Capt. C P Krishnan Nair, chairman of Leela Group of hotels was honoured by ITB with the golden ITB Pin for his ongoing support to the spirit of ITB Berlin for nearly 25 years.
Renowned for his contribution to the environment, Captain Nair has been the recipient of many prestigious awards: For his unstinting efforts in environment conservation, he received the Global 500 Laureate Roll of Honour by the United Nations Environment Program in 1999 from Emperor Akihito of Japan. The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences honoured him with the Lifetime Achievement Five Star Diamond Award in 2009. He also became the recipient of the ‘Green Hotelier Award’ from IHRA. In 2005 the PATA awarded Capt. Nair the PATA Gold Award for environmental excellence.
After successfully working in the textile industry, Capt. Nair set up the first Leela Hotel (named after his wife) in Mumbai in 1986 and signed a marketing alliance with Kempinski. Today, The Leela group has with six luxury properties in Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa, Kovalam, Gurgaon and Udaipur, and with more properties coming in New Delhi, Chennai, Agra, Hyderabad, Pune and Jaipur.