governments put up there stalls as well with Gujarat being the ‘Theme State’.

One of the prime highlights of the fair was the heritage division of the Travel Bazaar, informed General Secretary of the Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA), Randhir Vikram Singh Mandawa.

As many as 45 stalls of unique heritage hotels were under one roof. Furthermore, the quality of ‘buyers’ was outstanding, he said.

The Organising Committee of the GITB had painstakingly selected

the tour operators to be invited this year and the result had been immensely satisfying, he said. The Director FICCI Rajasthan State Council, Gyan Prakash, said that post-event the tour operators went on familiarisation tours to various parts of the state. These tours were organised to give them a first-hand feel of the various parts of the colorful and vibrant Rajasthan. The next edition of the GITB will be held from 14 to 16 April in 2013 in Jaipur, informed Prakash.

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D.Y. Patil University confers Doctorate Degree to hotelier Vittal Kamat Vittal Kamat, Executive Chairman and Managing Director of Kamat Hotels India Limited was awarded doctorate by Dr. B. P. Sabale, Chancellor of the Dr. D. Y. Patil University.

Dr. Karan Singh, MP and President of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, was the chief guest at the sixth annual convocation ceremony of Padmashree Dr. D. Y. Patil University.

“The hospitality industry is all about wastage and extravagance, but we proved that luxury need not always be insensitive. Twenty years ago, everybody

Shots of Corralejo

laughed at my green approach. Today, theya admit that it is possible. People’s mindset has changed and we are glad that we played a small role in it,” said Vittal Kamat. Dr. B. P. Sabale, Chancellor of the University gave away the gold medals to the awardees in the presence of Dr Vijay Patil and Dr Ajeenkya Patil, presidents of the university. Dr Vijay Patil, said, “The eminent personalities awarded the doctorates this year have had outstanding careers and have set very high standard in their field. They are an inspiration to the youth.”

extra shots

grand finale of 1st Corralejo Teqnicians Mixology iThe Challenge 2012 was held on March 19, 2012 in Delhi at Agni with Brand Ambassador of Corralejo Tequila, Elisa Najera (Miss Mexico). Using heady shots of Corralejo, 15 finalists from 250 mixologists came together to compete to make the best tequila based cocktails.

The prelim rounds of the challenge saw participation from top hotels like The Park, The Hilton, Le Meridien, The Taj Group, The ITC Group, Marriott Hotels, The Oberoi Group, Westin, Hyatt as also popular restobars like Lap, Smoke House Room, Royalty, Indigo and Blue Frog, to name a few. The eminent panel of judges included, Miss Mexico Elisa Najera; Mexican Ambassador to India HE Jaime Nualart; Tech guru Rajiv Makhni and renowned mixologist Arijit Bose and Sommelier Magandeep Singh. Apart from the prestigious grand title of the 1st Corralejo Teqnician, the mixologist who won a trip to Mexico was Eluther Gomes from the Grand Hyatt, Mumbai, with the cocktail Corralejo El Regalo followed closely by Varun Sharma from The Taj Mahal, New Delhi, with the cocktail Corralejo Rose of Mary and Gajendra Singh Rawat from The Lalit, New Delhi with the cocktail The Corralejo Truth.

At the occasion, the ‘Corralejo Teqnic Book’, compiled by Magandeep Singh, was also released by Najera and His Excellency Jaime Nualart.

i

The book consists of the top 15 finalist recipes and in depth detail on Tequila.

The event came to an end with a bang with all five cities – New Delhi, Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai participating at the finals held at Agni, New Delhi.

RNI No. DELENG/2000/1230 Posting Date 15-21/08-2011 Postal Reg. No. DL-(C)-01/1294/2012-2014 at MBC-1 Date of Publication 12-05-2012