In town for the 67th Annual General Meeting of the company, the usually reclusive Vikram Oberoi agreed to open up to a room full of women. From realistically admitting how “terrible” he is at juggling home and work, to sharing fond childhood memories of Calcutta — the city he was born in — Vikram (he insists there is only one Mr Oberoi — his father P.R.S. Oberoi) won everyone’s hearts. Excerpts from the YFLO session with the Oberoi CEO that t2 attended on August 3 at The Oberoi Grand.
Memories of Calcutta…
I was born in Calcutta. We had a pond at home that had mollies (Molly fish) and when my father was asleep, I would get into the pond and try to catch them! I was never successful because they were smarter than me.
Summer job in Australia…
When I was in university, I did a summer job in a hotel in Australia, not an Oberoi hotel. I was a chef and would get all the mundane, time-consuming jobs. One day, I got six boxes of spinach and I had to remove leaf by leaf, by hand; it took me four hours. I had to cut onions and that was a painful experience too, as most of you may know! So I would carry my swimming goggles in my pocket and put them on.
A challenge converted into a learning experience…
I spend a lot of my time reading feedback, what they have to say. And one such comment was from a lady who wrote, ‘The tea that I got was not hot’. So I asked the GM of the hotel whether he had looked into it. When we delved deeper, we realised that there was a difference of five degrees between the temperature of the aluminium water boiler and the kettle. We delved even deeper and learnt that there was no dedicated descaling programme for the boiler. So we introduced that and shared it with all our hotels — that scaling needs to happen after a particular period. Had we just dealt with this issue on the surface level, we would have treated the symptom but not cured the disease.
Social media is another way guests give us feedback…
I remember as a young boy I’d see my grandfather… he must have been in his 90s, wearing thick glasses, poor eyesight. In those days there were paper questionnaires, and he would hold them and read the feedback even in his 90s. That’s a value that has passed on. We take guest feedback in whatever form really seriously. We don’t question the guest, whatever they say is true and we address it. Social media is the same, just another way that guests give us feedback. Mr (P.R.S.) Oberoi reads all the TripAdvisor comments, he says, “Don’t give me the good ones, only the bad ones!”
Juggling work and home….
I do a terrible job (audience breaks into laughter). No, it’s true! I’ll give an example. My kids are now on vacation and I have been chatting with them on WhatsApp. When my youngest daughter, 10, told me to join them, I said, “I have an AGM”. So the truth is I don’t do a good job. Maybe if my wife and children gave me a harder time, I’d go on holidays! But they’re forgiving and I’m grateful.
Rules behind hiring people…
Rule #1 is that we never hire for the position. If you’re hiring me as F&B assistant, the question is — does Vikram have the potential to grow two levels? And if I don’t have that potential, you shouldn’t hire me. The other question we ask is, ‘Have they used their time well, have they focused on their education?’ because that will be repeated in their profession. The third question is, ‘Is Vikram a good person? Does Vikram have good values?’
Vision for the future…
Our vision has to be what our guests want. Around 42 per cent are repeat guests so they would like for us to be in more locations. The second thing is for the team, we want people to have an opportunity to learn and grow. And we can give them an opportunity to do that by opening more hotels. We do not want to be the biggest, but the best.
When the unfortunate event of 26/11 happened, what was going on in your head?
(Asked by former YFLO chairperson and moderator of the event Manjri Agarwal)
The hardest part for me was when I went and met the families of people we lost. I remember this gentleman’s mother who was in terrible shape. For a parent to lose her child is probably the most difficult thing. And no matter what you say or what you do, you can never bring back the person. They live with that memory probably every day for the rest of their lives.
Karo Christine Kumar
Pictures: Pabitra Das
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The Oberoi, New Delhi
The flagship property of the group, which opened in 1965, was closed two years ago for renovation. “We will probably open in January 2018, three-four months ahead of schedule,” said Vikram. It will reopen with 218 rooms and will be the first hotel in India to have an air purifier to address concerns about the quality of air in the capital.
The Oberoi, Mauritius
A quiz followed the session, where members of YFLO had to guess the name of the property by its visual. When The Oberoi, Mauritius, flashed on screen, Vikram shared a memory. “My first daughter was a couple of months old when my father asked me to visit the Mauritius hotel that had just opened. The error we had made was that we had opened the hotel too soon. There was construction work on and guests weren’t happy. So I closed the hotel and reopened it after two months. The funny part of the story is… I didn’t have to do too much because we had a great team... my father asked me if I could stay on in the property. So I stayed there for almost a year and spent time with my wife and daughter, who had come along. When my wife would be at work, the only way my daughter would sleep was if I carried her and walked her and put her in bed. Now I think, ‘How lucky was I that my father asked me to stay there for 11 months’!”
Oberoi Wildflower Hall, Shimla
Another story followed this grab. “There was a couple staying in the hotel and they went on a trail. The lady lost one of her diamond earrings on the trail and she was visibly upset, because of the sentimental value; it was gifted to her by her mother-in-law. Someone from the hotel noticed that the couple had carried a camera. He said, ‘Can I have a look at the photos?’ And by doing that he figured out where it fell off. Though evening had fallen, it was retrieved. It was an amazing story of thinking creatively.”
