Abhijeet Walke, Owner of Hotel Green Park
Name : Abhijeet Walke
Designation : Owner
Name of the Hotel : Hotel Green Park
Mr. Walke begins by suggesting to all who wish to join the hotel industry, to be polite and courteous towards their guests. Customer is the king and he is always right. One needs to treat him like that. You have to greet them with a smiling face, welcome them and say yes when they need something during their stay. You need to keep your personal problems aside and work. Patience is of utmost importance as different guests have different ideologies and moods. One should enter into the industry only if they believe that they have that level of calibre or they should change their behaviour and then enter. Good service and attention to the customer is imperative.
He mainly emphasizes on cleanliness, inside the hotel as well as the surrounding areas. At Greenpark, guests feel refreshed when they see the open space. Guests feel bad if they are not given proper attention. Guests demand and it is provided to them as the guests do not like to hear a ‘NO’. However if it is impossible then it is fine to say ‘No’ but for that also there is a way of saying it.
The hotel has been in the market for the past 25 years. Greenpark has an advantage being located at a prime location, that is the junction point. Hence the hotel is well known. There is word of mouth also but that is not enough. Earlier the offline travel agents, starting from Kashmir till Kanyakumari, performed well. But in the past 3-4 years, since the online travel agents have come into competition, the offline travel agents market has gone down . Today youngsters are mostly on the phone. They have tie ups with companies and the corporates give their business to them.
Almost 80 -85% of the staff at Greenpark are from the beginning and are treated as family. The hotel keeps a watch so that they do not take undue advantage. They are trained and updated with the new technology. Apart from government regulations that are required to be followed and bonus that needs to be given, they are given incentives. They are also given the freedom to work and since they are happy they do not take advantage of things.
There are opportunities for IHM as well as non IHM students in the industry but it depends on the department. There are different platforms. “As an owner, I have to see what kind of person I would like to hire. My hotel is for the budget and Indian crowd so I prefer going for the non IHM students. I also invest in IHM students mainly for the posts which require them to directly interact with the client. Whether you have a degree or no does not matter. If you have knowledge and experience you can do well anywhere. People think that the job of a waiter or a room boy is mediocre or low level but it is not an easy job. If these 2 individuals make even one small mistake in their work or their expression they could spoil the full setup as they are the people who come in direct contact with the customer .”
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