Business
Industry sources familiar with the development told dna that Verma has already quit Hyatt and is currently in the transition phase.
Updated : Mar 19, 2018, 06:41 AM IST
In a move that's likely to surprise many in the Indian hospitality industry, Ratnesh Verma, who was heading development for Hyatt Hotels Corporation (Hyatt) for the Asia Pacific region, is moving out after being with the global hospitality major for almost 25 years.
Industry sources familiar with the development told dna that Verma has already quit Hyatt and is currently in the transition phase.
Verma is joining Whitbread, UK's oldest and largest hotel, restaurant and coffee shop operator.
A Hyatt spokesperson did not comment on the development. When contacted, a Hyatt spokesperson did not comment on the development.
However, sources at Hyatt in India confirmed Verma's move, saying, "It was a personal decision and a career choice he made."
A Whitbread spokesperson confirmed the development. "Ratnesh Verma has been appointed as managing director of Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants International. He will start in his new role towards the end of next month and will be based in Dubai," said the spokesperson.
Verma, who started his career with the Chicago headquartered hotel company in July 1991, gradually moved up the management ladder to take up the position of senior vice-president - development (Asia Pacific) and was relocated (from India) to Hong Kong a few years ago. In fact, in the recent past, there were talks about him relocating to the US taking up a position with Hyatt's office there.
Interestingly, last year, Rakesh Sarna, group president – Americas, Hyatt Hotels Corp was picked by Tata Group chairman Cyrus P Mistry to replace Raymond N Bickson as managing director and chief executive officer of Indian Hotels Co Ltd. It is not clear if Verma was being considered for this post at Hyatt in the US.
Industry sources told dna that Verma will replace Paul Macpherson, who was earlier president and managing director of Whitbread Hotels & Restaurants International.
By bringing Verma on board, Whitbread is expecting to fast-track growth of its budget hotel chain Premier Inn that has not been able to establish wider presence in the Indian hospitality market. In fact, attempts have been made in the past by Whitbread to take the inorganic route for expansion by taking over the Keys Hotels portfolio of Berggruen Holdings. However, the strategy has not seen major success.
Though the Whitbread spokesperson did not share details of Verma's key responsibility areas in the new role, another industry source said, "He (Verma) has had tremendous experience expanding the Hyatt bouquet of brands in India. At Whitbread, he will primarily be responsible for developing the Premier Inn chain in India and Asia Pacific."
Since 2009 Whitbread has invested Rs 300 crore in the Indian hospitality market for five hotels under the Premier Inn brand. While three properties are operational in Bangalore, New Delhi and Pune, three more – one each in Goa (130 rooms), Chennai (116 rooms) and Mumbai (350 rooms) – are under various stages of development. The British firm was targeting 70-80 budget hotels in India in the long term, but has met with little success on that front as well. Its overall portfolio consists a network of over 650 Premier Inn hotels and 55,000 rooms across locations in the UK, Ireland, India and Arabian Gulf.
Whitbread has presence in the Indian coffee cafe market with 118 Costa Coffee outlets through a partnership with RJ Corp's associate company Devyani International Ltd. Despite considerable presence, Costa has a lot of catching up to do when compared to numbers clocked in by brands like Cafe Coffee Day, Starbucks and Barista Coffee. There was a talk last year about Devyani International and Costa Coffee parting ways over commitment of investments for expansion of the business that is yet to turn profitable.