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Rajesh Advani
Owner and MD, Sun n Sand Hotels
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ith a degree in hospitality management from Cornell University, he has been heading the Sun n Sand Group of hotels during which time the company has achieved many milestones. Rajesh Advani commissioned the Sun n Sand, Shirdi that has been operational since 1998; upgraded the existing Mumbai property from 3 star to 5 star deluxe category. Sun n Sand Mumbai completed its Golden Jubilee in November of 2012 and has received three national tourism awards for ‘Best Five Star Hotels’ in the Western Region. He has played an active role in the management of Jewel of India, a fine dining restaurant in Mumbai and Jade Garden a banqueting operation. Jewel of India has been operational since January 1987 and has won National Tourism Awards for excellence in Indian cuisine. Under his leadership, the brand acquired the Holiday Inn Pune and rebranded the property in November 02. The brand also expanded to Nagpur and tied up with Starwood for another property in Pune.
Homi Aibara
Partner, Mahajan & Aibara Consultants
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ember of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales and the long standing partner at Mahajan & Aibara, Homi Aibara’s contribution in changing the face of tourism in India – and by that giving the hospitality business a new direction – is noteworthy. With over 25 years in the industry, Aibara has assisted several state governments and promoters of projects in vital sector of the economy to conceptualise, formulate, examine the feasibility and coordinate a diverse range of projects from a 20-cottage jungle resort to 500 room deluxe hotels and convention centres. As an industry observer, he feels that the present situation in the hospitality space is a conjunction of many factors whose timing has been unfortunate; however, “The silver linings are: in crisis there is opportunity to buy operational assets, often at less than replacement cost; our resorts are more price competitive with rupee depreciation; mid-scale segment that addresses the domestic market even though expanding with new supply is being absorbed in many hitherto oversupplied markets/micro markets; faith in God above that our Government will get its act together!” he says.
Nakul Anand
Executive Director, ITC Ltd
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ith a career spanning three decades with ITC, Nakul Anand is recognised for his emphasis towards creating a result-oriented work culture. “With the introduction of new hotels like the 840-bay integrated luxury hotel ITC Grand Chola, in Chennai, a 715-bay luxury hotel adjacent to the ITC Sonar in Kolkata and an ITC luxury resort in Manessar, we will, in the course of the next few years, consolidate our position in main metros and tier II cities with critical inventory across our multiple brand portfolio,” he says. There are as many as 40 hotels, under various stages of development, either owned or managed by ITC under one of the four brands. “The intention is to double our capacity in the next couple of years in terms of rooms, across all our four brands. In the years to come, we will have a portfolio of 150 hotels, with close to 5,000 rooms,” he reveals. In the premium segment there are three hotels under construction and another six on the drawing board.
September 2013 | Hotelier India
www.hotelierindia.com