Exclusive Interview | Shuvro Sanyal, Learning Manager, Grand Hyatt Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
/“Previously it was all about degrees and hotel experience, however, now the approach is more towards the mindset and attitude”
Tell us about your journey. How did it all start?
I started my career way back in 2004 as part of the STEP programme with the Oberoi group. The 3 years of apprenticeship was done at The Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur covering all operational and support departments. Post completion, I was selected in the Management Training programme OCLD and spent the next year developing my management skills and had my practical exposure at the Oberoi New Delhi, Trident Nariman Point and The Oberoi Bangalore. In 2008 I got a fabulous opportunity to be part of a mammoth Pre-Opening project, The Leela Kempinski Gurgaon where I joined as an Assistant Restaurant Manager and moved up to be a Restaurant Manager over a total tenure of 4 years.
In 2012, I moved onto my 2nd Pre-Opening project with the first independent Kempinski property in India which opened in Shahdara, New Delhi. Keeping my training performance and passion from Leela, I now had shifted to Training and joined as an Assistant Training Manager and moved up to be a Training Manager over a tenure of 4 years.
In 2016, I got the opportunity for an International Transfer and joined Kempinski Al Othman Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia which was now my 3rd Pre Opening project. I was mainly responsible for setting up the Training products and processes along with developing the local talent. Once I developed my successor, I made up my mind to leave and look out for another challenge.
In February 2020, I received the offer to join Grand Hyatt Al Khobar which is now my 4th consecutive Pre-Opening project. I am very excited to join a new brand and expand my knowledge and career growth.
What do you think it takes to succeed in this industry?
Patience, Consistency, Dedication & Hard work.
What are the attributes you look for while selecting or hiring? If someone wants to work with you, what should they do?
A lot of things along with mindset has changed over the last decade. Previously it was all about degrees and hotel experience, however, now the approach is more towards the mindset and attitude. There is a talent pool filled with millennials with the mindset of growth and performance. When I have to hire anyone, the primary attribute I look for is attitude, communication and willingness to learn. Skills can be taught, it is the spark I always look for.
What according to you can trainees do while they are training at hotels to make it a win-win for them & the hotel/unit?
Outlook needs to change about Industrial Training. If hotels keep on treating trainees as temporary operational support, then the best of talent will never join the industry. And in my opinion and experience, this is exactly what I have seen. Young and motivated talent should be nurtured professionally and given all the possible resources to learn. Hotel Industry is hard work no doubt, however, it should not only be about physical work without ‘structured’ learning.
What are some of the trends you see impacting the hospitality industry?
Few trends that come in my mind :
Use of technology in overall operations.
Corporate companies are shifting from the luxury segment to business 4-star segment.
Excess supply of rooms versus demand.
Comparatively low starting salary causing good talent to look for alternatives
Tech is now an enabler for great hospitality. Can you share with us some of the tech that goes into creating your guest experience?
There are multiple software’s currently being used for all the guest experience touchpoints in a luxury hotel. I will share a few of the software’s I have used so far:
Restaurant reservation & planner: No more using the reservation diary, all reservations are directly fed into the software along with allocating the restaurant tables. We can generate a report and do trend analysis along with multiple other functions enabling us to give a great customer experience.
HotSos / Triton / Knowcross: These are all the guest request/maintenance based software that speed up guest requests and proper tracking and monitoring can take place ensuring efficiency.
Review Pro : Collating guest feedback across multiple online channels enabling us to find the trends that are making our guest’s satisfied and unsatisfied accordingly. We generate trend reports to do a deep dive into the root cause and draft solutions for the future
Lobster Ink : It’s a fabulous online training software that covers almost every element of operational training vis HD videos and assessments both online and practical
Quality Check : Software’s are now available to check the brand and operational standards of a hotel based on a mobile app which has made life very easy, especially for managers.
E-Cornell : Fabulous online platform for structured courses for almost every subject.
Saba Cloud : Used by many companies for collating all the online training modules into one consolidated platform.
Employee Online Portals : One site wherein any team member can find all relevant documents of the company. Ensuring transparency and much faster access to information.
Two things you would like to change in the industry.
Change the concept of hiring and transform the selection criteria. Evolve ourselves to look beyond the CV and encourage talent joining from different industries so that the Talent Pool in the hotels can be more vast and diversified.
Quality, not Quantity. It still exists that if you are in the office for 12 hours you are working very hard. This is not true at all. We have to look into productivity and not simply counting hours. Moreover, all hotels should at least have 6 days off in a month for the team.
What can we expect in the coming year?
If someone asked me this question 2 months back, I am sure I would have had a different answer. Keeping the economic chaos which has been caused due to the Coronavirus, it is very different to forecast the near future. At a personal level, I am truly hoping that the cure is developed soon and this crisis comes to an end.
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