India - 4
There were no seated meals at Taj’s hugely successful ABC Annual Business Conference. Breakfasts were wherever, whenever. Lunches were buffets, stand at waist-height tables or sit in the courtyard, specially covered, or in the adjacent main restaurant. After the beach-attire welcome supper, the following night was a gastronomic miracle, with so many live cooking stations you could have been there for a month of Sundays without repeating a taste.
Looking back, what are some afterthoughts of IHCL's ABC annual business conference 2026? Although it was all IHCL brands, there was certainly special emphasis on Taj, highlighted by Hotel of the Year, Taj Lake Palace Udaipur, and its characterful owner.
For those who need more details of how AI is impacting the whole company, obviously this is available, and cleverly was not allocated too much prominence in the main programme. Nothing actually had an outright starring role in the business side, other than the importance of PEOPLE in the entire company.
People, people, people. This was emphasized again and again. People who are owners, people who are GMs, and people who are culinarians, and those who are rising stars. There were also people from Taj properties overseas, from London, and from Germany (see below, Albert Mayr, GM of Taj Hessischer Hof Frankfurt, which joined the massive IHCL portfolio only this month)
. The central character who deserved an Oscar for his often off-the-cuff performance was undoubtedly Puneet Chhatwal, who must have had a wardrobe mistress to keep his sartorial standards so high throughout. At the closing, he had to compete with a virtual flock of birds flying across the stage. See above. On his way to the airport one must-be-anonymous GM said, we always look forward to this event. His boss thought a moment and and then declared himself content.
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The entire hotel lobby had been transformed during the day into a mouth-watering and amazing buffet display with live cooking, featuring mushrooms only, or Japanese, or every kind of Indian under the sun. Apparently, there was a party after that, but since some finished eating and chatting by 10 if they were lucky, many, including your own correspondent, left the further jollification to others. Um, anyway, not only had need for beauty's sake, it was also necessary to start packing because there were so many goodies, all in elaborate boxes, from sets of six fluted XXX glasses and Nespresso coffee percolator with tins of coffee, that a complete new suitcase was required.
There was also an absolutely hilarious chat between the head of the House of Muir, who owns the Alia Great Palace, and an actor comic called, it was 98% in Hindi and very, very fast, but it was so funny that even though the majority of the audience couldn't understand the words, everyone was roaring with laughter. Shinji appeared later to be given by Puneet Chhatwal the first CEO's award to an owner for amazing cooperation. And there were panel discussions. the law, ranging everything, finance, the industry outlook, talent, and where is luxury going? This is a year ago. There it is, and clocks, to join the port area. As has Emily's Wellness. The fact that it didn't seem to excite as much as some would have expected. And the car, not fair on IHL. has chosen to join a consortium, not of hotels, but of airlines. It's the first hotel group to be part of One World. The challenge of Tata-owned Air India belonging to airline consortium rival Star Alliance will be overcome, says Puri Chatwell confidently. On the social side... It's now after four years, ABC runs like clockwork. Breakfasts are do your own thing. Lunches were buffets in the all-day restaurant BLD or venturing into the main lobby. Out into an inner courtyard that's been covered over. First evening, cocktails took place.
As they left, many were already talking about 2027. We look forward to it for months. said one manager. They never know when they might be singled out for stardom at this annual event. Lake Palace was named Hotel of the Year. Mark Burnitch, GM of Taj Cape Town, and newly entitled VB Africa, was to all intents and purposes, highlighted. He gave a superb description of how he repositioned the property, turning it from old run down and under the radar to be the must place for both commercial and American policymakers. One little thing, go to a local restaurant and you, a hotel guest, are personally escorted there by a hotel staff member. In Greenwich's work, it's very nice indeed. Working, integrating with the community on every committee that he could possibly be on, means terrific support from the locale. He explained that Taj's first African game lodge in Kruger, which opened XX is already such a success that two more are immediately in the offing, and his map lasting through to 2030 optimistically shows further up East Africa. including Zanzibar, Namibia in the west, and linking up with Egypt to the north. In fact, enthusiasm and passion were the two words combined with joy that summed up the reactions of everybody. As for the boss, who made several speeches without any notes and without any prior warning, said in typical Pooni Chatwell fashion, he was happy, he was pleased, and he was very confident of the future.
Sitting in the hotel lobby, waiting for my car. It's always the same at the end of a big event. You've been together, in this case, 500 of us, most of them knowing everybody else. You're closely cosseted for here two or three nights. And then once it's over, everybody disappears, never exactly to be together again. The lobby soars up through six floors, its open atrium lined in vertical slats with lots of fresh greenery. Last night, this was turned into a dining emporium with live cooking stations and buffets all around the edges. Now it appears as a dream because it's back to its shiny, floored space. And people, ordinary people, are checking in and being offered drinks as they arrive. They're coming in with no idea that until an hour ago, this was a hubbub of hospitality creativity.
