I've taken the onus to promote tourism.....
An
entrepreneur, a politician, an ardent traveler, an avid art collector, a
philanthropist and a sportsman too! If one wonders how a man could be
all of that, since the pursuit of a combination of more than any two of
those is likely to lead to a contradiction. But, such was Mr. Lalit
Suri's personality that, being a manifestation of all these facets
amalgamated into one, he was admired for his enterprise, dynamism,
resolve, intrigue even – some adversaries drummed it as heavyweight
tactics - by most of his contemporaries. Such was his influence on the
Indian hospitality industry that, although he may not have always brush
people the right way, he was still looked upon as one of the most
progressive thinkers of his time.
He had inherited all the traits that
successful heirs of prosperous families are generally known to; he had
one more aspect that set him apart – his individuality. Therefore,
despite his pedigree, he was the quintessential self-made man. His
courage of conviction to tread paths very few had taken is also
attributed as one of the reasons for him bringing about a sea change in
the way the industry itself looked at business. It is not surprising
then that he was believed to be India's single largest owner with
complete majority - of the Bharat Hotels – which prides itself of many
firsts in the industry. Some even calling him the uncrowned hotel king
of India!
Early Days
Mr. Suri was born (Rawalpindi, 1947) into a prosperous business family.
Not long after he was born, owing to the partition of India, the
family had to shift base to Mussoorie (India) where they had often
vacationed. He had his schooling from St. George School (Mussoorie) and
St. Columbia's (Delhi), and topped it up with an Honours Degree in
Commerce from Shriram College of Commerce, Delhi University. He
represented both his school and college at the state-level in swimming
and athletics, and the sportsman in him would remain as passionate till
his last breath.
His interest in automobiles drew him to undertake training in
automobile engineering from Vauxhall Motors, England, and soon after
(1971), joined the family business (Delhi Automobile Ltd.) that involved
manufacture of automobile parts. The clarion call for Mr. Suri came
after a decade when the company had diversified into hospitality, and he
aligned his interests with the same. He became the joint managing
director of this new line of business in 1982, and with that his long
and successful future in the hospitality business beckoned.
The Spark
He had, perhaps, never aspired to become an out-and-out hotelier. But,
as things turned out, just after he became the chairman of the hotel
business in 1987, the family members decided to exit the business.
Whether or not it would have made sense for him also to follow suit is
debatable, but he responded to this turn of events like only he could,
and moreover, neither he nor any of his well-wishers have reason to
regret that he didn't. He bought the entire share of the family in the
business and decided to continue, and commissioned the first of flagship
hotels – The Grand International in Delhi – in 1988. This was to come
up at a prime location of the megapolis at Connaught Place, which drew
attention from many quarters of the industry. While the successful
establishment of the Grand International is attributed to Mr. Suri's
proximity to the Nehru-Gandhi family (although denied by Mr. Suri),
given his unflinching determination in everything he did as indeed his
resourcefulness, it is beyond doubt that he would gave succeeded in
getting this done regardless of the so-called proximity to people in
high-places. The no-nonsense attitude of Mr.Suri ensured the completion
of this hotel comprising 444 rooms in record time. It is considered to
be one of the most successful hotel ventures in the national capital.
Another
situation that called for attention of the shrewd Mr. Suri was the
Government of India's decision to divest from properties belonging to
the Indian Tourism Development Corporation. He saw this as an
opportunity to not only makes good of the situation but also to prove
himself and everybody else in the world who mattered, that his vision
and conviction about the hotel industry were right. He promptly bid for
10 of the properties that were up for grabs – but could only land three –
the Hotel Ashok in Bangalore and Khajuraho, and the Laxmi Vilas in
Udaipur. While he was a little disappointed at the haul – so to say- but
not one to be bogged down so easily, he went about acquiring new
properties and kept on adding to the chain, and achieved success with
each one of his new projects. The successful chain of hotels is
testimony to what an outstanding hotelier and entrepreneur Mr. Suri was.
The Ascent
He wasn't very satisfied by getting only three properties in the initial
phase of divestment by the Government of India, so he kept working at
it with every opportunity presented, resulting in the successful bidding
of Kolkata's Great Eastern Hotel. Then came one of his most surprising
and even shocking that some decisions he took as Chairman of the
company. Being the visionary he was decided to open the group's Srinagar
venture amidst apprehensions from all other competitors owing to the
non-conducive atmosphere prevailing in the state of Jammu & Kashmir.
But he decided to go ahead with it even after persistent advice against
the same. Today the 'InterContinental The Grand', is recognised as his
initiative to develop tourism in Jammu & Kashmir state with the
sole purpose of assisting the government in its socio-economic
development, offering employment and promoting tourism.
The company Bharat Hotels Ltd. which operates under 'The Lalit Suri
Hospitality Group' banner, presently offers seven top-line hotels in the
country, four 'InterContinental The Grand' hotels in New Delhi,
Srinagar, Goa and Mumbai and three 'The Grand' hotels in Bangalore,
Udaipur and Khajuraho.
He invested greatly in all his properties (existing as well new ones).
Rs 500 crore (Rs 5 billion) were put in on its properties in Mumbai and
Goa. In addition, the company spent Rs 42 crore (Rs 420 million) on a
30-year lease on the former Bangalore Ashok, and a further Rs 40 crore
(Rs 400 million) on renovations and Rs 15 crore (Rs 150 million) on VRS
for its employees. Similar spends have either been concluded or are
being undertaken in Khajuraho and Udaipur.
There was also another side to his personality as the owner of Bharat
Hotels. He was believed to be a very interfering owner, but something
which he branded as being hands-on with the running of his business. He
was known to have adopted a practice of seeing reports on the hotels
everyday, discuss issues with his people to see that annual targets and
budgets were met with. In fact, he had himself admitted through the
course of an interview as to how he got totally involved in a venture at
the initial stage, negotiated and finalised everything, got the right
people and the right materials, and then left it to his team to manage
it thereafter. One reason he attributed to such involvement was because
he was very cost-conscious. No wonder then that all capital expenditure
is centralised so they can buy in bulk and get the best prices.
Further, he made sure that extravagance at the cost of profitability and
sustainability is avoided at all times. In fact, if there's anything
Mr. Suri prided himself on, it was as a stringent and hard-hearted
expert on managing budgets. Thus, despite such capital infusion into the
business, the company remained reasonably healthy. It had a turnover of
Rs.200 crore (in 2004-05) with a gross operating profit of 43 percent.
Those are phenomenal figures for a company which had by no means an easy
run, in the face facing of ever-increasing challenges.
His contribution to the Indian hotel industry is commendable; therefore,
it might be well worth to throw some light on what was it that he did.
He used the same political clout that people accused him of using to
serve his ends, which he so vehemently denied, to bring about tax
reforms in the industry. He was responsible for pushing a number of
policy recommendations in the Indian hospitality sector; the hotel
expenditure tax was removed lending the sector a part-industry status.
That besides, he was also at the forefront of the fight with the states
to reduce the luxury tax on hotels, and there should be not doubt as to
his commitment and innovative practices that took the travel industry
forward. And, to further the cause of the industry, he worked with all
in his power as a Global Executive Committee member of the renowned
World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Honorary Chairman of the
WTTC – India Initiative; the Chairman of the FICCI Tourism Committee
(Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry) and Founder
Member of Hotel Association of India, a premier Hotel body of the
country and also it's President.
He was nominated for the upper house of the Indian Parliament, Rajya
Sabha, as an independent in 1992, at which point he had to desist upon
his wife's insistence to consolidate his business and then perhaps look
to play a role in politics. He was re-nominated in 2002, which was
extended (in 2004) for another term up to 2010. Although, many cribbed
about his brashness, high-handedness, misery, and some even opportunism,
none can discredit him for what he did for the industry. As a matter of
fact, all in general, adversaries as well as contemporaries, credit him
with determinedly and steadfastly holding together the strings of the
industry amidst a period of uncertainty when the country was under the
threat of terrorist attacks coupled with unstable conditions in the
neighbouring regions, which adversely affected the tourism industry, and
consequently, the hotel sector too. Another glowing example of his
efforts for the betterment of the industry was when he worked closely
with the industry as head of the World Travel and Tourism Council's
India Initiative. It had aimed to work as a lobby that would brought to
the attention of MPs, or those with any influence, about the travails of
the travel industry on which a shadow of fear and apprehension had been
cast upon. Many industry insiders acknowledged the fact that his
ability to influence Parliament has been different from the others. So
that during the Rajya Sabha debate on the budget for 2005-06, he was
reported to have remained critical of the union finance minister for
overlooking the tourism sector, and failing to give it full
infrastructure status.
As we have seen, he was a multi-faceted personality and he could not be
contented with being just a hotelier. So, naturally, he did venture out
and explore all the other areas that interested him – but even that, for
him, was business as usual. He had interests in several other marquee
enterprise avenues such as aviation, exports, automobile ancillaries,
real estate, telecom and information technology and newspaper publishing
(He owned the 'Midday' newspaper in Delhi).
By the time this amazing man breathed his last (in 2006), he had taken
Bharat Hotels to its rightful place in the hotel industry. It had seven
properties, one each in Srinagar, Goa, Khajuraho, Udaipur, Delhi, Mumbai
and Bangalore. He had planned to invest about Rs.1,000 crore in four
other properties in Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Noida and Jaipur. Sites for
hotels were identified and negotiated in Amritsar, Ahmedabad and Jaipur,
while search was on for the right locations in Chennai and Hyderabad.
As part of his overseas operations, Mr. Suri had planned a 20,000 sq.ft.
luxury property in Palm Island, Dubai and had plans of investing $100
million. He had also been planning a hotel in London, but had put it on
hold due to skyrocketing property prices. His wife, Mr. Jyotsna Suri,
has assumed the mantle of taking the business forward and is working
towards fructifying every one of Mr. Suri's plans. The Lalit Suri
Hospitality Group, as it is now known as, is planning to open a high-end
boutique hotel in London by the end of 2014. It has paid £15 million
(around Rs 129 crore) to acquire a heritage building, which will be
converted into a hotel. This is the third hotel property acquisition by
an Indian company in London over the past two years (Sahara's Grosvenor
House and Bird Group's purchase of Royal Park Hotel being the two
others), the Suri chain is about to realise its 'long cherished dream'
of having 'The Lalit, London'.
Philanthropy
Not
a great deal is known about Mr. Suri's philanthropic interests although
he was known to be genuinely inclined towards social causes. It is
believed that he supported many charities, mostly to help provide free
medical camps and mobile medical facilities in rural India.
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