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The conclave’s agenda was to initiate a dialogue between industry professionals on diverse themes, catering amass hospitality segment. The opening and overview was given by Vikram Mehta, Chairman, Brookings India.
The first panel discussion on Hospitality Development & Investment- The future ahead was moderated by Rattan Keswani, Deputy Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels with Nirupa Shankar, Brigade Hospitality; Ashish Jakhanwala, Managing Director & CEO, SAMHI Hotels; Manav Thadani, Chairman, Asia Pacific-HVS and Dilip Puri, Managing Director, India & Regional Operations, Starwood.
It discussed the shortcomings and the turn key features that can add value for the growth of the hospitality industry. “We should be more focused on why an investor will invest in hospitality segment. In the purview of an investor, capital and return plays a key role. Therefore, it’s essential that the hospitality industry accentuates more on the returns on their capitals,” pointed Thadani.
The second session had an overview by Patu Keswani, Founder, The Lemon Tree Company. In 2002, he founded the Lemon Tree hotel, a mid-market hotel. Thereafter, the company expanded in two more categories like Lemon Tree Premier and RedFox. “We have observed that our mass market is the mid scale category. Hence, we realised the potential on expanding within the mid market space that in India is still far behind and collectively we as hospitality professionals should work hard in achieving this segment,” said Keswani.
Ingo Schweder, Founder, GOCO Hospitality headed the third session by giving a brief on wellness tourism. The fourth panel was on Diversity & Inclusion at Workplace, moderated by Radha Ahluwalia, IMA with panellists Niren Chaudhary, President-Global, Yum Brands; Aradhna Lal, Vice President, Sustainability Initiatives, Lemon Tree Hotels and Pritha Dutt Director, EMPOWER.
The concluding session of the evening was on F&B Trends and Innovation moderated by Vir Sanghvi with panellists including Habib Rehman, Ex-Managing Director, ITC Hotels; AD Singh, Partner & Managing Director, Oliver Group; Rohit Khattar, Chairman, Old World Hospitality Pvt Ltd.
Source: travelnewsdigest.in