Atithi devo bhava. International hospitality day was celebrated on April 24, by IIHM, in association with The Telegraph. the city’s hotel frat turned up at Hyatt Regency
TT Bureau
Published 03.05.17, 12:00 AM
It’s not every day that you get to see the general managers of most star hotels in Calcutta in one frame. After a gruelling quiz and a celebratory award show, the GMs posed for a group photo. (L-R) GM of The Gateway Hotel Devraj Singh, GM of HHI Rodney Kaypee, resident manager of ITC Sonar Prashant Chaddha, hotel manager of The Lalit Great Eastern Jaidev Dutta, associate vice-president of The Vedic Village Suparna Sarkar, GM of Hyatt Regency Birgit Holm, GM of The Oberoi Grand Varun Chhibber, GM of The Park Calcutta Pramode Bhandari, GM of Novotel Kolkata and Residences Sandeep Johri, and GM of Taj Bengal Samrat Datta.
t2 caught up with a few of them after the show. Here’s what they shared....
“Hospitality is not an easy career. There are people who work behind the scenes, 365 days, 24X7, working hard, always smiling and at the end of it you could call it, sometimes, a thankless job. So all I can say is we are extremely happy that someone has taken the initiative to recognise all of us,” said Anjan Chatterjee of Speciality Restaurants, who won the Hospitality Entrepreneur of the Year Award, handed over by Suborno Bose, CEO and convenor IHC and chairman IIHM. “Over 40 countries are celebrating Hospitality Day today (April 24),” smiled Bose.
The celebrations called for a bottle of bubbly as Hyatt Regency was felicitated by Suborno Bose for hosting the event. “We are extremely proud to be a part of this event. It is for our industry and our industry is not just a job, it’s a lifestyle. You’ve got to be passionate and you’ve got to love what you do,” said Birgit Holm, who has completed five months as GM of Hyatt Regency. “I am loving Calcutta, absolutely loving it. I’m so happy to be here,” grinned the Danish lady.
HOSPITALITY QUIZ
The evening commenced with a quiz that saw the city’s star hotel general managers put on their thinking caps! Here are some of the questions tackled:
1 Name the 3 Michelin star chef standing next to Gordon Ramsay.
2 Registered and incorporated as a public company on March 21, 1983, the name of the company was Pleasant Hotels Limited. How do we know it today?
3 What started as a guide book for road travel in 1900, then added ‘recommended hotels and restaurants in 1923’ and by 1960s started influencing gourmands worldwide through its highly regarded rating system?
4 Tiramisu is a coffee-flavoured dessert from Italy. What is the literal meaning of tiramisu?
5 A nagar panchayat in Lucknow district became famous overnight when a team of freedom fighters looted British treasury money in August 1925. How do you connect this to an Indian starter?
6 Established in 1926 by the grandson of an English general and an Indian princess, name this restaurant which started the trend of Indian restaurants in the UK.
7 Identify this luxe international hotel from its hidden logo.
8 She is the winner of Masterchef India 2 and her restaurant is called H.O.T. Identify her.
ANSWERS: 1) Clare Smyth MBE, who was chef patron at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay from 2012-16
2) EIH Associated Hotels Limited 3) Michelin Guide 4) Pick me up
5) ‘Kakori’ Kebab 6) Veeraswamy 7) Jumeirah 8) Shipra Khanna
Jet Airways: (Centre) Sidharth Sanyal, senior guest relation executive, flanked by (left) Mohit Ahuja and Kaushik Shah, manager, HR (east)
Text: Karo Christine Kumar. Pictures: Rashbehari Das
