THE GALA evening following the two days of panel discussions during the BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Awards and Summit 2016, saw 51 hospitality professionals being honoured at a glittering event held at The Leela Ambience Hotel Gurgaon on March 22, 2016.

THE GALA evening following the two days of panel discussions during the BW Hotelier Indian Hospitality Awards and Summit 2016, saw 51 hospitality professionals being honoured at a glittering event held at The Leela Ambience Hotel Gurgaon on March 22, 2016.

The whole award process began on the March 3, 2016 with the first regional jury meeting in Kolkata at the ITC Sonar, for the Eastern zone awardees, this was followed by jury meets in Mumbai on March 5 in Mumbai who met at the Sofitel Mumbai BKC for Western region winners. March 7 saw the Southern jury meet in Chennai at the Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park followed by a March 11 for the North jury at The Leela Ambience Gurgaon.

All General Manager and Hotel awards were decided according to a questionnaire set by the Grand jury member who met on March 12 at The Leela Ambience Gurgaon.

The Juries consisted of:

East Jury

Raju Bharat, Managing Director, Kenilworth Hotels India; Souvagya Mohapatra, Executive Director and COO, Mayfair Hotels and Resorts; Atul Bhalla, General Manager, ITC Sonar, Kolkata; Britta Leick-Milde, General Manager, Hyatt Regency, Kolkata; Samrat Datta, General Manager, Taj Bengal, Kolkata; Varun Chhibber, General Manager, The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata; Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier.

West Jury

Param Kannampilly, Chairman and Managing Director, Concept Hospitality; Devendra Bharma, Executive Vice President, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts; Sanjae Sharma, Area Vice President/General Manager, Hyatt; Philippe Charraudeau, ‎Vice-President (West) & General Manager at ITC Maratha, Mumbai; Taljinder Singh, Area Director – Mumbai Hotels and General Manager, The Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai; Biswajit Chakraborty, General Manager, Sofitel Mumbai BKC; Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier; Rashmi Pradhan, Assistant Editor, BW Hotelier.

South Jury

Anil Chadha, Area Manager for South and General Manager of ITC Grand Chola Chennai; Arindam Kunar Area General Manager, South India, IHG; Saleem Yousuff, Area Director Taj Chennai & General Manager Taj Coromandel; Dhiraj Mehta General Manager, Trident, Chennai; Madhav Sehgal General Manager Hyatt Regency, Chennai; Praveen Anand, Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park; Aslam Gafoor, Head – B2B Sales, Weber-Stephen Barbecue Products India; Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier.

North Jury

Samir Kukreja, Founder & CEO, Tasanaya Hospitality; Bakshish Dean, Executive Director at Prime Gourmet Pvt Ltd; Zubin Songadwala, General Manager, ITC Maurya, New Delhi; Michel Koopman, General Manager, The Leela Ambience Gurgaon; Antony Page, General Manager, JW Marriott, New Delhi Aerocity; Sourish Bhattacharyya, Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier; Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier; Rashmi Pradhan, Assistant Editor, BW Hotelier.

National Jury

K B Kachru, Executive Vice President, South Asia at Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group; Rajiv Kaul, President, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts; Dilip Puri, Managing Director (India) and Regional Vice-President (South Asia), Starwood Hotels; Ranvir Bhandari, COO, ITC Hotels;  Rattan Keswani, Deputy Managing Director, Lemon Tree Hotels; Mandeep Lamba, Managing Director (India), Hotels & Hospitality Group, Jones Lang LaSalle Property Consultants India; Sunil Gupta, CEO WelcomHeritage Hotels; Vijay Wanchoo, Senior Executive Vice President at The Imperial, New Delhi; Dilip Cherian, Managing Partner, Perfect Relations; Hemant Oberoi, Consultant, Taj Hotels; Bakshish Dean, Executive Director at Prime Gourmet Pvt Ltd; Sourish Bhattacharyya, Consulting Editor, BW Hotelier; Bikramjit Ray, Executive Editor, BW Hotelier

The Prize winners were:

BW Hotelier Hall of Fame Praveen Anand, Executive Chef, Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park.

BW Hotelier Editor’s Choice Award for Equal Opportunity Hotel of the YearLemon Tree Premier, Delhi Airport.

BW Hotelier Editor’s Choice Award for PR/MarComm Leader of the Year  Richa Sharma, GM (Corporate PR), ITC Hotels.

BW Hotelier Editor’s Choice Award for Young Leader of the Year Tanveer Kwatra, Executive Chef Le Meridien Gurgaon.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS F&B Manager of the Year

NATIONAL Prashant Gaurav Gupta, ITC Maurya, New Delhi.

WEST Rishi Kumar, Taj Land’s End, Mumbai.

SOUTH Nikhil Gandhi, Hyatt Regency, Chennai.

EAST Keenan McKenzie, ITC Sonar, Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS Chief Engineer of the Year

NATIONAL Ghanshyam Tripathi, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai.

NORTH Nitin Chopra, The Claridges, New Delhi.

SOUTH Sivakumar Kari, Vivanta by Taj, Kovalam (Kerala).

EAST P.B. Roy, Taj Bengal, Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS Procurement Manager of the Year

NATIONAL: Sudhir Sharma, ITC Maurya, New Delhi.

WEST: Anthony D’Souza, Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai.

SOUTH: Joseph Ravichandran, Hyatt Regency, Chennai.

EAST: Prakash Mahapatra, Mayfair, Bhubaneswar.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS PR/Marr Comm Manager of the Year

NATIONAL: Nidhi Verma, The Leela Ambience Hotel, Gurgaon.

WEST: Parinaz Driver, Sofitel BKC, Mumbai.

SOUTH: Karuna Amarnath, IHG Chennai Mahabalipuram Resort.

EAST: Arundhati Ghosh, ITC Sonar, Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS Front Office Manager of the Year

NATIONAL: Amit Khatri, The Leela Palace, Udaipur.

WEST Abhishek Menon, ITC Maratha, Mumbai.

SOUTH Vishal Virmani, Trident Hyderabad.

EAST Karan Maini, Taj Bengal, Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS Executive Chef of the Year

NATIONAL Manisha Bhasin, ITC Maurya, New Delhi.

NORTH Rajesh Variyath, Radisson Blu MBD, NOIDA

WEST Joy Bhattacharya, Trident Nariman Point, Mumbai.

SOUTH Ajit Bangera, ITC Grand Chola, Chennai.

EAST Saurav Banerjee, The Oberoi Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS Executive Housekeeper of the Year

NATIONAL Harinder Kishore, The Leela Ambience Hotel, Gurgaon.

WEST Seema Chaturvedi, ITC Maratha, Mumbai.

SOUTH Priya Nandakumar, The Oberoi, Bangalore.

EAST Abishek Maithani, The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS Resident Manager of the Year

NATIONAL Udiksha Panshikar, The Oberoi Mumbai

NORTH Rishiraj Singh, Sheraton New Delhi

SOUTH Jaikant Shroff, Taj Coromandel, Chennai

EAST Dilip Mishra, The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata.

BWH IHA AWARD WINNERS DOSM of the Year

NATIONAL Ananya Singh, JW Marriott, New Delhi Aerocity.

WEST Rohit Chopra, Novotel Pune.

SOUTH V. Prakash, ITC Grand Chola, Chennai.

EAST Rabitha Thannooran, Hyatt Regency Kolkata.

GM of the Year Awards (decided by Jury Questionnaire)

GM of the Year: Anil Chadha, ITC Grand Chola, Chennai.

Upper Upscale GM of the Year: Saurabh Bakshi, Sheraton Grand, Bangalore.

Upscale GM of the Year: F.A. Ansari, Aloft Bengaluru, Cessna Business Park.

Midscale GM of the Year: Narotam Singh, Lemon Tree Hotel, Hitec City, Hyderabad.

Budget/Economy GM of the Year: Ridul Deka, Ibis Mumbai Airport.

Hotel of the Year Awards (decided by Jury Questionnaire)

Luxury Hotel of the Year: ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru and The Leela Palace Udaipur.

Upper Upscale Hotel of the Year: Sheraton Grand, Bangalore.

Upscale Hotel of the Year: Novotel Kolkata Hotel & Residences.

Midscale Hotel of the Year: Country Inn & Suites, Sector-29, Gurgaon.

Budget/Economy Hotel of the Year: Ibis Tech Park, Bengaluru.

Photo by Sanjay Sakaria.