ETW Staff – Mumbai
Passionate about the hospitality industry, Monica Suri commenced her journey as a hotel management trainee with Taj Hotels and Resorts in the food and beverage service department, one of the most challenging departments for women to work in. While with the company she was appointed to supervise operations at the bar and Chinese restaurant in the capacity of assistant manager.
Suri wanted to harness a perfect balance between her professional and personal life and hence took a sabbatical to enrich her family. She joined back few years later as a trainer. It was during her stint as a trainer that she realised her passion lied in development of associates by setting benchmarks.
She later worked with Le Meridien Ahmedabad for a year before relocating to Tanzania-East Africa with her family and taking on the role of a corporate trainer for a set of six hotels. She reinitiated her professional journey as the training manager with Le Meridien Ahmedabad, a 64 room property where she successfully transformed the training department in a short span of time. From her success it was evident that she would be given more responsibility of a larger property – The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace, a 428 room property during pre-opening and then rising to complex director of HR and training at The Westin Sohna Resort and Spa and The Westin Gurgaon New Delhi.
After writing many success stories, she became the first lady hotel manager at Westin Sohna Resort and Spa. The property turned around quickly with 20 per cent hike in RevPar, leading the hotel with consistent achievements on RevPAR, marketing, energy conservations, thus resulting in one of the highest GOP contributions.
While continuing her successful stint she was appointed as the general manager of Le Meridien Kochi as task force to assist with the operations due to tough business environment. During her short span of two months, she brought organisational cultural transformation, new outlook on business and focused vision which contributed further to the development of the associates and the company’s performance. This impressive turnaround was not an easy feat and Starwood immediately appointed her as the general manager at one of the largest MICE Starwood properties – the first home grown lady general manager in the whole of South Asia in Starwood and first one ever in Kochi.
Suri holds vast expeirence of more than a decade in luxury brands of hospitality but still enjoys daily challenges of developing people and raising the quality bar at every opportunity. She is a highly enthusiastic person with high business acumen and loves travelling for wellness and exploring difficult terrains outdoors. Her particular strengths in business development, project management and team leadership with a passion for driving continuous improvements in operating standards and quality have helped her in climbing the corporate ladder to reach the apex. She believes that leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence and making sure that impact lasts in your absence.