International Summit on “Changing minds & Changing trend” for Hospitality, Accommodation & Facility management
Bengaluru: Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration conducted a never seen before webinar International Summit on Hospitality, Accommodation & Facility management 2021 with a theme “Changing minds & Changing trends” as a part of the celebration to International Housekeeper’s Appreciation Week, Consisting of over 15 speakers from different domains, the summit was attended students, faculty of WGSHA and Industry fraternity Mr. Sanjay Bose, Executive Vice President and Head of HR at ITC Hotels was the chief guest, and he highlighted the importance played by Housekeeping in adding value to a guest’s experience and driving their choice. He said that despite reduced footfalls in hotels over the past 2 years, Housekeepers are the most sought-after professions today. Mr. Ralph Sunil, Group Head of Facility Management services at GMR Group was the guest of honor, who spoke about how good Housekeeping affects the 5 senses of humans, making the department even more important he also mentioned that hospitality is like the mother of the economy, which contributes to various facets. He also spoke about the importance and scope of facility management in today’s scenario.
Principal Chef K. Thirugnansambantham stated that “WGSHA always believes that industry and academia interface brought together, improves the quality of education in terms of excellence, modernization, collaboration, and self-reliance – crucial elements in the development of hospitality and culinary education. This summit is our way of recognizing the efforts of the housekeeping and facility management members who are the unsung heroes on the front lines”
The webinar featured 3 panels. Panel one spoke about hard and soft services in hotels, and the need of the hour, which is outsourcing. The panel touched upon contract management, inventory management, etc., and proved how vast the scope of facility management truly is.
Panel two spoke about the need for Housekeepers to interact with guests and provide them with personalization. Housekeepers must be proactive and responsive, and be ready for a VUCA world (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous).
Panel three spoke about the importance of creativity, time management, vendor management, etc. The panel stressed the upcoming technology in the industry and the latest sustainability practices. All in all, the webinar helped changed the students’ perspective about Housekeeping and has given them hope of a brighter path ahead.
Some of the other panelist for the webinar were-
• Ms. Janaki Das – Executive Housekeeper at Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, Mumbai
• Ms. Geetha Sudesh – Director of Services at Marriott International, Hyderabad
• Ms. Shivani Gupta – Executive Housekeeper at ITC Grand Central, Mumbai
• Mr. Dinesh Babu – Executive Housekeeper at Novotel Ibis, Bengaluru
• Mr. Ralph Sunil – Group Head of Facility Management Services at GMR Group
• Ms. Mohana M – Editor of Clean India Journal, Director of Conferences and Broadcasting, Content Writer, Author, Speaker and Anchor
• Ms. Sonia Jaitly Banerjee – Rooms Division Manager at JW Marriott, Bengaluru
• Ms. Ila Prabhu – Executive Housekeeper at ITC Hotels, Bengaluru
• Mr. Raghubalan G – Author, Image & Hospitality Consultant, Coach, Bengaluru
• Mr. Muthuvel Cellamuthu – Housekeeping Manager at Accor, Qatar
• Mr. Abhishek Maithani – Executive Housekeeper at Trident, Bandra Kurla, Mumbai
• Mr. Nishant Kumar – Executive Housekeeper at JW Marriott, Kolkata
• Mr. Chandan Das – Executive Housekeeper at ITC Maurya, New Delhi
• Ms. Sirisha Rao – Housekeeping Manager at Grand Mercure, Koramangala, Bengaluru
• Mr. Prabhat Shukla – Director of Rooms and Quality (acting) at InterContinental, Doha
