Someone who aspired to be a hotelier ever since he was a teenager, Anuj Chaudhry, General Manager, ibis Gurgaon Golf Course Road, has indeed come a long way. Having started his career with The Taj Group of Hotels, he has been associated with the Accor Group for over a decade now and prides in the smooth functioning of the first ever ibis to open in India. The pioneer behind introducing a string of initiatives at the property, results of which can be seen in various departments, BOTT is delighted to feature his journey as part of the GM Special Series.
Priyanka Saxena Ray
Please share with us a brief introduction about your background and how did you get into the field of hospitality?
I was born and raised in Kolkata (Calcutta then) and post completing my high-school from St. James School, I moved to Aurangabad, Maharashtra to become an hotelier from the Institute of Hotel Management. Now, 15 years later as an hotelier – it’s been an exciting journey filled with challenges, exceptional mentors, experience in various cities and brands with Accor, lot of knowledge sharing as well as learning.
Hotel management was a conscious decision since 10th standard in school as I looked up to my father as a mentor and guidance in all aspects of my life. He was an excellent Bakery Chef who later quit to continue the family business. This made me carry forward the legacy to continue his dream of becoming a General Manager someday. So here I am now as the General Manager of ibis Gurgaon Golf Course Road. Mom’s been a homemaker and she made the “best” home for the family!
What was your first Job (in which hotel and at what profile)?
It’s always said and believed; your first work experience always leaves a deep impact in your career. I had the privilege to begin my career with the Taj Group of Hotels. Back in 2004, the Taj group had introduced the Butler program and in that same year, I began working with them. It was an excellent opportunity and a challenging one too as the deliverables of service had to be utmost high levels of hospitality to the guests. This program was the stepping stone of my career and I have always cherished this experience.
How did you climb up the ladder? How many hotels have you worked with and in what capacities?
I climbed the ladder of success carefully and with a lot of hard work. I spent 3.5 years with the Taj Hotels and over 11 years with Accor in different capacities ranging from Duty Manager all the way to General Manager. In these years, I have worked in five hotels and four different brands of Accor and gained experience at Novotel, Mercure, Grand Mercure and ibis.
Could you share with us details of some of the challenges you faced along the way?
Key critical challenges that I faced were:
- Hotel pre-opening and completion of necessary compliance certification from the authorities
- Employee retention and turn over in certain hotels
- Right people to work with to think like minded achieving the desired goals
How long have you been attached with the current Hotel (or chain)? How has your experience with the property been?
Well, I have been associated with ibis Gurgaon Golf Course Road for 1 year and 3 months to be precise. This assignment has evolved me as a professional and in the capacity of a leader too.
ibis Gurgaon Golf Course Road is the first ibis in India which opened in 2008 and ever since, managing as well as creating a chart of evolution for this hotel has been an amazing experience. The team is young and vibrant, which reflects perfectly with our newly launched ibism initiative and creates a whole lot of better experience for guests and employees.
What Special changes / touches have you added to the property? How have you ensured that your Hotel stays ahead of the competition?
Food and Beverage Evolution: At ibis Gurgaon Golf Course Road, we have created a unique Food and Beverage concept focusing on delivering delicious comfort food under the tag line of “Good Mood Food”. To further enhance the guest experience and revenues thereof, a robust action plan was put together with the team and implemented.
Employee Incentive Program: ibis hotels worldwide have one category of room thereby leaving no scope of upselling impacting in 2 folds – for the employees to earn an upselling incentive and for the ADR to improve further. Hence a room category was created, which focused on value additions under the name of “Room with Extra Benefits”. An upselling program for reservations and front office team members was launched in June 2018 which improved employee retention in Front Office and Reservations department and also enhanced the ADR growth by 10 per cent.
Enhancement of Guest Experience: Introduction of “Members Floor” to enhance guest experience for reservations received for our loyalty program, Le Club Accor Hotels, with a full range of bathroom amenities and this exclusive floor has assisted in enhancing guest experience member scores by 10 points above non-members.
Diversity and Inclusion: Welcoming others, providing recognition, drawing on their differences and valuing them: those are the founding principles of our managerial ethics, which are both rooted in our DNA and the key to our group success. At ibis Gurgaon Golf Course Road, we are proud of enhancing female to male percentage from 17.4 per cent in 2017 to 24 per cent this year. Focus was to increase gender parity in departments where it was required the most to enhance the operations.
Do you have any new plans or policies or initiatives in the pipeline that you would be introducing in the near future?
Increasingly, the world seems to be moving towards Diversity and Inclusion at the workplace. And except for a few forward thinking, evolved companies in India, the rest of us seem to be woefully behind. And that’s understandable, since bringing about a change this big is not easy. There are comfort zones to step out of, hard questions one must ask oneself, sometimes restructuring existing systems.
Yes, it’s not easy, but I’d like to start somewhere. Because I feel it goes hand in hand with being in the hospitality sector. The first thing that we should be, is hospitable – for other people, other races, and other abilities. We should be hospitable towards our own.
How do you handle the increasing attrition rate facing the hospitality industry in India?
To improve employee retention, I pulled up my corporate sleeves and got to work with my team. We devised innovative ways of making not only the customer experience happier, but also the employee experience:
- IBIS TALK meeting with employees – Skip level meeting of employees with the General Manager and Human Resources Manager to understand operations issues for viable solutions and enhancement of employee experience
- Improvement of staff cafeteria food quality and look / feel of the cafeteria
- Creation of an employee recreation room and web corner for team members as a relaxation area to de-stress
- Implementation of the up-selling program for Front Office and Reservations team
- A robust recognition and rewards program
- Transfer with promotion of employees to other brands of Accor Hotel
- Implementation of the 5-day work week
The work seems to have paid off, since the attrition has reduced by 20 per cent in comparison to same time last year. And while there’s still a lot of work to be done, I’m rather proud of being instrumental to this change. Numbers and statistics aside, I’m happier that at ibis, employees treat this less as a job, and more of a family.
