Park Hotel's Priya is designing a Hospitality Experience Since 1988 Today, each of The Park Hotels is very distinctive; the interior of each hotel are widely inspired by the city and its people.
By Punita Sabharwal •
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Growing up in Kolkata, Priya was widely exposed to fine arts. Her father, who was fond of art, took her to exhibitions every once in a while. She further went on to study Fine Arts. Later, when she joined her father's hotel business, she turned it to one of the most aesthetically designed hotel chain using her creative talent. Priya had joined Park Hotel chain in 1988, which opened in 1967.
The repositioning of hotels, in terms of design, began in 1992; by that time the group already had three hotels in Kolkata and Delhi. Priya started working on the idea of creating contemporary spaces. Talking about the need to revamp, Priya says, "I was looking into something visually interesting and not just brass and marbles all over. I enjoyed designing the interior and that is what I started doing with one restaurant in Kolkata. By mid 90s, we re-designed the entire hotel and it was something which I enjoyed creating."
Today, each of The Park Hotels is very distinctive; the interior of each hotel are widely inspired by the city and its people. The Park Hotel in Kolkata is designed on the concept of chakras. The hotel in Chennai turned out to be the premises of fantastic and well known film studios. Each one was ideated differently while it was revamped.
Talking about her design inspiration Priya says, "Design is something you are continuously learning by looking at things. For me it is always exciting to see new things and try new things and explore." On what all changes she brought while revamping the hotels, Priya says, "When I took over the business in 1990, there were only three hotels and they were being renovated and the company also needed restructuring."
The group currently has eight hotels in The Park. And one in Park Collection, which are smaller, and five hotels in zone segment, which are designed at a comparatively lower price range. Moreover, it has 13 properties signed up in this category.
(This article was first published in the November issue of Entrepreneur Magazine. To subscribe, click here)
