looked up to. I was always very secure when he was there – any problem and it was always, ‘Lalit will solve it.’ In that respect I suddenly felt very alone.
The work came easily and I got into it very smoothly, but there were some aspects that I had not touched at all. For example, I had never delved into the financials of the group – so I learnt. When you are in a distressed situation, sometimes your inner capabilities come out much stronger. I got the hang of finance pretty quickly and things went smoothly from there on. Of course I miss Lalit hugely… but work has always been a part of my life, so working was not an issue. The buck stops at me now and whether it is the children, the team, the staff – everyone looks up at me. I have to carry my responsibilities.
Do you feel responsible for what you consider Lalit’s legacy?
I feel extremely responsible for the people who work for us. And to Lalit, because he really worked hard to set up this whole thing. Every moment of my life is promised to him. When he left in that sudden moment, I’m sure he went with the comfort of knowing that I was there to take care of things. I have to live up to that.
Besides the fact that it commemorates the
memory of your husband, are there any other
reasons that you re-branded all the hotels to
bring them under the ‘Lalit’ umbrella?
Okay, first thing’s first. Lalit did a lot for the hospitality and tourism sectors and he carried it all the way to Parliament. Secondly, he was the founder and core of the group. And lastly, in our business, more than sixty percent of hotels or hospitality chains are run on family names. Take the Oberoi, or the Leela, for example. And even internationally you have the Marriott, the Hilton and so forth. I decided that I needed to give an identity to the entire group.
What prompted the move though?
We had some management and marketing tie-ups with international companies – like the Intercontinental. 25 years ago when we went into business, we didn’t really know much about hotels.
But over the last 20 years we have grown and acquired enough knowledge about the industry to feel confident enough to stand on our own feet. I must put it on record that we had a great relationship with the Intercontinental but I just felt that we had arrived as a group. And to establish ourselves, we had to have an Indian identity. And Lalit, being the man who created
this group, was an obvious choice of name. The word ‘Lalit’ itself inherently conveys luxury. It stands for charm, luxury and refinement... And it’s been taken so well; it’s short, has great recall value and slips easily off the tongue…
What were the initial reactions?
Of course there were sceptics who thought I was making a mistake…that I was just being emotional. They’ve all come around today. At the stroke of midnight on November 18th 2008, all the seven hotels of our portfolio became ‘The Lalit.’ People changed, synergies changed, the branding collaterals changed, and some guests who had left us around 11 o’clock, came back to a different scenario all together. And it was really well accepted.
Your children also work for the Group. How do you maintain a professional relationship with them?
Well I have to admit, it can be quite tricky. It’s not easy to keep the personal and the professional separate when you are working with your children, but we’ve learnt to manage. Professionally, for all my four children, I am the CMD and addressed as such, or as Mrs. Suri. It’s only in our personal time that we become mother and son, or mother and daughter. I feel that as a professional I find it very easy to guide them as Executive Directors because they are intelligent, well educated, dedicated, diligent, and feel as strongly for the organisation as Lalit did…as I do.
Tell us about the The Great Eastern in Kolkata. What makes this hotel so special?
It is quite an exceptional property from a heritage point of view: 170 years old and the oldest functioning hotel in this part of the world. Secondly, this hotel was built over a
‘The buck stops at me now and whether it is the children, the team, the staff – everyone looks up at me.
I have to carry my responsibility.’
period of time. The oldest part, which I call the Victorian part, faces the old courthouse road. Another wing was added two or three decades after that. And then there’s a central portion of a new Great Eastern, on which work began but was never completed. We’ve kept the first two blocks and restored the façade and the interiors but torn down the central part which was made about two decades back. This part was badly done, and had no value whatsoever. The outcome is that you have got three eras in this hotel: Victorian, Edwardian and New Calcutta.
Amazing! So when does this hotel open?
It’s going to open on Lalit’s birthday – November 19th this year.
What challenges do you face as a hotelier in India?
The hospitality industry, and in fact the entire tourism industry, is highly taxed. Yet at the same time, unlike say the manufacturing