HOTELS Magazine’s 2024 Hoteliers of the World are recognized as two of the preeminent leaders in the luxury hotel space, both parts of companies that are time-tested luxury groups, welcoming demanding, affluent guests and developing some of the finest hotels in the world.
Both are known for their attention to detail and composure in even the most demanding of situations—no matter what comes their way. These are just two of the many reasons why they were selected for this year’s awards and, as proof, are admired by their peers; many of which supported their candidacy for this year’s awards.
Today, we reveal the first awardee: Sandeep Bhalla, general manager of The Connaught in London, part of Maybourne Hotel Group. We put his life and career story in frame below. We hope you enjoy it.
Stay tuned to this space: We will reveal the other Hoteliers of the World awardee on Friday. Both are featured in print in our forthcoming March/April issue of HOTELS Magazine.
We, and the collective hospitality industry, congratulate the winners.
The job description for a general manager should carry one essential requirement: must possess a calm disposition. Leading any hotel—much less a luxury hotel typically favored by demanding and discerning guests—requires nothing less than stolidness in the face of adversity. In the case of Sandeep Bhalla, GM of The Connaught in London, a hotel with roots stretching back to the early 19th century, that phlegmatic trait is something he has in spades.
Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky once wrote that “the darker the night, the brighter the stars,” taken to mean that there is the potential for positive, even when staring down a challenge. For Bhalla, the quote strikes a literal chord.
In 2019, The Connaught added new food and beverage venues, a project that was accompanied by major electrical work, which entailed that the hotel, for a short period, be run exclusively by generator. Late one Sunday evening, after work had been completed, the hotel flipped the switch to return to its main electrical source. “All was working fine and everyone is high-fiving” on a job well done, Bhalla recalled, so much so that he retired to his room at the hotel to catch some sleep. Thirty minutes later, the power went off in his room; turns out, the power went out throughout the entirety of the hotel, casting it into darkness, overheated copper wires the culprit. Realizing the magnitude of the situation, Bhalla sprung from bed, and with iPhone flashlight aglow, bounded down the hotel’s corridors to the electrical panel to assess the situation.
It wasn’t dire, but getting things back up and running would take some time, and at a luxury hotel, patience is a commodity in short supply. Luckily, it was late at night, but The Connaught was at full capacity, which meant guests would want explanation; some might even be irked. Bhalla went into service recovery mode. Staff members were assigned to floors to stand as sentries and lamps and other lighting equipment were moved to public areas and stairwells. Above all, the message was to reassure guests that this was only a temporary nuisance and should they need for anything at all, a staff member was only a conversation away. Twenty-five minutes later, The Connaught’s power was back up and running.
Bhalla has an innate capacity for composure and it’s what leads him through challenges like the one he faced. “I’m calm by nature,” he said. “I might be going a million miles inside, but in any situation, it’s about how you portray yourself to your team—that is how they are going to react. They feed off the energy and I don’t want to put them in a situation if I’m panicking.”
In the end, equanimity won the night. “With good communication and deploying staff members to key areas, we were able to minimize the inconvenience and reassure our guests,” Bhalla said. “They appreciated our responsiveness and effort, leading to a positive perception of how the situation was handled.”
Accounts like this illustrate why Bhalla has been recognized as the GM selection in HOTELS Magazine’s 2024 Hoteliers of the World. Bhalla’s story begins in India, but is acted out worldwide, and, not unlike other hospitality tales, almost never occurred. Bhalla was born to a military father and a nurse mother and grew up in a small town north of New Delhi.
Naturally, his father wanted him and his brother to join the army, but in an act of youthful defiance, Bhalla, instead, went the hospitality route, which consisted of three years of hotel school in India that led to operations management training with Taj Hotels. It was with Taj that he first fell in love with the food and beverage side of the business and he eventually ran one of India’s preeminent restaurants, Orient Express at Taj Palace, New Delhi. To this day, cookbooks line the bookshelf in Bhalla’s office.
At 26, Bhalla had the rare opportunity to work at and be part of the opening of what is still one of the world’s most iconic hotels: Burj Al Arab in Dubai. It meant leaving India and taking a step down in role, but Bhalla saw it as a stepping stone and a push outside his comfort zone.
In 1999, Dubai looked a lot different than it does today. The vertiginous cityscape did not yet exist; the 1,000-foot-high hotel standing like a guard presiding over a still- incubating embryo. To Bhalla, it was the perfect place to be, the cusp of what was to become one of the greatest manmade feats in history. “It was incredible,” he said of the experience. “It was not the Dubai of today.”
It was sinking in and learning the luxury ropes in Dubai that helped propel Bhalla and nurture his career. “I was working with the best people, the best product and the best of clientele,” he said. “That luxury journey was wonderful.”
Bhalla was at the Burj Al Arab around the time when Dubai really began to build up, with projects like the World Islands getting underway. But like an athlete at the top of his game, Bhalla decided it was time for a move. “It was one of those things where you wanted to be challenged and not be complacent,” he said. “I left at the peak and everybody asked me, ‘Why?’”
LONDON CALLING
How, might have been the better question. Not only was Bhalla leaving one of the great hotels of the world, but he was also leaving Dubai, which, beyond its sun and beaches, charges no personal income tax. Where he was going did. And it certainly was not known for its warm sun and bright beaches, but gray skies and chilly air. London was Bhalla’s next stop. For him, it was the perfect place to scratch his peripatetic itch. He landed at The Berkeley, which, like The Connaught, is one of London’s iconic luxury hotels, with roots also dating back to the late 19th century, when it gained a reputation as a popular destination for debutantes, whose mothers trusted The Berkeley’s staff to uphold their modesty.
Keeping a watchful eye on a debutante’s propriety is not necessarily an employee of the hotel’s responsibility any longer, but ensuring a discreet environment still is for the mostly affluent and demanding clientele. For Bhalla, it was about growing and being entrusted with more responsibility. “It was a time when I really wanted to develop a long-term vision for my career,” he said.
Arriving at the hotel at the outset of the Great Financial Crisis was not the best timing; the hotel immediately had to close its flagship Gordon Ramsay restaurant. Despite the inconvenient timing of the GFC, he arrived at the hotel as it set out on a multimillion-dollar renovation, valuable experience for Bhalla, who, after arriving to The Berkeley as director of food and beverage, would be promoted to the position of hotel manager five years later.
Bhalla’s time at The Berkeley lasted 11 years and when it was up, there was no landslide reset; he remained in London and didn’t stray far. In fact, he just crossed the east edge of Hyde Park into Mayfair, joining The Connaught in 2018. Change, yes, but there was continuity: Like The Berkeley, The Connaught is part of Maybourne Hotel Group, a Qatari-owned hotel company, which also operates Claridge’s in London, The Maybourne Beverly Hills in Los Angeles and The Maybourne Riviera in France. It will open The Emory, also in London, in Spring 2024.
Each hotel within the portfolio is distinct, with a unique personality, but as Bhalla points out, “There’s a common Maybourne DNA that runs through all the hotels.” The guest, however, might not know that, but it’s something Maybourne is addressing through a rebranding exercise that will promote the parent company as the backstop of each individual property. Mixing in the Maybourne name into its Beverly Hills and Riviera hotels is one way.
Bhalla began his Connaught residence as hotel manager, but quickly escalated to general manager, taking over the position 10 months after his arrival. He became a stabilizing force at the hotel, which had been beset by a rash of personnel departures. He quickly brought order and just in time for a spate of new additions to the hotel, including The Connaught Grill, The Connaught Cigar Merchants, The Connaught Patisserie and Red Room, which marries art and wine.
Then came COVID. The hotel shut down in March 2020 before reopening in July. During that time, Maybourne kept everyone at the hotel on payroll. Despite it not being open to guests, the hotel worked with local charities and churches, cooking meals and feeding the homeless. Bhalla estimates that they did around 45,000 meals between April and July. Here, Bhalla’s calming countenance helped deliver the hotel from its nadir back to its perch. He says preparation is key to being a strong leader. “I ready for everything,” he said. “I’m not the guy who does things last minute,” although admitting that things can still go awry even after planning for every contingency. “It’s a human industry,” he said. “It’s okay to make a mistake.”
HIS WAY, NOT THE HIGHWAY
He allows his staff a modicum of freedom in the workplace, but said with that autonomy comes accountability. “I never want to curb the freedom of people because those working here are creative geniuses,” he said, allowing that if he puts restrictions in, it will only thwart what could be a meaningful idea. “Continuous improvement,” he calls it.
The list of three-Michelin-star restaurants in London is short. There are five. Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, where the “Taste of Winter” prix fixe meal starts at £225 per person before wine, is one. The accolades are many: One happy diner described the experience as “perfection in service from the moment you walk through the door.” Then, stomach full, head abuzz, a stop steps away for a nightcap at the Connaught Bar, which was ranked fifth in the world by The World’s 50 Best Bars 2023, is a must. It’s the complete Connaught experience.
The hotel’s food, the hotel’s beverage is an extension of Bhalla; the two are part of his upbringing in the pursuit of culinary perfection. “When you walk into the Connaught Bar, you expect your dreams to be at that level,” he said. “They walk through the revolving door of the hotel and the expectations are already there. We can’t ever rest on our laurels.”
Despite The Connaught being one of London’s—and by extension the world’s— finest hotels, Bhalla delights that the hotel shows little pretense, calling it the perfect blend of traditional and contemporary, despite the conceivable notion that the hotel exudes at least a scrap of snootiness. It’s incorrect he said, just a perception.
What is real is the premium put on precision service. Working in harmony is key at a hotel with 122 rooms, three restaurants and four bars (40% of the hotel’s business is food and beverage), a spa and miscellaneous other outlets. The Connaught employs 560 total full-time employees—it takes that many. And, like a field marshal, one strong leader to lead. Bhalla, who comes to work each day in full suit, feeling naked without a tie, has a starting time, but “I don’t know when I leave,” he said. An uncertain departure time means he often stays overnight, but when you run one of the highest occupancy rates in the city, a room isn’t always available—even for the GM. “I was kicked out once,” he said, but his feelings were not hurt. “You have to make sure every opportunity is exhausted to make revenue.”
Bhalla believes that money is made on the floor. Translation: Bhalla doesn’t hide in a back office; he is out front, greeting guests (he gives them his personal phone number should need present) and mixing it up with his staff. “On the floor is where you meet your people and know if guests are happy; it’s where the energy is,” he said. “You have to be accessible.”
The hotel industry is nuanced. There are different types of hotels, different price points, different amenities, different types of experiences, different personalities. As much distinction and stratification as there is, some things should be the same, no matter at a hotel where the top suite goes for $18,000 per night or a midscale property where a free breakfast is the key amenity.
“The basic principles of running a hotel remain the same,” he said, things like providing a good night’s sleep, a clean room and a safe environment. When providing those services in London, in the ultra- competitive luxury segment, striving to best peers is a constant. It’s something that doesn’t go unnoticed to Bhalla, but it’s also something he doesn’t pay much mind to. “I’d rather be confident in my own ability to run a hotel and do things right, rather than focusing on others,” he said.