THE REAL-LIFE STORIES OF SUCCESSFUL HOSPITALITY PROFESSIONALS OF ASIA

FNH Original Series - 1

I was raised in a humble Punjabi family and had lot of family members in hotel industry. They were my inspiration to join the hotel industry. Having completed graduation, I completed a food craft course in cookery from IHMCN, New Delhi and joined Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza as a cook in Chinese Kitchen. During my stint as a cook, I used to watch smart sales professionals dressed in nice suits going out in cars, meeting customers and entertaining them to get business for the hotel. One day, I made up my mind to move to Sales & Marketing. It wasn’t easy getting a job in sales straight from kitchen. I had to compromise a bit, moved out of hotels to join a travel agency.

This agency had a separate hotel division and used to act as GSA (general sales agent) for a lot of hotels. That’s how I landed into my first sales job. It was a memorable experience and this experience taught me a lot. This was the step that probably shaped my future. I started to enjoy my work and it was quite a successful stint. Hotel division revenues also went up. Personally, I realized that this job complimented my skills better which was meeting people, strategizing and implementing.

My first break as salesperson in hotels came two after joining this agency and that was with the popular hotel brand called THE LEELA. They were great hotels to sell and I brought with me my market knowledge, reputation with customers and necessary knowledge to sell the hotels. I worked with them for long 7 years to join the world-famous hotel chain called MARRIOTT HOTELS. Not many in India at that time knew what this company was all about. I learnt a lot with them and grew with them. From Sales Manager to National Sales Manager and then as property Head of Sales.