The Government of India has unveiled several initiatives aimed at generating employment and employability through programmes such as Make in India, Startup India, and Skill India. The aim is to transform opportunities for India’s youth to move up the value chain of employment and make our demographic dividend a blessing. In this context, the National HRD Network (NHRDN) Mumbai Chapter, recently organised a career fest at Nehru Centre in Mumbai, wherein professionals with multifaceted expertise talked on prevailing career trends and also about diverse sectors which are there. Senior people management professionals from Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Ritesh Pratap Singh, Vice President - Organisation Effectiveness & Development and Natalie Beale Chopra, Corporate Director - Cadre Building, shared some pertinent facets of hospitality industry. In this edition, Corporate Citizen brings you their talk on how the hospitality industry is attracting and retaining the best fit talent
My journey began in FMCG sector and I also had doubts when I was thinking about moving to Taj-in hospitality sector, from FMCG sector. The story of 26/11 was there-the fact that such a massive onslaught happened on the flagship hotel of Taj. There is enough written about it—there is also a Harvard case study around it, which tries to capture what went in the minds of people. The sense of ownership the Taj employees had-why was there such a massive sense of commitment to the hotel, after all it was just a job that they were doing. Also, what made them ensure that they could care for the guests. What made number of them to lay down their lives, while taking care of guests in that moment. That’s something that really attracted me to the industry. Whatever experience that I have had, it actually captures the kind of ownership commitment, the kind of love, and the connect people have with that organisation. When people talk about engagement, they will say that employees are engaged if they are connected with the organisation. If and when the moment arises, they are willing to use their discretion and go beyond the call of duty. To my surprise, I see that happening very often at Taj.
Travel and Tourism industry is very closely associated with hospitality. What happens in Travel and Tourism, that makes hospitality as one of the rising sectors for us to look at? There is no doubt the sector is growing and offering lots of opportunities-the same way Indian IT industry grew in the last twenty years, giving opportunities to lots of people to create wonderful careers within that sector.
World per say is shrinking and lot of people across the world are travelling. The travel and tourism industry is expected to grow beyond what global GDP is growing. Which means, travel and tourism is going to grow as an industry, far faster than what global GDP and global economy is going to grow. The world tourism is growing at 4 per cent—the important point to note here is that within Asia-Pacific, the two very large and fast growing economies of India and China, are going to grow faster than the world average. Which means, lot of action is going to take place in India and China, as far as world tourism is concerned. India and China, more importantly Asia-Pacific, is going to act as the engine that is going to drive world tourism forward.
The fact is, globally travel and tourism is one of the fastest growing sector. It already constitutes around 10 per cent of GDP and going forward; it is expected to become even larger pie of the local GDP. From the employment perspective, we have been hearing lot about how employment generation is coming under stress. Old jobs are going away and new changes especially in the domain of Artificial Intelligence and Robotics are going to impact the sectors. The fact remains that tourism and especially hospitality is very people-connect driven. Currently, the industry which employs around 28.4 crore globally, is expected to employ more than 37 crore people in the next ten years. That’s the kind of employment generation we are seeking in the travel and tourism industry. That’s the opportunity that lies in front of the youth.
"Occupancy has gone up, average room rate has gone up, revenue per available room, which means how much money you are making in the hospitality industry, is also going up. It is good news especially for people who are working in this industry"
In India, travel and tourism industry was primarily created with the help of Government of India, when the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) was established. Thereafter, Taj Hotels along with other private players, started creating and growing this space. This sector is bound for massive growth in the coming years. The fact is that more and more people are travelling within India. The fact is that more and more people from abroad are looking at India as a favoured tourist destination. That’s a wonderful news for a sector like this. So, we are seeing that the demand is out stripping the supply. It is a challenge and an opportunity- the demand that is getting generated, is because of not just internal travellers, but also because of external travellers.
The other point for us to understand is that the hospitality sector has primarily been very metro- centric. But, what we are seeing now, is that because of the benefits of economic growth moving rapidly, it is not just getting centred in metros, but also moving towards non-metros. The hospitality sector-the hotel and tourism industry is seeing growth in non-metro areas as well. That’s a very heartening news because that’s where lot of jobs will get created and that’s where lot of careers will be made.
Government has stated that e-visas from 161 countries have become operational. That removes a lot of hurdles for people who want to come and experience India. We will see how it will impact numerically, the flow that we have seen within India.
"Currently, the industry which employs around 28.4 crore globally, is expected to employ more than 37 crore people in the next ten years. That’s the kind of employment generation we are seeking in the travel and tourism industry. That’s the opportunity that lies in front of the youth"
The key global players who are in this space, are really big names and are very well established players. So, if you look at Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, they play not just the volume game but they also play very strong value game. They have offerings which are right at the high end of the luxury. When we are talking about the key hotel chains, they have segmented approach to the customer. When you are looking at, within the brand that they have created, they will have multiple offerings across different customer segments. So, that’s how they are trying to connect and make sure they are making themselves available across the chain.
At Taj, we have taken a very conscious choice that we want to be a collection of hotels, which are not only globally present but also globally reputable. Which means we want to be the custodian of Indian heritage—the nobility of Indian heritage and tradition. We don’t want to move the same way the global chains have gone, wherein they have gone and created footprints across the globe. That’s the conscious strategic choice that we have made as an organisation. We are primarily very India centric hotel chain. To increase our footprints, we are opening new hotels and we are also trying to ensure that we are not losing on the perception that we have around our brand, and we will remain the dominant brand that we are in India.
This is an aggregated data for all the players who are in the market—occupancy has gone up, average room rate has gone up, revenue per available room, which means how much money you are making in the hospitality industry, is also going up. It is good news especially for people who are working in this industry, because the overall industry is making money.
As for Taj Hotels, we are ahead of the industry in this space. That’s a good news for employees, who play a key role in the business and also to all our key stakeholders, who have invested money with us. We are very closely linked with people who are travelling within India. We are especially concerned about how many people are coming from abroad and visiting India. That’s were lot of foreign exchange comes and we contribute to India as an economy. Year after year we have been growing, but there is a sharp jump in the last few months and that is the result of the e-visa that Government of India has created. This is how one decision of Indian government can make an overall impact.
Corporate Director - Cadre Building,
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces
I have been with this brand for last 13 years. I joined as a management trainee with the brandknew nothing about hotels then, except that hotels are lot about glamour. Where you see a superstar from time to time, but you can’t take an autograph, because you are working. There are various different things about the industry that you go through when you come to the industry, but it gives you way more than what you expect. For information, Taj Hotel opened up its gates on 16 December, 1903, when the room rate was just six rupees.
We are looking for somebody who takes service very personally. We are looking at somebody who wants to exceed expectations every single time. You might be taking a checkout for the 20th time in a day, but the person who you are escorting is being escorted for the first time. So, are you giving 110 per cent every time you do what you are doing? Are you somebody that can learn the art of great hotelier? This only comes with practice. You can’t expect it in first couple of months, you get better with time. As you get more experience and more practice, you get better and better. And then lot of companies want you because you are better and you can add lot of value. So, you do have an opportunity to move industry and move brand. From hospitality industry, you can even branch out to retail, into analytics, and hospitals. You can branch out to anything because you become a lifestyle person, as you know everything about anything, you can also read minds. That’s what we train you to do.
However, you need to know the business at the back of your hand and you also need to be somebody who is obsessive about detailing, because if you miss the details you will not be able to customise. But honestly, we need somebody who is genuine and spontaneous. It cannot be forced—if you are being forced into the industry, don’t join, you will die out soon. Join if it is something that you are passionate about and if it’s something that you want.
You have four core operations—front office, housekeeping, food and beverage, and kitchen— which are the domains you can look out for as a career. However, that’s not the know-all or end-all of operations. You can also be somebody who is inclined towards engineering and join the hospitality industry. You could be somebody who is passionate about sales and marketing and look at selling our rooms and restaurants. You could be somebody who is interested in training human resources and still join the industry. So it doesn’t curve you only to these four operational departments. It also gives you an opportunity to move across, but before you get to say human resource department, it’s nice for you to see and feel the hotel through operations, for you to understand what it is all about.
Those aspiring to get into hospitality industry, need to know what are the offerings that you have and the different roles that you can look at in the industry. But, first and foremost you need to understand what are the different catering establishments available for you as a career opportunity.
Food has become a new trend-everyone wants to try new food and beverages. Everyone is going global and the awareness around food and beverages has increased, more than what it was ten years ago.
By Rajesh Rao
