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Tag: Marriott

  • Sahara Star checks in new leadership to elevate luxury and innovation

    Sahara Star checks in new leadership to elevate luxury and innovation

    MUMBAI: Mumbai’s iconic luxury hotel, Sahara Star, has rolled out a suite of leadership appointments, reinforcing its commitment to guest excellence, operational efficiency, and culinary innovation. With a focus on elevating hospitality standards, these key promotions and new hires mark an exciting chapter in the hotel’s growth story.

    Santosh Singh steps up as hotel manager, bringing over 22 years of experience across hospitality, ITES, retail, and FMCG. Previously head of procurement for Sahara Star and Aamby Valley City, Singh has been instrumental in streamlining operations and driving cost efficiency. His strategic mindset and process-driven approach make him the perfect choice to lead the hotel’s next phase of excellence.

    Joining the ranks is Vikram Prakash Bhardwaj, appointed as head of revenue, strategy & growth. A specialist in AI-driven business intelligence and revenue management, Bhardwaj has nearly two decades of experience in driving profitability across hospitality verticals. His expertise spans rooms, F&B, banquets, memberships, and MICE, ensuring data-backed strategies for revenue optimisation.

    The culinary team gets a star addition with chef Ranjan Rajani taking on the role of corporate chef, Sahara Star & Aamby Valley City. With 23 years of experience across Oberoi, Marriott, and Hyatt, he has been at the forefront of menu innovation, kitchen excellence, and redefining fine dining experiences. Expect exciting new culinary creations under his leadership.

    Deepali Pinheiro, the newly appointed rooms division manager, moves up from her role as front office manager. Having worked with The Lalit, Western Hotel Abu Dhabi, and Almanar Hotels Dubai, she is set to redefine guest experiences by enhancing operational efficiency and front office service standards.

    “The strength of a great hotel lies in the passion and expertise of its people. Our new leadership team embodies this spirit, bringing valuable experience and fresh perspectives to Sahara Star. Their commitment to excellence will help us set new benchmarks in hospitality, ensuring exceptional guest experiences and operational success,” said Sahara Star general manager Salil Fadnis.

    In a dual role, Karishma Raghuvanshi takes over as head of training & recruitment at Sahara Star and business head of A-Star Academy, India’s only dedicated hotel school. With her strong background in talent acquisition and hospitality training, she is set to bridge the gap between industry talent and opportunity, shaping the future of hospitality education.

  • Magazines and in-app communication to promote Marriott’s welcome-back discounts

    Magazines and in-app communication to promote Marriott’s welcome-back discounts

    NEW DELHI: The Covid2019 pandemic has led to many businesses within the country shut their shops completely, including the $22billion hotel industry. For the past two months, with stringent travel restrictions in place, the industry faced clumps of losses. However, as the lockdown starts easing, the players are slowly prepping to get back on their feet.

    Recently, US-based Marriott International announced the launch of an interesting deal as a welcome-back offer curated specially for South Asian countries including Asia, under which people can make the hotel bookings now within the month of June, choosing between three different complimentary offers, and avail them any time by June 2021. They will be able to save 30 per cent and above on these bookings.

    Sheraton Hyderabad GM Vikas Sharma told Indiantelevision.com that it is an initiative by the hotel chain to get the cash flowing within the hotels. He said that just within five days of the announcement of the offer, his hotel has already received bookings for 50 room nights.

    “In fact, the whole Marriott chain has been receiving queries and bookings. People have reacted to it pretty well,” Sharma added.

    Most of the bookings received are for the month of June and July 2020. “My hotel is an area where most bookings are made for business purposes. However, another trend that I am seeing is people booking the hotel for staycations.”

    Marriott is also preparing all its hotels to ensure complete safety for its team members and guests and has been ensuring proper sanitisation of the spaces, and introducing touch-free options for facilities like check-in, bill payments, and food & dining experience, etc.

    “The hotels have been working with partners like Ecolabs and Diversey to get the best sanitisation practices in place. We have stringent quality control over each other product that will be used in our hotel, as well,” Sharma said.

    Marriott is also working on in-house technologies to provide keyless check-in to its guests using QR codes and innovating to introduce maximum touch-less experience at shared spaces like elevators.

    The hotel chain is looking at utilising print media, like magazines, personalised communication to its patrons, and in-app notifications on its Bonvoy platform to communicate about this offer. Sharma added that they are also looking forward to a lot of word-of-mouth publicity about the offer.

    While he is expecting a positive response to the discount and thinks people will soon start travelling for business and staycation purposes, he believes that it won’t be before the first quarter of CY2021 that the industry will be able to get back on its feet.

    “I have at least 75 per cent occupancy at my hotel in this time period (June-July) and I will consider myself lucky if we manage to get even 25 per cent this time. The industry will take some time to get back to normal,” Sharma concluded.

  • NFDC Bazaar: Content evolution through socio-eco changes, expanding genres & innovative distribution to be discussed

    NFDC Bazaar: Content evolution through socio-eco changes, expanding genres & innovative distribution to be discussed

    MUMBAI: The 10th edition of NFDC Film Bazaar to be held from 20 to 24 November, 2016, at Marriott, Goa, will have a series of interesting and engaging ‘Knowledge Series’ sessions this year.

    This year a lot of focus is on technology & its impact on narratives, digitalisation and the expanding scope of monetising films (Indie included) and of course New Voices as well as the tried and tested ones — how do they hope to tell their stories and experiment with form, what are these stories as well as how do they propose to build their viewer community and engage them.

    Film Bazaar 2016 will have a Virtual Reality Sidebar and Film Bazaar VR Lounge powered by Samsung GearVR in Knowledge Series. The VR Sidebar will have three Knowledge Series sessions including a presentation by Michel Reilhac (ex-Head of Film Acquisitions at Arte France curated the VR NEXT sidebar at Cannes 2016, and has also directed 6 VR shorts) on Virtual Reality technology.

    Thithi director Raam Reddy, Sairaat director Nagraj Manjule and Kothanodi director Bhaskar Hazarika will be a part of a panel discussion on stories that are being told in Regional and Small Town India. Google, YouTube’s session will be on Building Communities and Icons and Facebook to have a session on Marketing the Indie Film and Building Communities.

    Knowledge Series, which consists of specially curated presentations, lectures and panel discussions with key decision makers and market drivers of the film industry, will have a Virtual Reality Sidebar.

    This year Film Bazaar takes the thought forward with two key Knowledge Series sessions with two of the most engaging and popularly used platforms –

    1. Google YouTube – Building Communities and Icons In Conversation with YouTube India Head of Content Operations Satya Raghavan

    2. Facebook – Marketing the Indie Film and Building Communities Presentation by Facebook Head, Media Partnerships, Saurabh Doshi

    Over multiple sessions during the four days of Film Bazaar, the Knowledge Series covers a wide range of topics including (but not limited to) the evolution of content through changing socio–economic structures, expanding genres, conventional and innovative platforms of distribution, various emerging co-production possibilities, international collaborations and treaties, and the art of navigating various film festivals and markets.

    Among the speakers are business unit heads of major media corporations (studios/producers/distributors etc.), top executives of organizations connected with the film industry, independent aggregators and content providers from across the world.

  • NFDC Bazaar: Content evolution through socio-eco changes, expanding genres & innovative distribution to be discussed

    NFDC Bazaar: Content evolution through socio-eco changes, expanding genres & innovative distribution to be discussed

    MUMBAI: The 10th edition of NFDC Film Bazaar to be held from 20 to 24 November, 2016, at Marriott, Goa, will have a series of interesting and engaging ‘Knowledge Series’ sessions this year.

    This year a lot of focus is on technology & its impact on narratives, digitalisation and the expanding scope of monetising films (Indie included) and of course New Voices as well as the tried and tested ones — how do they hope to tell their stories and experiment with form, what are these stories as well as how do they propose to build their viewer community and engage them.

    Film Bazaar 2016 will have a Virtual Reality Sidebar and Film Bazaar VR Lounge powered by Samsung GearVR in Knowledge Series. The VR Sidebar will have three Knowledge Series sessions including a presentation by Michel Reilhac (ex-Head of Film Acquisitions at Arte France curated the VR NEXT sidebar at Cannes 2016, and has also directed 6 VR shorts) on Virtual Reality technology.

    Thithi director Raam Reddy, Sairaat director Nagraj Manjule and Kothanodi director Bhaskar Hazarika will be a part of a panel discussion on stories that are being told in Regional and Small Town India. Google, YouTube’s session will be on Building Communities and Icons and Facebook to have a session on Marketing the Indie Film and Building Communities.

    Knowledge Series, which consists of specially curated presentations, lectures and panel discussions with key decision makers and market drivers of the film industry, will have a Virtual Reality Sidebar.

    This year Film Bazaar takes the thought forward with two key Knowledge Series sessions with two of the most engaging and popularly used platforms –

    1. Google YouTube – Building Communities and Icons In Conversation with YouTube India Head of Content Operations Satya Raghavan

    2. Facebook – Marketing the Indie Film and Building Communities Presentation by Facebook Head, Media Partnerships, Saurabh Doshi

    Over multiple sessions during the four days of Film Bazaar, the Knowledge Series covers a wide range of topics including (but not limited to) the evolution of content through changing socio–economic structures, expanding genres, conventional and innovative platforms of distribution, various emerging co-production possibilities, international collaborations and treaties, and the art of navigating various film festivals and markets.

    Among the speakers are business unit heads of major media corporations (studios/producers/distributors etc.), top executives of organizations connected with the film industry, independent aggregators and content providers from across the world.