Concept Hospitality-The Fern Hotels & Resorts is presently one of the fastest growing hotel management companies in India today. On average, we are opening 15-18 hotels every year over the past 3 years, and in our short 10 years of operation, currently manage and operate 73 hotels in 58 locations in India, Nepal and Seychelles (as of February 2020).

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]At concept hospitality, it is just the pace where I am given total freedom of operation to mould, direct and grow the company on the Sales & Marketing front[/pb_blockquote]

I have always been in the hospitality industry for almost all of my professional career of over 30 years. After successful stints with Oberoi Hotels, Sarovar Hotels and Park Hotels, I was looking for a company where I could contribute and make a difference. Concept Hospitality provides that space. With a visionary industry stalwart as CMD, Param Kannampilly, and a young dynamic CEO, Suhail Kannampilly, it is just the pace where I am given total freedom of operation to mould, direct and grow the company on the Sales & Marketing front.

Starting out as a young Assistant Sales Manager at The Oberoi Towers, Mumbai in 1988 after completing my MBA from SP Jain Institute of Management and a short Hotel Management program at the Oberoi School of Hotel Management, I was a part of the young team that handled the sales for The Oberoi Hotels in Mumbai, for over 7 years.

I then moved to Rediffusion Advertising for one year, handling the Taj Hotels account there. But hoteliering had got into my blood, so I moved back to head the Sales & Marketing of Sarovar Hotels, one of India’s first local hotel management companies. At Sarovar Hotels, we managed and marketed individual hotels under the Sarovar brand. In my 9 years with Sarovar, we grew from around 3-4 hotels to over 25.

In 2005, The Park Hotels approached me to head their pan-India Sales & Marketing. Till then each Park Hotel operated in its own independent sphere, and the Chairperson, Priya Paul, and MD, Vijay Dewan, were looking for someone to get that all together on one national platform, which I did. In the 8 years I was with The Park, we grew into a cohesive team that pulled together on a pan-India level, growing the brand. The Park was a very different, edgy, fun sort of brand and I thoroughly enjoyed my years there. Through The Park, I also got the opportunity to attend a Marketing Management Program at Cornell University which was an eye-opener, for which I am always thankful to them.

From 2013-2014, I stepped out as an entrepreneur with my own hospitality marketing company, Kimaya Hotels Marketing Pvt Ltd, where we handled the India-marketing and PR for Baglioni Hotels, Italy and also did some hotel marketing consultancy. But I soon realized I liked and needed to be around people, directing a team, so we then closed shop. And for a year, I headed the sales & marketing for Ramada Caravela Beach Resort, Goa. But handling just the one hotel was not challenging enough, so I decided to leave and join Concept Hospitality.

Heading the sales & marketing for Concept Hospitality since 2016 has probably been my most satisfying work experience. I head a young team of over 115 sales associates pan-India, who sell 73 hotels all over the country to corporates, travel trade, online, etc. The Fern Hotels are upmarket hotels that are luxurious and environmentally sensitive in their operations. The Fern Residency is our brand of midscale hotels that provide full services. Beacon Hotels are Smart & Efficient economy hotels offering comfortable stays. And later this year we launch our new lifestyle brand, The Zinc Hotels, in Bengaluru.

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]A smart hotel will use technology without losing that human touch, to enhance the guest experience[/pb_blockquote]

The hospitality industry has evolved tremendously over the years. From a more manual operations (when I started out at The Oberois, there were no computers, no email, no internet, no Wi-Fi….only typewriters, telexes and faxes!), today so much of the operation is technology-driven, yet the human touch remains. A smart hotel will use technology without losing that human touch, to enhance the guest experience. From the reservation process to the check in to the stay to the departure, everything can be automated and streamlined. The new generation is more tech-savvy, more hip and more focused. Technology allows hotels to customize the guest stay, remember preferences, offer enhancements to the stay based on past stays, etc. Today, guests who want can check into a hotel, stay and check out without any human intervention. While others can have human touchpoints at each stage of their stay. This choice allows each guest to customize his/her stay to their requirements.

Leadership

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]My guiding philosophy has been that a leader is only as good as his team. The 100% backing of your team is what makes for good leadership[/pb_blockquote]

My guiding philosophy has been that a leader is only as good as his team. The 100% backing of your team is what makes for good leadership. How one interacts with colleagues and subordinates to take them along with you, is what makes for good leadership. If the team is with you, you can go on to any heights; if you don’t have the backing of your team, you will never succeed.

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]Good leaders are those who always talk of WE, not I[/pb_blockquote]

Good leaders are those who always talk of WE, not I. Good leaders are those who have an open approach, an open-door policy, where anyone is free to walk in at anytime to discuss any issue. A good leader goes up to a subordinate for discussions rather than have the subordinate called in to them. A good leader is one who is inclusive, asks for opinions and suggestions, and then decides the course of action to follow, and carries the team with him. A good leader recognizes the contributions made by his team, and is open in his praise for their inputs.

The earlier notion of a great leader was one who was aloof, cut-off from the team, giving direction from the top and not always accessible.

Today’s leaders have to be evolved, with the times, willing to change their mindset, go with the flow where required and be firm and lead the direction to be followed, where required.

I am from another generation to my team, but always ready to learn new ideas, thoughts, technology, and adapt my thinking to these new ideas. That I think is why I am able to be successful in guiding them and taking the company in the growth direction it is in. My biggest success I think is that in every company I have been in, the department has been without any politics, backbiting, etc, with everyone pulling together and helping colleagues for the benefit of the team. At The Fern Hotels, our team motto is: One Team. One Dream, which has successfully brought everyone together in a harmonious work atmosphere.

Taking from the above, future leaders needs to be open to changing with the times, to learn along with colleagues, to recognize the contribution of subordinates in your success and be vocal about it, to adapt to changing times, to make the workplace without politics or favoritism, to make it a fun place to work and get the work done.

Branding the business

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]The brand is what represents the business, what the guest/client identifies with, what brings in repeat purchase/usage[/pb_blockquote]

The brand is what represents the business, what the guest/client identifies with, what brings in repeat purchase/usage. The business can be successful, but the brand has to be up in the forefront, constant, standing for what the business is. As leaders, we are the custodians of the brand, and every action we take has to be consistent with the brand values, to ensure brand supremacy. Wavering with brand standards will only dilute the brand and may end up losing the brand identity. Then the business performance suffers.

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]As leaders, we are the custodians of the brand, and every action we take has to be consistent with the brand values, to ensure brand supremacy[/pb_blockquote]

My message to the youngsters,

Be open, be innovative, learn from everyone around you, and always think WE, not I. Carry the team with you through your actions. Deliver on promises. Discourage politics and favoritism in the workplace. Keep an open mind. Hear out everyone and everything, then decide the best course of action. Develop strong No 2s as your left hand/right hand. You are only as successful as your team is. One Team. One Dream works!

[pb_blockquote component_description=”Blockquote”]Keep an open mind. Hear out everyone and everything, then decide the best course of action[/pb_blockquote]