Exclusive Interviews | Ashwarya Varma, Marcom Manager, DoubleTree by Hilton, Pune – Chinchwad
/“Success always comes with little hardships, Stay Innovative to be in the game”
Editor: Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
I have been a communications enthusiast for a very long time. Media and Entertainment was where I had found my soul in and to pursue this further, I enrolled myself in the Media and Entertainment course offered by Whistling Woods International, Mumbai. Post completing my graduation, I joined Adfactors PR in Mumbai as a Trainee Account Executive and slowly got promoted to an Account Executive. During my tenure with the company, I have served sectors such as Banking, and FMCG, and in the IPO sectors have served pharma, hospitality, and lifestyle companies.
I joined DoubleTree by Hilton, Pune – Chinchwad in March as the Marcom Manager and the journey has since then been fun-filled and really look forward to more with the organization
Editor: What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?
Nothing or rather nobody can reach an amount of level until and unless they haven’t worked hard to achieve what they really want to in their life. Success always comes with little hardships and I would say that I personally have also gone through many hardships in my life to reach here. Innovation is the key to success in this industry, there are many hotels that you compete with and to make your hotel stand out from the crowd, you really need to have innovative ideas and campaigns
Editor: What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring? If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?
The first and foremost thing that I would look out for in anybody I am hiring is passion and enthusiasm to work and bring new ideas to the table. A young mind is always blooming with new ideas and they have the knowledge of what their current peers are interested in. It is also very important that the candidate shouldn’t really treat this as their office but rather as their own hotel so that they are always on the lookout for the best and well-being of the hotel.
Editor: What advice would you give to a young, aspiring hotelier for their internship?
Internships are the best experiences that a student can get. I believe it is one of the greatest on the job creations, an internship can make or break a person’s future choice of being in a particular department. You should always aspire to learn in your internship and gather as much training as possible as it makes it easier for you to become a better version of yourself in the future
Editor: What is the single factor that got you your promotion?
Hard work and Dedication
Editor: What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?
Increasing rate of Influencer engagements, Use of Artificial intelligence in showing the guest or giving them a real experience of the hotel; more and more visibility in the market to stand out of the crowd and one of the major trends would be campaigns and ways and means of engaging with the patrons to create a recall value as well as a smooth experience
Editor: Tech is now an enabler for great hospitality. Can you share with us some of the techs that go into creating your guest experience?
Tech isn’t just what happens inside a computer screen, it also creates an experience for the user. The increasing use of QR codes to scan menus in times of the pandemic really helps the guest in trusting the hotel with their safety and security. Online check in’s is another very good technology to enable a great and contactless check in experience
Editor: Two things you would like to change in the industry.
Change comes from within us and it is how we see the industry; I believe if you start even one change that you would like to see then other people will follow and like a domino effect the change would be seen in no time.
Editor: What is your favorite question for a candidate interview and why?
What is it that you like doing apart from work? It is very important to make your colleagues feel important, asking them questions like this makes them feel valued and it helps break the ice that the two of you carry in an interview.
