One of the leaders of the Indian hospitality industry who pioneered the concept of entering the secondary and tertiary markets almost two decades back, Anil Madhok, managing director, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, talks about his life’s journey By Sudipta Dev
Had a young Anil Madhok joined the Army, instead of appearing for an interview with the Oberoi Hotels just 25 days before he was supposed to join the Indian Military Academy, it would have inked a different story in Indian hospitality. The year was 1966. “The Oberoi Hotels had advertised for management trainees. I think May 23rd I had joined them while the date for reporting to IMA was June 17th,” says Anil Madhok, managing director, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts. He considers the 25 years he had spent with the Oberoi Group as probably his best years. “It is a great institution to learn from and luckily I did very well,” he says. He was a GM and VP operations, and was abroad with them for five years – in Colombo and Singapore.
After he left the Oberoi Hotels, Madhok went to Dubai for 18 months which gave him time to introspect. “I had by then decided that I wanted to work for myself. I strongly believe if you succeed in a company there is no reason why you can’t succeed for yourself. Options were going into fast food, starting a restaurant chain, getting into catering, these didn’t appeal to me as a main focus,” he says, pointing out that he couldn’t fight with the big boys then. “Big hotels meant big money – someone spending Rs 200-300 crore would be unlikely to look at me as I did not have the infrastructure that I have now,” he states, adding that when he went to smaller cities he was shocked at the condition of hotels. There were a lot of small owners who had properties but did not know what to do about it.
A different league
Sarovar Hotels was founded in 1994. The excellent reception Madhok found in these small cities took him by surprise. “People were very keen to have a professionally managed company manage their hotels. What I did was immediately set up six-seven sales offices as I knew the first question would be – how will you fill up my hotel?” he adds. There was also a government rule that anybody with over `five crore loan if he wasn’t a hotelier had to bring in a management company. Then Tourism Finance Corporation Of India (TFCI) asked Madhok about his experience in international market. “At that time I had a friend in Park Inn and Park Plaza, they had been to India and didn’t succeed. So I talked to them and signed a franchise for India without any payment. At least when I went to TFCI I could tell that I have a foreign brand too,” he remarks.
That was just the beginning. Today the company operates about 70 hotels with plans to reach the target of 100 properties in three years. Institutional catering is one the segments Madhok plans to particularly focus on in the future. “We started 15 years ago with ISB in Hyderabad, we are now doing IIM Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Kozhikode, along with HUL Training Centre,” he mentions. Sarovar Hotels entered Africa 15 years ago, but the real interest happened in the last four-five years. “We now have three hotels in Africa, and the fourth one is coming up. The hotels are in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam,” informs Madhok.
Having pioneered a whole new concept in Indian hospitality of entering the tier II and tier III cities, it is interesting to know Madhok’s views of the current trend with global hospitality majors entering these markets. “In the beginning it was different when we were the only ones. In view of the competition coming in we are constantly upgrading our infrastructure and in a management company infrastructure means systems, latest technology and people. You have to make sure that you are better and competitive. Luckily we have the cost advantage as these foreign companies operate at high costs,” he points out.
Matter of integrity
Acknowledging that today word of mouth reputation can make or break a company, Madhok stresses on the importance of integrity, “Today we deal with 90 owners, we follow the principles and there is complete transparency. It is their asset that we are controlling so obviously they have reason to be concerned. Today nobody asks us anything, but one has to build that relationship. I have seen too many management companies come and go.” He has some sound advice for the young breed of hoteliers. “They should first make a career in the hotel industry. It is essential for them to learn and not to be in a hurry. And when they do start their own business they should not be in a hurry to make profit,” he asserts.
On a personal front, he says his biggest entertainment is to catch up with three grand children. “I like to read. I am going to be 70 soon. I lead a fairly disciplined life, which is good,” he concludes with a smile.