Tag Archives: Bengaluru

The 52nd FHRAI Annual Convention is underway at Shangri-La Hotel, Bengaluru. At the three-day event, being held between September 14 and 16, 2017, delegates will get a chance to attend panel discussions on relevant topics and be able to network with fellow hoteliers. The theme chosen for this year’s convention is “Hospitality 2025 – The Future is NOW”. The inauguration ceremony was presided over by Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji who blessed the function. Ananth Kumar, Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers; Ashok Chandra Panda, Minister of State, Department of Tourism, Government of Odisha; RV Deshpande, Minister for Large & Medium Industries & Infrastructure Development, Government of Karnataka, and many other dignitaries are also present at the event. Speaking at the ceremony, Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ji said, “Hospitality is in the DNA of Indians just like teamwork is in the DNA of Japanese, precision in that of the Germans, etiquette in the English, and marketing in the Americans. India is still lagging behind and needs improvement in infrastructure. We need to have Greece as the benchmark where tourism is soaring. We should host food festivals more often. Also, there is a need for more and more hotels. We do not necessarily have to ape the Europeans, we can set our own standards; an indigenous touch is always welcome. Apart from this, India needs more colleges to train youngsters.” Addressing the audience at the convention, Deshpande said, “Tourism is the highest employment generator but India’s biggest concern is employment as automation is taking over the human touch. Infrastructure has to be definitely looked at and we are getting there. Karnataka has the best connectivity in the entire country …

Dusit International, Thailand’s hotel and property development company, has opened a new Global Sales Office (GSO) in Mumbai to promote Dusit Hotels & Resorts in India. The new office will manage sales across all market segments including leisure, MICE and corporate business. Primarily, the team will focus on Tier-I cities such as New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru but will also cover smaller cities. Keshwar Bhagat, Director of Sales – GSO India, will head the India office. Lim Boon Kwee, Chief Operating Officer, Dusit International, says, “With the volume of outbound travel increasing by about 25 per cent a year, India is now one of the fastest growing outbound travel markets in the world. When you consider that the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has predicted that the number of outbound Indian travellers will reach 50 million by 2020, now is the perfect time for us to open a GSO in the country. This comes in tandem with our own growth, which will see our current tally of 29 hotels and resorts top 80 worldwide within the next three-to-four years.”

RCI has announced the appointment of Aruna Jathar as Director- Marketing and Operations for RCI India. Jathar joins as a member of RCI’s senior leadership team and will spearhead the brand building activities. She will focus on strategies to enhance customer acquisition. Besides bolstering overall growth and creating mindshare for vacation exchange and time share in India, she will also be responsible for pan India marketing operations and delivering greater brand value to RCI members and affiliates in India. She will be based out of RCI’s Bengaluru office. With more than 17 years of experience in marketing, CRM and Digital across retail, telecom and consumer durables industries, Jathar’s most recent assignment was with Dell where she managed the Inspiron brand of laptops and successfully led award-winning campaigns on brand building and promotions.