Top brass rejig at Indian Hotels

MUMBAI: The Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which runs Asia's largest hospitality chain under the name Taj, is set to see several changes at the senior management level. Jyoti Narang, chief operating officer (COO) of Gateway Hotels IHCL's mid-segment brand will be the new COO of the company's domestic luxury hotels. The luxury hotels divison consisting of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai, Taj Palace in New Delhi and Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur is the largest contributor to IHCL's revenues.
Narang, 51, who has been with the Taj group for nearly 29 years is taking over from Yannick Poupon.Poupon, a French national, is stepping into the shoes of Franz Zeller, the current chief operating officer of Taj's international luxury hotels division. Zeller, joined the Taj group a few years ago from Millennium Hotels and Resorts in Abu Dhabi. His contract, meanwhile, is coming to an end in May.
Narang is taking on additional responsibility as the head of the wildlife safari lodges business. The group operates in this space in partnership with CC Africa and Cigen Corporation. Her erstwhile position will now be held by P K Mohankumar, Taj's area director in Bangalore.
Jamshed Daboo, chief operating officer of Taj's premium hotels, is moving out of the hospitality industry and is joining Tata Capital. Daboo has been credited for launching Vivanta by Taj, the group's latest brand offering for business hotels. Veer Vijay Singh, Taj's area director for Hyderabad, will replace Daboo.
The Taj group, part of the $62 billion Tata group, has done away with its earlier format of separate business units for its luxury, leisure and business properties. In the changed structure--created two years ago--the luxury division remains unchanged. However, the leisure and business SBUs have been merged to form premium hotels. Then, there is a SBU for four-star properties under the Gateway brand. Taj's overseas properties are under the international division. The group's budget hotels--Ginger--is under a separate company.
Tata Capital has been leveraging on the vast talent pool of the various Tata group companies to take people on board. Another former IHCL employee who moved to Tata Capital was Amar Sinhji. Sinhji is head of human resources at Tata Capital.