The D-Day

The jury meet for the 10th Annual Hotelier India Awards witnessed a day-long process of intense scrutiny, debate and deliberation to rightfully identify the best in the industry

This year marks a historic milestone in the chronicles of the brand Hotelier India. In its 10th year, the magazine and the awards have completed a decade-long journey and have established themselves as one of the most prominent and commendable platforms in the hospitality industry. In recognition of this significance, we brought together an extraordinary panel of jury members for the 10th annual Hotelier India Awards 2018. As rightly stated by Gurmeet Sachdev, Publication Director, ITP Media, in her opening statement: “An award is as good as its jury”—each of the members present are regarded as powerhouses in themselves. Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of our awards program, the jury members, too, constituted the varied domains within the hospitality industry.

Gathered together at Grand Hyatt Mumbai on 28 November, the job at hand for the 16-member jury was no easy task. Having received over 1,300 entries, 853 entries were shortlisted for the jury process. After receiving the instructions on the evaluation procedures, the judges were divided into three groups on the following parameters—luxury to upper upscale, upscale to mid-market, and economy to budget. They were to evaluate each of the entries on the scale of one to 10 on their individual scoresheets. The winners would then be determined by sum total of the points given by all jury members for a stated category. The broad criterion based on which the entries would to be judged were determined on the following objectives:

SK Mohapatra

Mayfair Hotels and Resorts

I’ve been involved with the Hotelier India Awards over the past five years; and I’ve witnessed it grow and evolve into a respected platform, where talents are judged by professionals who are leaders of some of the biggest brands in the industry.

Rajiv Kaul