Session

Global CEO Outlook

The session began for an interesting one-on-one of the panelist with the moderator Russell Kett, MD, HVS London. He introduced each participant to the audience and they gave an overview of their companies by talking about the opportunity India offers to the crowded growth of the luxury segment, future decisions to be made and growth plans with an emphasis on participation, joint ventures and third party relationships.

As the session warmed up with intriguing views on India by the panelist, Kett threw the session open with a key issue of the balance and supply gap in rooms in India and how big companies can come forward and invest in various projects. H P Rama, Chairman & CEO, JHM Hotels, USA answering to the same said, "The Hotel sector needs to take a leaf out of the IT sector to grow in future." The debate also tried to ponder on the issue related to investments through public private partnership. Nakul Anand, divisional chief executive, ITC Hotels remarked that hotel companies and management companies shy away from direct investment because of the modalities of equity participation involved in various governmental projects. "Further, small investments by big companies is not worthwhile from the business point of view," he added.

The global CEOs then took the issue of whether hotel schools are living up to the expectations of hotel companies in delivering the right work force. Rama said, "There exists a big gap between the graduates passing out and the efficiency companies desire. Graduates are not efficient enough in India to serve hotel jobs." According to him, students need to be given practical experiences during the education period. It was understood that hotels have grown and there exist sdisengagement between them and institutes. The panel agreed that both have to come together to offer a solution on the quality manpower crunch. Hotels at present offer 172 different tracks of opportunities for the graduating students provided if properly scrutinised. The panel then took on a creative journey discussing latest trends in hotel designs. Raymond Bickson, MD, Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces said, "Space is seen as a luxury these days and rooms are coming in various sizes to offer customers that luxury feature. Architecture is focusing invariably on space." Agreeing on his comments, Anand added, time is also another factor that has become a latest trend in design. "Customers now need convenient access to even switch off the lights in the room. Design thus needs to perform a helping hand to save the customer's time," he explained. Bickson further added, "Technology will play a crucial role in design." It was upheld that guests are looking for informality and hence guest rooms need to become far more interactive and devise user-friendly attributes. The panel then talked at length on land prices and eco friendly features hotels need to adopt as a responsibility.

In the concluding part of the session, the panel revealed their expectations about the industry in a decade's time. Rama said that limited service hotels would emerge as a top segment for investment. Kathleen Taylor, President, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts said, growth of numerous new brands would take a consolidation approach. "Independent hotels and unbranded chains will come to the limelight," remarked Michael Ball, CEO, WORLDHOTELS. While Anand said that he expects mixed-use developments would be the focus. Bickson summed up by saying that the panel would still be discussing staff and talent retention even 10 years from hence.