How do you run 18 heritage hotels, some in buildings over 500 years old, and still turn a profit through COVID without letting a single employee go?
On this episode of CXO Connect, Prasad Sanyal speaks with Sonali Kaikar, CEO of Neemrana Hotels. She studied psychology at LSR, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and played golf at the national level before joining the family's heritage hospitality business in 2010.
They talk about:
* How Neemrana stayed profitable in 2020 with no layoffs and no hotel shutdowns
* The staff who once pulled the wires on an ERP system, and how she brought in computerised billing anyway
* Standardising a chain where no two rooms are alike
* Hiring locally: why attitude beats formal hospitality training
* Restoring Raja Rani Mahal in Chanderi and Barwa Sagar Fort near Jhansi, including the dying art of choona work
* Why luxury today means simplicity, authenticity, and disconnecting
* Gen Z, Instagram, AI chatbots, and the parts of hospitality that should never be automated
* Being a woman CEO in Indian hospitality, and the invisible work women do
* A rapid-fire round: head or heart, beach or mountains, and what Indian travellers need to get better at
Subscribe to CXO Connect for conversations with India's business leaders.
#CXOConnect #NeemranaHotels #HeritageHotels
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