A highly respected industry veteran who has spent nearly 40 years in the field of hospitality, Rakesh Sarna is also a valued leader in the business of hotels. Sarna began his career with Hyatt Hotels Corporation. There he acquired much experience and insight into the needs and desires of guests. After 35 years with Hyatt, Rakesh Sarna moved to the Taj Hotels, a company with a 113-year-old reputation of integrity with an excellent staff. While working for the Indian Hotels Company Limited, Sarna continued to be an outstanding leader and visionary, making a significant impact in the world of hospitality.
Sarna was hired by the Hyatt hotels in 1979 where he held various positions, ranging from Regional Director to Vice President of Operations. He later became COO and was Group President until 2014. After spending 35 productive and satisfying years with Hyatt, Sarna was afforded the opportunity to work for the Taj Hotels located in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), a chain of luxury hotels and hotel-resorts that has been in business for over a century. Taj is a reputable and popular company that has converted royal palaces in India into hotels since 1970. Currently, there are 84 locations across India and 16 in other countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Renowned in the hotel business as having been a manager of great understanding and foresight, Rakesh Sarna has maintained financial integrity along with the clarity and protection of the company name. Sarna has been a leader who motivated his employees to strive for excellence in accommodating the needs of hotel guests. For instance, with the many millennials who now travel, the desires of younger guests indicate that technology is preferable to contacts with hotel staff. For example, they prefer to check-in digitally and share experiences in their hotel’s various locations on social media. As a manager, Sarna has inspired his colleagues to improve the guests’ experiences that may later be shared with their friends and families. Though he realized that hotel experiences shared on social media can generate interest in other people, Sarna has always been careful not to allow technology to substitute for real services that enhance the rapport between guests and staff. For it is the caring environment created by the hotel staff that builds and maintains a reputation and leads guests to return to the hotel and recommend it to others. Therefore, Sarna has worked assiduously with his colleagues to cultivate in the hotels a culture of “mutual respect, sincere service, dedication to the guests, and leadership.”
To generate a culture of caring and respect, Sarna suggests that those in managerial positions listen to the staff and carefully assess any situation without “jumping to conclusions…or proposing solutions” because he feels that “You build a team and make sure that communication channels are open so that you can define success together.” Once the success of a situation is defined, the manager steps aside, Sarna counsels. By doing so, the staff then feels respected and shares in the success. Sarna believes that “…if you get the best people around you and share your aspirations, you will find success. Support, listen, give them resources and let them get on with it. Delegate, but don’t abdicate.” Sarna describes a manager’s success as the moment “[W]hen the metrics come out, and you see the employee happiness or sense of satisfaction is as high as guest satisfaction.” As a very successful hotel administrator who has always remained humble, Mr. Sarna holds one quotation as most important to him: “Always do the right thing. Just do the right thing.” For, doing what is right does not burden a person with regret or unfairness to others that often brings on disrespect.