Nagpur Today Interview: Mickey Arora , a hotelier by profession and by no means an unknown figure in the business and hotel circuit of Nagpur. The Owner of the famous hotel Centre point got candid with nagpur today on his life and the business that he runs . The following is the full transcript of our chat, but I highly recommend listening to the audio of the interview.
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Tues 19 Nov. 2024
Suhani: Tell me something about yourself, your background and where you belong to?
Mickey Arora: I was born in Nagpur and did my education from Nagpur itself from SFS School and Hislop College. I started my career with Deepak Paint, then we started with automobile shop.
Suhani: What made you switch to Hotel Industry?
Mickey Arora : Earlier there were no centrally air conditioned hotel in Nagpur. No professional Hotel Industry as such so there was a need of hotel in 1988, so with that idea of centrally air conditioned hotel in Nagpur evolved and Centre Point became the first centrally air-conditioned hotel in Nagpur.
Suhani: Something about centre point hotel.
Mickey Arora: We started in 1988 with 45 rooms only, now we have 100 rooms and talking about restaurants and halls we have 5-6 halls here including the banquet hall. And since the day we have started we are growing.
Suhani: Your experience in hotel industry
The experience here is very good. we get to meet people from all walk of life. It is a very good industry where if you care for your customers they will care for you.
Suhani: Apart from hotel, have you ever dreamt of being into any other industry?
Mickey Arora: We have other business also like construction. The hotel industry has become a base and being a Punjabi i would like to expand my hotel and food industry only.
Suhani: From your experience what is the good part and bad part of hotel industry?
Mickey Arora: As such there is no bad part in this industry, everything is good. You satisfy the customers and when they leave with a smile the whole hard work and tiredness goes off. The only bad thing is our family life is sacrificed as the hotel business starts when everyone closes their business so we have to sacrifice our family lives.
Suhani: What is your motto to serve the customers?
Mickey Arora : Satisfaction to their value, to meet their expectation is our motto. And they should feel like they are at their second home. Comfort is also something that we take maximum care of.
Suhani: What makes centre point different from other hotels?
Mickey Arora: We care for our customers and our food is our strong point and we provide the customers with everything they demand for.
Suhani: Are you satisfied with your hotel or you think something is missing and you are yet to add it?
Mickey Arora: This property established in 1988, so I cannot say that it is a newly established venture and I can add this or that. Yes I wanted to add more greenery and more space but since it is in heart of the city so cant expand the area.
Suhani: Where you were 5 years back where you are now and where do you see yourself in coming 5 years?
Mickey Arora: Five years earlier definitely we were growing and now it is a time we have to consolidate and after five years my both sons will be in the business, one is already there and we will try and expand the business in other cities also.
Suhani: Tell me something about your family background?
Mickey Arora: I stay with my father and i have my wife and two kids. Elder son is married and younger son is doing his hotel management.
Suhani: As you have multiple businesses – construction, hotel and your family, how do you manage everything?
Mickey Arora : Management means manage the men. If you manage your men properly they will manage your business well. So its all execution of work, delegating authorities and run the business professionally.
Suhani: How important is it to have a professional as well as a friendly relationship with you customers?
Mickey Arora : Definitely its all about being professional at the same time being at the best behaviour, which is why a hotel industry cannot be completely professional, it has to be semi-professional, as every customer has a different demand, so certain standard has to be maintained which is why rules have to be followed and the business should run in the right spirits.
Suhani: Ambiance has more impact than food what’s your comment in that?
Mickey Arora: Definitely, ambiance plays a crucial role and continuous renovation helps in upgrading property. And its the sole reason why we are also upgrading. The renovation is coming to an end and from December you will find new centre point. But ambiance and food both go hand in hand. Although food has more weight as it provides the satisfaction and ambiance is just an add-on to the food.
Suhani: Who is your ideal today at this stage?
Mickey Arora: Although my mother is no more, she has always been my and my family’s ideal. Its her because of who I stand here today.
Suhani: Tell me something about Nagpur, what do you think is special here?
Mickey Arora: The people are very warm and Nagpur is full of love and affection. Whenever they will meet they will meet with a hug not just a formal shake hand.
Suhani: What is Nagpur missing as far as hotel industry is concerned?
Mickey Arora: As such we are not missing anything. We have good caterers, outlets. What we are missing is the specialised food-joints like McDonalds etc. But these things work only at the metros or where there is floating population.
Suhani: Describe Centre Point Hotel in one word?
Mickey Arora: Home away home
Suhani: Any message for the Nagpurians?
Mickey Arora: You have to work well to achieve something in consistence. Consistency is the key word, if you want to achieve something you have to be consistent
By Suhani Vanjani
