Sahara Star CEO Vivek Kumar discusses the journey from being Centaur to its current avatar and the future. By Sayoni BhaduriWhat was the journey like for Sahara Star Mumbai since its makeover from the Centaur?Sahara took over not just the Centaur, but everything that came with it. This also included the employees who worked here; as part of the agreement ...

Mercure Lavasa, Accor's mid market brand, has become the first international hotel to open in the hill city of Lavasa. This is the third Mercure property to open in India after the Grand Mercure Bangalore and Mercure Hyderabad Abids. Speaking at the opening ceremony, Jean-Michel Casse, senior VP Operations India, Accor Hospitality said, "Our aim in India is to build ...

Suresh M Talera, president - HRAWI and chairman, Talera Group of Hotels and , talks about the recently organised Diamond Jubilee Celebrations of the Hotel and Restaurant Association (Western India) and focuses on the need for the hospitality sector to get the 'industry status'. By Sudipta DevWhat have been the most significant learnings from the recently held annual convention?The recently ...

The need for quality human resources is ever growing for the Indian hospitality industry, but the supply is scarce. On the occasion of Teacher's Day, Express Hospitality presents an overview of the education scenario in India's hospitality industryWhile India suffers from a demand and supply mismatch in room inventory, another demand and supply mismatch also adds on to the woes ...

Continuing with its focus on emerging markets, Accor - the French hotel brand - has sets its eyes on 90 hotels by 2015 of which 60 hotels have been committed apart from eight hotels presently in operations. Gilles Pelisson, CEO for the hotel group said, "India is an important market for our group and we are taking a strong development ...

Using twenty-five vignettes, a Cornell study of hospitality innovators finds that both new and established hospitality companies are applying novel approaches and unconventional thinking to serve the ever changing needs of hospitality guests.The study, "Cases in Innovative Practices in Hospitality and Related Services, Set 4," which provides brief, focused descriptions of each innovation, is available at no charge from the ...

For hospitality industry professionals working in guest facing roles, soft skills are often the foundation of excellent customer service, writes Vaibhav PradhanThe term 'soft skills' is a catch-all phrase that is often used to describe an employee's non-technical skills and abilities. Attributes such as being able to solve problems, working well in a team environment, and motivating others are the ...

It has been a long journey for the Holiday Inn brand since its inception in 1952. In 2007, the relaunch of the brand was declared and Mumbai has been the first to receive the new version Holiday Inn in India. Harry Thaliwal, GM, Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport, speaks of what is the meaning of the new Holiday Inn and ...

Design Hotels has expanded its portfolio of member hotels in Europe with the opening of The Weinmeister Berlin-MitteIf there is some hidden corner in Berlin-Mitte where you can't see The Weinmeister, you can certainly feel its presence. It is a new kind of structure, one that reverberates, beating with the pulse of the city. Its gold, shimmering facade earned it ...

Claridge's, one of the world's most famous hotels, is collaborating with legendary fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg to bring her signature style to a series of twenty guestrooms and suites, the first of which was unveiled on June 23, 2010.For more than a century, Claridge's has stood as an emblem of timeless elegance in London and is the hotel where ...

Identifying the scope for organised laundry in India, Wardrobe which started two years back focussing on the retail segment has expansion plans. Atul K Maheshwari, executive director of Diamond Fabcare revealed, "By 2015, we wish to be present in 31 cities pan India catering to both retail and institutional segments, with the latter contributing to 30 per cent of the ...

Harish Kulkarni speaks on how learning and development opportunities can be an effective retention toolAttrition in an organisation is one of the worst nightmares for team heads and the HR department. Managers strive hard to retain valuable human resources and are continuously finding innovative ways of staff retention.Attrition cannot be stopped but to a large extent it can be controlled ...

It's that time of the year when we all think of our alma mater, our school, college or institute that has been instrumental in shaping our present and the thought leaders and trainers who have helped shape our thoughts and interests. Like other technical and skilled professional careers, the hospitality industry stipulates a certain level of qualification and training across ...

Renamed the Taj Mahal Palace Mumbai, Mumbai's iconic luxury hotel opened to guests on 15 August. Present at the opening of the heritage wing were Ratan Tata, chairman Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), Raymond Bickson, MD IHCL, and R K Krishnakumar, vice chairman, IHCL, all of whom exuded confidence about the hotel's prospects. "This flagship property is a venerable old lady ...

The Ananda Spa Institute has emerged as a world class institution for training spa personnel, offering international certifications and attracting students from several countries. By Sudipta DevAfter establishing Ananda in the Himalayas as one of the best destination spas in the world, Ashok Khanna and Neelam Khanna of IHHR Hospitality were driven by the dream to develop specialist talent for ...

International accreditation is common in the Indian hospitality education space. But is it offering the much needed fillip to the standard of education? UEI Global, through its curriculum which has been devised in association with Hotelschool The Hague, aims to bridge this gap. By Sanjeev BharA constant argument between hoteliers and hospitality schools in India is that of the professional ...

Best Western IndiaBest Western India has announced the appointment of Gaurav Sarin as GM - Sales & Marketing. With over 10 years of experience in sales and marketing, Sarin has exposure in hotel pre-opening, revenue and yield management across various properties in India. Prior to joining Best Western, he was the regional sales manager for Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, with ...

In order to tap the growing online market for hotel bookings by empowering offline hoteliers through an online model, Intech Hotel Solutions ( IHS) is bringing offline hotel inventories on a live platform through a concept that works on a three pronged strategy. Through this, bookings can be done through the hotel's own website. The business model's USP is that ...

What's happening in Mumbai's hotels? A peek into the party circuit and events in the city...Into the nightNightlife lovers looked happy indeed on the opening night of a lounge bar with the novel name of 100 since 2010. They happily discovered this sprawling space with a mix of an African, Moroccan and an Indian rustic feel coupled by a blast ...

A Chocolate Affair, MumbaiMumbai's only all - chocolate lounge - 'A Chocolate Affair' is now open. Located at the heart of Bandra at Pali Naka, the lounge provides an environment where chocolate creations can be enjoyed and savored. It is a venue to sample and experience new chocolate concepts. The offerings include freshly made Belgian waffles and chocolates, Spanish Churros, ...

Jim Burney, chief executive, TSN, talks about Travelsurf.com, the new B2C portal for hotels being launched in India. Burney, a serial entrepreneur, returned to India last year, after living 35 years in the US and Canada, to develop this new distribution channel for hotelsWhat is Travelsurf?Travelsurf is a new online distribution B2C concept being introduced to hotels. Our objective is ...

The state of the nation can be gauged by the quality of sports it indulges inIf we look at the history of countries across the world, organised game playing has been used as a tool by governments for nation building. However, it's also been used insidiously to spread propaganda. But despite dubiousness, that's largely emanated from the East Bloc, sports ...

A healthy mind can approach the challenges at work better. In a complex 24x7 environment like the hospitality industry, sprituality as a different school of training can help. By Sanjeev BharCorporate training has acquired a new dimesion - the Mind Training. This is being advocated by Khandro-ma (Kaldan Doma) Kenden who heads Norbu Ling - an institute for body and ...

SETU ATA211GMatrix SETU ATA range of products is designed to meet this requirement of converting VoIP network to traditional telephony interfaces and vice-versa. Matrix SETU ATA is a family of SIP based Analog Terminal Adaptors (ATA), it interfaces legacy telephone devices with IP-based networks. There is a new addition to the ATA family, which also offers connectivity to GSM networks ...

Indo American Food Products plans to open a hundred Chicken on the Grill USA restaurants in India in the next five years. The first restaurant is expected to start in Bengaluru in the next six months. Apart from 10 outlets being planned in Bengaluru, other southern Indian cities including Hyderabad and Chennai will be covered first before entering the north ...