Son of a hotelier father who grew up watching the fascinating hospitality industry expand; entering this field was a natural choice for Abhay Singh, Director Operations, The Westin Pune Koregaon Park. Having worked in as many as nine hotels across a career span of 12 years, Abhay has gradually worked his way to the top, donning many hats in the process and overcoming numerous challenges. Here is his story, featured in BOTT GM Special Series.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
Please share with us a brief introduction about your background? How did you enter the hospitality industry?
I was born in Delhi, and brought up in Mumbai. My father is an hotelier, hence I was influenced by him and joined the Hospitality Industry. I was exposed to this industry since I was a child and was highly impressed by the shiny glittery stylish hotels and their well-groomed hotel associates. This made me consciously decide to choose this profession as my career path by completing my hotel management degree at Institute of Hotel Management Aurangabad.
Please share with us details of your first Job?
My first job was as an Industrial Trainee at Sydney Harbour Marriott Hotel. I did my ‘on the job’ training for six months at this magnificent hotel in the bustling city of Sydney.
How did you climb up the ladder? How many hotels have you worked with and in what capacities?
I have worked in close to nine hotels in my career span of 12 years. My experience encompasses full-time, task force stints and pre-opening team member roles across Food & Beverage, Events, and Catering and Front Office departments in hotels. At Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre hotel as Food and Beverage Executive followed by Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport (Pre- opening team) as Assistant Events Manager, JW Marriott Pune (Pre-opening team) as Events Manager, Courtyard by Marriott Pune Hinjewadi (Pre-opening team) – Task Force, JW Marriott Pune as Front Desk Manager, Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel and Executive Apartments as Director of Event Management, JW Marriott Mumbai Sahar Hotel and convention Centre (Pre- opening team) as Director of Event Management, Goa Marriott Resort & Spa as Director of Food & Beverage, The Westin Langkawi Resort &Spa and Langkawi International Convention Centre as Director of Food & Beverage, The Westin Pune Koregaon Park as Director of Operations.
Could you share with us details of some of the challenges you faced along the way?
The few challenges that we constantly face in the Hospitality Industry is that the number of Hotels are continuously increasing, and this Industry doesn’t have enough of skilled talent that can match the demand it requires. The human resources needed to match the requirement by this business falls short.
The continued technological changes and regular innovation is another major challenge, as the hospitality industry is relying heavily on technology to streamline their services. Technology is evolving very quickly and a hotel takes time to be setup, by the time the systems are setup technology has already advanced and something new & better has come up in the market. These systems tend to be expensive and as technology keeps on updating this turns out to be a costly disbursement on the hotels.
The costs of managing and maintaining a hotel is increasing every year but as the competition also grows the guests tend to be price sensitive as they have many more choices to choose from. These increasing costs (like increase in pay roll, maintenance costs, food costs, electricity, renovation) do cause a challenge but cannot be exempted as they are imperial for the functioning of a hotel.
A hotel has various types of guests from different cultures and who the use the hotel for different reasons like leisure, business, with family or alone. Thus every guest has a different expectation from the hotel and we need to keep all our guests equally happy and content with their stay and hotel experiences.
How long have you been attached with the current Hotel (or chain)? How has your experience with the property been?
My career has spanned for 12 years in different properties all across different brands in the biggest travel company Marriott International which has assisted me in my personal and professional growth. My experience has been very good as it has been fruitful and fulfilling. This company has given me a chance to work in four different and great cities in two different countries, i.e. Mumbai, Pune, Goa and Malaysia. I have had an opportunity to work in multiple task force and given many challenges to work in which has helped me grow in my vocation.
What Special changes / touches have you added to the property? How have you ensured that your Hotel stays ahead of the competition?
Back to Basics and Putting People First: We at The Westin Pune Koregaon Park are concentrating on delivering the basics flawlessly and endorsing Marriott Culture. Putting in practice our founder’s philosophy of putting people first. “Take care of associates and they will take care of the customers.” This has made Marriott International a great place to work for more than 85 years. Giving associates opportunities to grow and succeed is part of the company’s DNA. I have also recruited new talented resources in the team which will help the hotel reach new high successes.
The hotel is focusing on Marriott Bonvoy which is the name of Marriott’s newly combined loyalty program, which brought together Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest. Marriott Bonvoy has about 120 million members, arguably the largest loyalty program for a single hotel company. It was launched in mid-February 2019 and we are continuously creating moments for our guests in the hotel to promote the program. We have launched our Indian fine dining restaurant Kangan in June 2019 and preparing for the launch of our brand new restaurant and concept The Market.
Do you have any new plans or policies or initiatives in the pipeline that you would be introducing in the near future?
I constantly remind my team to focus on Putting People First and going back to basics of hospitality. To always extend a warm welcome and improvise on the guest engagement during the stay through our loyalty program Marriott Bonvoy.
Marriott Bonvoy also has special kid’s benefits which enhance our members’ experience with crafted personal touch points for members’ kids throughout their stay.
