Very rarely does a really crack team come together to open a new hotel. It happened in 1978 when the Taj group opened its first Delhi hotel on Man Singh Road, packing it with the best Taj employees from all over the country. It happened two decades later when the Oberois opened Raj Vilas, the first Vilas property in Jaipur when Vikram Oberoi led a team of the group's finest and transformed the paradigm for resort hotels in India forever.
And, it happened in Mumbai in 2007, when the Four Seasons opened. If you have been to the hotel, you will know that it is no architectural marvel, and nor is it situated in a particularly scenic spot. But, when it opened, and for some years after that, it was the best-run hotel in Mumbai, and, perhaps, in any Indian city.
This was almost entirely down to the people who slaved to make the hotel a success. The team was led by Armando Kraenzlin with Uday Rao as the Hotel Manager. It included brilliant chefs, a great F&B Manager and was marked by an attention to detail that has never been bettered in Mumbai.
Most of the people who opened the hotel came from the Four Seasons in the Maldives. Called Kuda Huraa, it was one of the first truly luxurious hotels to open in that country. The island belonged to BS Ong, the Singapore Chinese billionaire who had been an early advocate of tourism in the Maldives.
When the Four Seasons took it over, Armando Kraenzlin became General Manager and created what was, at that time, the best hotel in the Maldives.
Armando was then plucked from the Maldives by the Four Seasons management and dispatched to Mumbai to open the first Four Seasons in India. He brought his people with him. In his heart though, I think he always missed the Maldives and he was particularly sorry to miss the opening of the second Four Seasons in the Maldives, called Landaa Giraavaru (or LG for short), a hotel he had spent a long time conceiving of.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 10, 2022 من Brunch.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 10, 2022 من Brunch.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Let's tri all the angles
BFFs falling for the same girl, kidnap twists, murders, bromances. These 10 three-way love stories play with geometry and our feelings
Should you Q up for this?
Audi's luxury SUV, the Q8, has had a refresh. But a sleeker grille and headlight tech don't make up for what's still missing
How to plan a great escape
It's getting colder. It's already hard to breathe. Why not plan a winter vacation that's a world away but not too far away?
Kababs, yes, but khandvi too
Mughlai cuisine has as many vegetarian dishes as meaty ones. A new translation of a 16th century manuscript shows how we ate, and why modern labels are pointless
I can be your hero
Gurfateh Pirzada, only afewroles old, is the green flag we didn't know we needed. He's learning from women. He wants to be more thana lover and a fighter. He's hoping we all do better. No wonder everyone's crushing on him
Meet the export experts
Khadi crop-tops in Spain, faux-leather hoodies in London, fairytale wedding gowns in the UAE. See how some desi labels are killing it on foreign shores
Why we're all feeling Blue
Coco Mellors's new novel is about grief, sisterhood, and of course, addiction and unlikeable women. How does she make it work?
This week, we're...
Changing the momo game, listening to kids, starting a new business, and supporting pro waxxers
Rohit Chawla
Photographer, artist, @RohitChawlaPhotography_
Congratulations, it's a goal
Lakeside vows, pastel palettes, bayous, backyards and boats. These celeb weddings are what modern fairytales are made of
