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have happened. The Radisson Water Garden Hotel has Mahipalpur, owned by AB Hotels, was the first hotel we signed
remained one of the largest fee-earners for the company in in India. Unitech and AL Batra Group were our partners in the
the region. We simultaneously signed a hotel in Nepal. deal and it was Psyche Nigam, a previous boss at ITDC, who
Initially we reported directly to Jim Olson at Carlson’s had introduced them to me while I was still in Singapore. In
headquarters in Minneapolis. He was the person, who actually 1996, it is thanks to Dr Shrivastav’s support, and Mr Luther’s
understood and created Carlsons’ presence in Asia-Pacific. It support, when Radisson Hotel Mahipalpur was still under
was only much later that Carlson sent Paul Kirwin to Singapore construction, we set up a development and liaison office on
to head the Asia-Pacific office, which was relocated from the hotel premises.
Sydney, considering how far away it was from the rest of the Working in India offers unique experiences. We were using
region. Meanwhile, Jim Olson had an unexpected seizure on the Internet at the office to send out emails, which was
returning home from a jog and sadly passed away at the age comparatively still a new concept in the country, and in
of 56. Paul would visit India often and I was required to visit contrast we would see bricks being transported on donkeys to
Singapore at least once every quarter. After a few years, Paul the construction site. It was amusing to see the world around
was recalled back to the US. Since then, our Singapore us changing – but only that much. The hotel was due to open
headquarters has seen a few CEOs, namely Jean Marc, Simon in 1996 and the then prime minister Mr Deve Gowda was to
Barlow, Thorsten Kirschke and Katerina Giannouka, who was come for the inauguration. Staff had been hired and trained for
the last president of the Radisson Hotel Group in the Asia- almost six months. Invitation cards were printed and
Pacific. RHG South Asia now reports directly to the global head distributed. Then what we least expected, happened. The
office in Brussels. hotel didn’t receive the necessary permissions to operate from
My move to India had been centered around developing the government authorities for reasons beyond our
Carlson’s mid-segment brand Country Inns & Suites, but given comprehension. It seems separate authorities had gotten into
the set-back to our strategic partnership with Scotts Holding, a controversy as to who would be the licensing authority.
we were wrangled into reviewing our growth plans. The Consequently inauguration was stalled as was the opening of
company asked me to focus on the development of its other the hotel. Though the owners commendably retained all their
hotel and restaurant brands, including Radisson and TGI staff, everybody was demotivated because uncertainty
Fridays, but India was practically a virgin market for franchising loomed for almost two years.
and I felt that the management and distribution of hotels was The hotel finally opened for business in 1998 and was a
the future for the industry. And so, we re-strategized our grand success from the day of launch. A lot of the credit goes
priorities. to Sanjiv Tyagi, the hotel’s first vice president and general
Since Carlson was still not ready to make any real-estate manager, for establishing high standards of service and
investments in the region, I started looking for strategic offering guests a unique experience. Many of my colleagues
partners as I had done in Singapore. Radisson Hotel from the industry had said that the location would be a

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