Venu Rao
A hotelier par excellence
Githa
U Badikillaya
Traversing
a long journey, he feels he has a long way to go. His is a life as an aperitif,
very unobtrusive, just letting his work speak, adding more rainbow hued feathers
in an already brimming cap. Be it the recently completed Times Square at Hyderabad,
Guhantara, Park field Resotel, Vaishnavi Residency (Vindu restaurant) - Bangalore,
featured in the restaurant reviews section of this site, each of these hotels,
have been very uniquely conceptualiesd and executed. The impeccably dressed, charming
Venu Rao of Aabana Hospitality brings in his years of experience to his projects.
Hailing
from AP, Venu’s father was in the Air Force. So frequent transfers were inevitable,
that prepared Venu to learn Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Sanskrit and Kannada.
This background helped in his placing a premium on “time” as the hotel
industry is all about deadlines.
Brilliant
in academics, he chose the hotel management course (Madras) much to the parents’
consternation, at a time when it was the “in” thing to opt for either
the engineering or the medical courses. He was selected by the Taj group as a
trainee and posted to Bangalore. The initial two years were his wellspring for
an exposure in all aspects of hotel management handling with élan national
and international conferences and banquetings. His assignments at Delhi and Goa
gave him a well rounded experience. With so much of comprehensive training, clear
thinking and passion for his work it was just a matter of time for carving a niche
in the industry. At Taj Coromandel, Chennai and later at the Welcome group’s
Central Park (150 room hotel) he was given a free hand, that saw his creativity
exploding with introduction of theme parties, (that was catching up- in the 90’s),
and theme concepts(Orange county) that became very popular, redefining Customer
Services with the experimenting going on for four years.
As
I shake hands with his discipline it’s not difficult to see how a focused
approach took him to greener pastures getting him a plum assignment to work at
Mauritius and then as GM (Indian operations) at RMS International (UK based).
India calling and he joined the Viceroy at Hyderabad that catapulted to fame on
a political incident and got world attention when BBC covered the event. With
20 banquet halls, 3 Bars and 4 Restaurants and 125 people reporting to him it
recorded whopping profits.
“At
RMS International which is in the business of managing resorts and hotels in UK,
we were able to do lots of tie-ups and opened a 150 rooms hotel in Dubai and two
beautiful resorts in Mombassa and Malindi. I joined RMS as GM and went to take
charge as director India, middle east and east africa. The experience here honed
my skills. Setting up a hotel from scratch and looking to the nitty gritty is
very demanding and the launch or the opening thereby is challenging. There were
some hilarious unforgettable moments in my 6 years of GM, a slip between the cup
and the lip that stood me in great stead when I branched on my own where marketing
too is equally important. I introduced a new concept in Guhantara and the strategy
gave good exposure to the resort”, says affable Venu in his soft voice.
In
Dubai, managing a 150 room hotel (10 floors) on a beach was the icing in his career.
He developed a 90 acre property in Doon for 2 years, juxtaposing row houses concept
with a resort. He recalls the interesting encounters with Jumbos (as sugar cane
was grown on part of the land that attracted the elephants) and King Cobras. He
worked at another hotel in Manali, the owners, an Irish family credited with bringing
apples to Kullu that was opened after 5 months, which involved chasing the rats
away.
Coming
back to Bangalore, he was involved in launching Keerthana International in electronic
city and Basanth Residency; where the restaurant Amrutha serves Bijapuri food
dished out by N.Karnataka cooks who are house wives, as they alone can impart
home flavor serving authentic, earthy N.K.cuisine.
In
2006, branching on his own- Aabana Hospitality (AH), he developed the first project-
Vyshnavi Residency, Bangalore. In a tie up with Cherian Paul, a big name in the
industry, the Park field Resotel, Hoskote was a huge success with 85% occupancy
at any time. The Guhantara project was unique (review made) that emphasized on
a cave style dwelling.
Recently
he launched the Budding hotelier of India, a news letter where the focus is on
the people working in the industry and the hotel entrepreneurs. Through this he
hopes to highlight the success stories of these youngsters. Where does he find
time is my surprised query to which he smilingly tells over lunch that one has
to be organized, thoroughly planning schedules weeks in advance. He contributes
articles to many hotel journals and magazines. Meticulous as he is he dovetails
his networking to keep himself abreast with new trends, meeting new people and
getting involved with new properties. “This is quite exciting, earlier my
interest was in setting up restaurants but now setting up varieties of properties
and the satisfaction when the project is doing well are my letters of guarantee
from the satisfied promoters.”
As
for his hobbies – “Right now I’m reading Conrad’s ‘Guerilla
Marketing’. It sets me thinking- whether a pet is to be provided to the guest
to keep him occupied for the length of his stay in a theme resort.” On the
Committee of SKAL International which is a world wide forum for hoteliers, Airlines
and the travel industry and a member of the tourism committee his views are sought
and highly respected.
His
favourite past time is gardening as he loves flowers that shows in the aesthetic
designing of the properties. Being an athlete in his college days he enjoys swimming
and jogging. Reading, networking, creative thinking, take up the little free time
available. He has come a long way since his grand father’s comment that he
is destined to wash and wipe plates and become a server, as the concept of Hotel
Management has morphed down the line. Today the hotel industry is a Sunrise industry.
Chatting
with him was a pleasure as he gives me insights to the Hospitality industry. Says
he “ Bangalore is set to boom with factors such as a conducive climate, 50%
of expats in India working here, a high IT concentration, a middle class that
is willing to eat out, international hotels making their foray to Bangalore like
Marriot, Shangri-La, Hiltons, and with theme resorts, the Hospitality scenario
is very exciting and promising here. Our service standards are excellent, in fact
better than services abroad, with an English speaking majority, good quality food,
and willingness to experiment being the other factors that make the Indian hotel
industry charged. India is the flavor of the moment, and the advantage is ours.”
Yes sir and that’s the last word from this short man with a tall vision.
Contact:
09886022236
aabanahospitality@gmail.com
