What was your first impression of Taj Bengal?

Taj Bengal has always been iconic and having worked in the city a little bit on the other side of the town (The Gateway Hotel), this property, even from that point of view, was aspirational. So to be here in this new role and being able to contribute to taking it to the next level is a great honour.

What are your plans for Taj Bengal?

We as a company realised that the place needs refreshment. It’s good to be iconic and the fact that we have been there for almost 30 years. But with so much development in the city and new brands coming up, I think it is imperative that we also up our game.

With that strategic objective, we started the renovation journey last year and have plans to completely renovate the hotel in the next three years. We are a 229-room hotel and last year, we did 50 and this year, we’re doing 45 and the lobby. In terms of food and beverage, we wanted to come up with something new. So last year, we launched Cal27, which got very good reviews, and this year, we plan to refresh Chinoiserie. So my immediate plan is to refresh and relaunch it with a new menu and a new chef around October and of course, we will keep the all-time favourites. At the core of our renovation is the idea of the revival of Calcutta’s heritage, in style and design, infusing it with international service standards. This is reflected in our new rooms and suites as well as in Cal 27.

We are also planning a new outdoor extension of The Junction. We had opened up the outdoor seating in the last two months and it worked very well and the launch should be done by the middle of September.  Refreshing the Crystal Hall and our exclusive business club, The Chambers is also on the cards. We want to be ready with all these by the Pujas this year.We are already market leaders and we want to consolidate that position. We want the rooms and suites to be the best in the city, which we have always been, but we needed to upgrade and add more value. Similarly, the F&B also has to be the most happening here. Every month, you will get to hear from us about something unique and something the city has not seen before.

As area director east of Taj properties, what are your focus areas?

This is the first time that Taj has created this role for somebody based in Calcutta, who will also look at the properties in the Northeast. So I look after Assam (Vivanta Guwahati), The Gateway Hotel in Calcutta, Andamans (Taj Exotica Resort & Spa) and Bhutan (Taj Tashi Thimphu). We have a few more coming up as we want to increase our footprint in the Northeast.

My role is to guide and oversee the properties, help them do well, so it’s more about a mentorship role than looking after the day-to-day affairs. My job is to make sure that the company’s goal and growth are achieved.

Among the Taj properties in the metros, where does Taj Bengal stand?

I would say it’s among the top six-seven properties of the company. It was also the first property in the east and it has been over 30 years, so it’s a very, very iconic place. And it is a fully-owned property and has always been very dear to the company. 

The hospitality sector in Calcutta is witnessing a huge growth and the competition has been the fiercest in the past several years. How do you plan to counter it?

There are two things — we need to create value and give value. In order to create value for every stakeholder, it means that every business has to be profitable. The guest has many options available now. So we need to be careful about designing our services in a manner that we give a lot of value for money, and create experiences for guests for them to want and be able to come to only us. That, definitely, will be the focus.

Are you also focusing on millennials who are travelling a lot?

To attract millennials, I think we’re doing a lot, as Taj Group in general, and Taj Bengal in particular. We have relaunched our website, made it fast and customer-friendly and have launched the Taj app. We have launched table-management and booking apps and are tying up with digital platforms outside. We are digitalising the whole dining experience here. All our restaurants will be directly connected to our websites and other channels so that every millennial has access.

You had opened The Gateway Hotel here and now, you’re here after Rambagh Palace. Take us through your career...

I have been an F&B guy through and through. I graduated from the Institute of Hotel Management in Pusa in 1996 and then joined The Imperial Hotel in Delhi. This gave me an opportunity to join them as a management trainee and then be a part of the complete transformation of their property. I got an offer to join the Taj Mansingh (Taj Mahal Hotel) in Delhi in 2002 and was a manager for the banquets and their Chinese restaurant, House of Ming. I was promoted to handle the F&B of the hotel and got the opportunity to launch Wasabi by Morimoto and Varq.

Then I moved to Mumbai as the resident manager of Taj Lands End, which gave me the opportunity to move out of F&B and handle the operations of the hotel. It’s a big 500-room hotel in the heart of Bollywood in Bandra, which was a great experience. After that, I got the opportunity to open The Gateway Hotel in Calcutta.

I was here for about a year and then I was moved to Jaipur as the general manager for Rambagh Palace — one of the best hotels in the World — which was a great experience of working in a palace hotel of top-end leisure. It has 78 rooms but is one of the most exclusive hotels in the world.

Then I was promoted to the position of director for the Jaipur region about a year ago, looking after Jai Mahal, two of our jungle lodges in Ranthambhore and Ramgarh, launching The Gateway Resort Ajmer and the Sawai Mansingh (SMS Hotel, Jaipur), with the primary role of looking after Rambagh.

A celebrity guest who gave you an experience to remember...

At Rambagh, I interacted  with many Hollywood and  Indian celebrities. I had the opportunity of interacting very closely with people like Sharon Stone, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas, Richard Gere. One of the most unforgettable ones was with Sundar Pichai the year before last, when he was staying with us for a family holiday. He is a great cricket buff and four days out of the five nights he stayed with us, we played cricket in the hotel ground as it has a 47-acre garden. When Hillary Clinton was here about six months ago and I met her, I was pleasantly surprised that she knew a lot about me.