Newstrack

Star winners of the hospitality industry

EH Staff - Mumbai

Some of the jury members (L to R): Ashwini Kakkar, Farzana Contractor, P V Ramanna, Anil Malik and Kamlesh Barot

ITM Institute of Hotel Management, Navi Mumbai organised an all-India level hospitality awards ceremony - Star Hospitality Awards with an aim to felicitate the best in the industry. Instituted in 2005, the awards ceremony which is now in its third year, saw the cream of the Mumbai hospitality industry in attendance at the event. PV Ramanna, chairperson of the ITM Trust remarked at the event, "This is our way of giving back to the hospitality industry."

The winners were decided by a jury panel which included Ashwini Kakkar, chief executive operator of Mercury Travels, Farzana Contractor, chief editor of Uppercrust magazine, Kamlesh and Rajnik Barot, proprietors of Encore Hospitality, Kapil Kaul, chief executive officer of Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, Jamshed Daboo, chief operating officer of Taj Business Hotels, Girish Nair, general manager (domestic operations) of Jet Airways, Neeraj Chadda, general manager (operations India) of Hilton Hotels and Ruchita Verma, director of ITM Institute of Hotel Management. Anil Malik, general manager of ITC The Grand Central, Mumbai was the convenor of the panel. In addition, present at the event was Richard Kerley, vice principal of international strategy and commercialisation at the Queen Margaret University, Scotland with P V Ramanna, chairman of the ITM Trust.

The awards were divided in two categories - individual and organisational - as well as a special jury award and lifetime achievement award given for special achievements in the industry. The special jury award was awarded to The Orchid Ecotel Mumbai while then lifetime achievement award SSH Rehman of the ITC Hotels.