New roles for the industry’s movers and shakers
Karnataka Tourism
Ramu B, IAS has taken charge as the director of the Karnataka state tourism department. The 2010-batch IAS officer Ramu B had earlier served as the district collector in Chamarajanagar. His priority in the new role would be to improve the marketing of Karnataka tourism. ‘One State Many Worlds’ is all about selling an experience. He will study and understand the kind of experience the government is trying to market.
Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport
Holiday Inn Mumbai International Airport, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group has announced the appointment of Mohammed Shoeb as the new general manager. Shoeb is a seasoned professional with over 28 years of diverse experience in hotel operations, marketing and guest relations’ management. He holds proficiency in devising marketing strategies to accelerate business growth and has been successful in achieving increase in turnover, occupancy and RevPar. Shoeb is a keen planner with a track record of developing and setting up standard operating procedures, business policies and motivational schemes.
DoubleTree by Hilton Pune-Chinchwad
DoubleTree by Hilton Pune-Chinchwad announces the appointment of Himanshu Kumar as the new director of revenue. Holding an experience of 17 years primarily in the hospitality sector, Kumar holds expertise to an in-depth exposure to room management, revenue management, room reservation and front office. Kumar is well known for bringing new creative ideas, strategies and implementing them successfully. During his career, Kumar has worked with various international brands including Crowne Plaza – Bahrain, Fraser Suites- Dubai, Oakwood Asia Pacific, Intercontinental Hotel Group and Marriott International.
Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel & Lakeside Chalet Marriott Executive Apartments
Vinay Singh has been appointed as the director of sales and marketing for Renaissance Mumbai Convention Centre Hotel and Lakeside Chalet – Marriott Executive Apartments with over 773 keys. In the leadership role, Singh will now be responsible for spearheading the marketing and sales function of both the hotels. Prior to joining Renaissance Mumbai, Kumar was associated with the prestigious St. Regis as the director of sales and marketing. In the past, he has also worked with leading brands such as The Westin Mumbai Garden City, Hilton Worldwide, Le Meridien Mumbai and The Orchid Mumbai.
Fairmont Jaipur
Fairmont Jaipur is pleased to announce the appointment of Prasad Metrani as the new executive chef, who comes with a distinct culinary background. A seasoned chef and carrying forward with him, an experience of over 15 years, he has gained practical know-how in both fine dining and specialty banqueting operations. Chef Prasad brings with him an extensive array of expertise and a deep understanding of the unique and modern aspects in the F&B industry, which is critical to his role. His stint of working overseas has rendered him with an ever innovative and fervent nature to create something new in the world of gastronomy.
JW Marriott Chandigarh
Gringing ahead with him, an experience of over 17 years in the hospitality sector, Pankaj K Chaudhary has joined JW Marriott Chandigarh as its director of sales and marketing. Having gained a rich experience in sales and marketing from working with various leading properties across India in both metro and non-metro markets, Chaudhary has worked as the director of sales at Courtyard by Marriott, Agra prior to joining JW Marriott, Chandigarh. Chaudhary has had a long association with Marriott having overseen various roles across different Marriott properties across India over the years.
Grover Zampa Vineyards
Grover Zampa Vineyards, the longest standing and most awarded winery in India has announced the appointment of Vivek Chandramohan as its chief executive officer. Chandramohan has nearly 26 years of distinguished experience in the Alco-Bev arena. Hailing from Bangalore, he started out as a campus recruit at Citi Bank in 1995 and later joined Bacardi-Martini in an entry role, steadily rising to a senior regional sales position. He stayed for nearly seven years working on brands such as Bacardi, Bacardi Breezer, Glenfiddich, Grants and Grey Goose and liased extensively with the National Marketing and International teams.
Hotel Sahara Star
Hotel Sahara Star, one of the five star hotels in Mumbai has recently anoounced the appointment of a new management team who will share their knowledge and expertise to their respective departments of the hotel. Having previously worked as an IT Manager at Almalfa Hotels & Resorts in Saudi, Krishna Baranwal has joined Sahara Star as the IT head. A seasoned hotelier with over a decade of experience in various roles, Baranwal’s core responsibility would be into IBMS system integration and technical support. Fronting the entire gamut of IT Operations; administration with complete accountability of delivering project while ensuring smooth IT functioning, Baranwal would be held responsible for IT operations.
Next on the team is Ankita Deorukhkar who has joined Sahara Star as manager, Human Resources. She will look after human resources and manage employee development policies and systems.
IndiGo
IndiGo has announced the appointment of Rahul Bhatia as its interim chief executive officer. He will continue as a director of the company. The company also announced the appointment of Gregory Taylor as senior advisor to the Company and he will report directly to Bhatia. Aditya Ghosh is resigning from the post of President of IndiGo effective July 31, 2018 and as a director of the Company with effect from April 26, 2018. In the coming months, the Board will consider the appointment of Greg as President and CEO of the Company, subject to receiving the necessary regulatory approvals and paperwork.
Taylor holds more than 40 years of experience in large, world class airlines. During the years 2016 and 2017, Taylor was the executive vice president of revenue management and network planning at IndiGo.
Yatra.com
Yatra.com, one of India’s online travel companies, has announced the appointment of Mudit Shekhawat as chief marketing officer of the company for handling leading marketing activities, alliances and ancillary revenues across all Yatra.com business-lines and group entities. With more than 12 years of experience in the consumer internet space, in addition to further strengthening Yatra’s brand positioning, Shekhawat will also manage all consumer marketing initiatives across platforms to drive customer stickiness and loyalty. As a veteran of the industry, Shekhawat brings with him, a vast experience in digital and consumer marketing, prior to his role at Yatra.com; he has worked with Ola as head of marketing. He has also served different marketing leadership roles during his tenure at Myntra, Yahoo and HCL technologies and delivered rich consumer marketing experience to them. Mudit has been an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras alumnus from where he went to Pennsylvania State University to do Masters in Engineering. He finally switched to marketing with Master’s in Business Administration from ISB, Hyderabad.
One&Only Reethi Rah
One&Only Reethi Rah resorts in Maldives has strengthened its portfolio by appointing Jan Tibaldi as its general manager. Having worked with some of the renowned names in the hospitality industry, Tibaldi carries with himself 30 years of unadulterated international experience in luxury hospitality industry. He has held senior positions at some of the most prestigious luxury hotels in the world. Jan has served as the general manager at The PuLi Hotel and Spa, a five-star resort in Shanghai, China. He has held senior leadership positions at global luxury hotel brands including Oberoi, Viceroy and Four Seasons. At One & Only Reethi Rah, Tiabldi is responsible for delivering global expertise and extensive background knowledge in the field of luxury hotel sector.
Hyatt Regency Mumbai
With over 15 years of successful room operations experience in the hospitality industry, Hyatt Regency in Mumbai is pleased to announce the promotion of Sonale Zagade from the post of director of rooms to director, operations effective January, 2018. Previously, Sonale has served as the director of rooms at the Hyatt property for about three years. During her tenure of work in the hospitality industry, Zagade has worked with top tier hotels including five years with Hyatt hotels. In the past Zagade has also been a part of Starwood Hotels and Resorts before joining the Hyatt family. She has been very active in hotel operations as well as pre-opening units with a passion for ensuring the customers’ needs are put at the center of the business. With such vast experience in the industry, Zagade will play a pivotal role in ensuring the hotel meets its business objectives, continues to achieve stellar results, whilst maintaining and establishing Hyatt Regency Mumbai as a benchmark for business hotels in Mumbai.
Amadeus
Amadeus announced the appointment of Cyril Tetaz as the executive vice president, airlines, Amadeus Asia Pacific. He will now hold the responsibility of leading Amadeus’ Airlines business in Asia Pacific (APAC), effective April 2018. Holding a 13 year experience of Amadeus, Tetaz served as head of commercial for Airlines Asia Pacific recently. He will be reporting to Julia Sattel, senior vice president, Airlines, he will lead the charge in continuing Amadeus Airlines’ growth momentum in the region, supporting and enabling APAC airlines in their ambitions to pursue growth, greater customer-centricity and digital transformation. Tetaz started his career in 2004 when he first joined Amadeus.
Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre & Hyderabad International Convention Centre
Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre and HICC (Hyderabad International Convention Centre) is pleased to announce the appointment of Bandish Mehta as its new general manager. Mehta brings with him over 25 years of experience in the hospitality industry. Mehta has held multiple roles for over 19 years with the AccorHotels Group across Asia Pacific. Being a proficient hospitality professional, he holds necessary expertise and valuable insights on augmenting brand standards for the company. In his new leadership position, Mehta will be responsible for spearheading operations at this dual property. Through his vast knowledge and skillfulness in diverse areas of both corporate and business leisure, he will be in command for accomplishing corporate objectives, developing procedures, service standards, operational policies and over-seeing the property in a comprehensive effective manner.
Thomas Cook India
Thomas Cook (India), India’s integrated travel and travel related financial services company, has announced the appointment of Romil Pant as senior vice president for its leisure business, both international and domestic. Pant comes with more than two decades of experience in operations and credit management across sectors, including, telecom, financial services and travel. In his role, Pant will provide leadership and functional expertise to drive productivity and results across the Company’s Leisure Businesses, while focussing on Thomas Cook India’s omni channel growth strategy.