We literally had to match the pace with which he takes fast steps; we were captivated by the swiftness of his talk, precise conduct, and his gracious beahvior. In the first few minutes of the rendezvous one could comprehend that he feels the pulse of the hospitality business of which he has been a part of for over a decade. He possesses all the prerequisites which are synonymous to the business excellence that characterizes the Tata way of enhancing and conducting business endeavors, and to a great extent, have helped define the Tata brand. His vibrant persona is ubiquitous and his catapult to spectacular success can be gauged from the fact that his USP lies in his ability to collect powerful people on the board and thereby ensuring maximum returns from his team and towards the organization. Mr. Saurabh Bhargava can be called as a ‘hungry honcho’ in terms of success. Over the years he has not only registered growth but has also built trust and strong relationships. He has successfully balanced ambition with prudence and is poised to be holding steady in the coming years. His tryst with destiny began with Taj and the values of this Brand runs in his veins and bolsters his development as an individual.
He has done his schooling from The Air force School New Delhi. He was never too keen on traveling in buses and so went on to complete his graduation from Bhagat Singh College, which was quite close to his residence in south Delhi. Once he finished his graduation from Bhagat Singh, he faced the same problem which any graduate faces and that was, “What to do next?” It then happened that he came across an institution which served as a change agent in his life. He did some research on IIPM and got a positive feedback on the institute .He went to the office in Okhla and met Mr. Chibbar from administration and purchased the admission form for Rs.150. Both, he and his friend filled up the form and after two months they were happily in IIPM. Mr. Bhargava says, “IIPM made me brilliant and gave self belief and the courage of conviction that paved a smooth way to begin my corporate journey.” He joined the institute when it was in its nascent stages. Even though classes were held at various locations like Ashram in Lajpat nagar, the interactions and learning’s they had with the faculties and especially with Dr. M.K Chaudhuri were so good that this kept them going.
A salesman should never take no as an answer, he should always keep going and build relationships at every level
It was in the year 1994 that the seeds of hard work which were sown two years back in IIPM now began to be fruitful and rewarding. The first step in the corporate world was with The Indian Express where he was involved in space selling projects. That phase was thoroughly enjoyed by him. The next venture was with a brand that he still lives and breathes. The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) and its subsidiaries, collectively known as the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces and are recognized as one of Asia’s largest and finest hotel company’s. He joined the Taj Palace Hotel in the Sales domain and then there was no looking back as he earned huge revenues for the company. He walked the streets of Delhi, sold rooms, banquet halls and the brand itself. His mantra has been, “a key salesman should never take no as an answer, he should always keep going and build relationships at every level.” Another company which he explored after his stint at Taj was American Express. He utilized his capabilities in the Sales Arena in the role of Strategic Sales Manager, from Insurance to Credit Cards and Corporate Cards. He was associated with American Express for five years and then Mr. Bhargava joined back Taj, as Head Sales and Marketing for Northern India. He has been predominantly into sales & marketing throughout and liked his work of meeting the customers and generating business. According to him a true salesman should believe in his product and should experience the product especially in the hospitality industry where they are selling a dream and an experience. He feels that the biggest asset they have is the name “Tata” behind them. Secondly, the value that Tata’s give and that the people know that it is a very clean company and is a very transparent organization. This acts as a great advantage that they bring in the market. Taking examples of open destinations like Goa and Lucknow. Taj opened up its hotel in Goa 20 years ago and today it’s difficult to get even a room over there as it has now become a well known destination.
IHCL operates in the luxury, premium, mid-market and value segments of the market through the following brands; Taj, Vivanta by Taj, The Gateway Hotels, Taj Holidays, Jiva Spa and Taj Air.
He admires his chairman Mr. Ratan Tata, a lot and the values of this distinguished personality made him rejoin Taj. The five core Tata values under pinning the way they do business are: Integrity; Understanding; Excellence; Unity; Responsibility.
Talking about Mr. Bhargava’s leadership’s style, one should know that it is very participative and it differs with the situation, it is not one sided all the time, the dominant part is concentrated and he is never dictatorial. He welcomes discussions on anything he does. He always takes his team along as he is what his team is as he alone cannot cover the market; he relies on their intelligence, on what is going on in the market and latest trends. These values continue to direct the growth and business of Tata companies. One of his biggest achievements in Taj was that he launched the National Account. This brings him back to the college lectures where they talk about the 80-20 principle where 80 percent of the business comes from 20 percent of their accounts. They are key accounts in any organization and he was instrumental in doing that about 10 years ago and that still continues to go strong. The icing on the cake was that each competing chain also followed their strategy later on. Another key focus area was how to retain people, in today’s market as a person grows in an organization his role becomes more people oriented specially in the hospitality industry where it is all about people and relationships.
And with many new opportunities coming up with international hotel chains, the domestic hotel industry is losing out on people not only to International hotel chains but also telecom, insurance and media. Being in the local market for about 100 years, Mr. Bhargava feels that the dominance of Taj in domestic market will continue and simultaneously they will keep entering international market in places like New York, Sydney, London, and San Francisco, Scotland.
Hospitality industry is one which is very vulnerable to uncertainties which are beyond control. For instance, terrorists attacks; global recession and epidemics. When probed in about these threats, Mr. Bhargava explains that they realigned themselves to cater to the domestic market because the domestic market stayed unaffected as the people were still traveling due to work and business, so they shifted their focus to domestic market. In an eventful career this was one of the many instances, Mr. Bhargava exhibited his thinking abilities which were beyond horizon and unconventional.
Landscaping the differences between he student life he experienced and what he sees today, he said that during his time people used to look out for careers and in today’s scenario students look out for jobs. These days students have a short term approach when it comes to working for an organization. Youngsters who are entering the corporate world should work for a brand; look out for a career and not a job and wishes the aspirants a winning careers ahead.
Along with being a perfectionist at work, Mr. Bhargava is also a complete family person. He gives ample time to his family. His wife, Deepti works with Shri Ram School, Gurgaon in a teaching profile. His kids, Aiman and Aarash are close to his heart. He tries to weave all his spheres of life in a synchronized way and his resilience and never die spirit keeps him on the run and we foresee creating newer benchmarks……
