Deepika Rao, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Ginger Hotels, the only woman to hold that position within the Tata Group, not only believes in running 10 km marathons herself, but in making the Ginger brand of hotels take long strides as well.

My association with the Tata Group began at Tata Motors, where I started my career. I did a year-long stint at the Tata Administrative Services leadership programme before joining IHCL. Over the past 18 years, I've had several stints across functions in various Tata Group companies. Previous to my present role, I was Vice President, Asset Management, IHCL, where I led the solutions for margin enhancement at the company. I even served as interim CEO for Ginger Hotels briefly in 2015.

THE REINVENTING OF GINGER

Roots Corporation, who operates the brand Ginger, was registered in 2003 and set up a hotel by the following year at Whitefield, Bengaluru. At the time, the brand name was IndiOne, whose idea was to provide quality hospitality at affordable rates. The hotels, with the tagline Smart Basics, were established as greenfield projects.

Over the years, the product has seen design improvements, while on the service front, there has been a significant evolution in the Food & Beverage offerings – from pre-packaged food to a full-fledged, all-day dining restaurant and introduction of in-room dining.

During 2014-2018, we concentrated on standardising the product and the stay experience. However, our need to be relevant as well as aspirational to the changing consumer mindset while keeping alive the core proposition of being affordable, triggered the change in the brand positioning from Smart Basics to Lean Luxe which was about evolving as a specialised product, with convenient and consistent delivery, being accessible, having an identifiable brand language and offering a strong quality-to-price ratio.

The rationale behind the repositioning was this: Nearly two-thirds of India’s workforce today is made up of millennials who are interested in experiences, not merely in buying a product or service. The re-imagined Ginger is strategically positioned to appeal to their mindset and is anchored in the idea of seamlessness, facilitating the ‘never stop’ lifestyle of the millennials.”

WOMEN ARE BORN MULTI-TASKERS

I believe that a diverse and heterogeneous workforce, employed in a variety of roles in the organisation, provides a multitude of viewpoints during decision-making, drives better customer engagement and team synergies, and thereby, better productivity. No wonder, Ginger’s hotels in Sanand, Gujarat and Tirupur, Tamil Nadu are headed by women. Ginger has a gender ratio of 24 per cent of women employees, while at the unit level, the percentage is even healthier.

Women by nature have been gifted with the ability to play multiple roles in their lives. This, in my opinion, has allowed us to develop a more evolved emotional quotient and ability to multi-task.

Talking of multi-tasking, besides work, I like spending quality time with my five-year-old daughter and also enjoy running, usually participating in 10-km runs. Running not only makes me feel good, it reinforces my confidence in what I can do. It pits me against myself and helps me become a better colleague, a better team player and a better mother.

This article was published in BW hotelier issue dated '' with cover story titled 'BW HOTELIER THE WOMEN SPECIAL ISSUE VOL 6, ISSUE 2'