Poonam Nair: Leading Hospitality Through the People Behind It
How Poonam brings experience, accountability and a people-first approach to Radisson Resort Hatgad Saputara!
A hotel can have the right rooms, the right location and a healthy business plan, yet the guest experience can change in an instant when the people running the operation lose sight of what hospitality demands. The industry asks its leaders to understand several things at once: the guest standing in front of them, the team serving that guest, the numbers behind the business and the destination in which the hotel operates.
For Poonam Nair, this understanding has been determined by more than two decades in hospitality. Her journey has taken her across operations, sales, commercial strategy and luxury hospitality, giving her the opportunity to understand the business from several different angles. Each experience brought a different responsibility and a broader view of what keeps a hotel running well, while one belief continued to remain at the centre of her work: the power of people.
That experience gradually formed the way Poonam approaches leadership. She describes herself as a people-first leader, backed by processes and accountability, a philosophy that keeps her close to the operation while also making her attentive to the commercial side of the business. She enjoys understanding what is happening on the floor, interacting with guests and colleagues and keeping a close eye on the commercial health of the property.
Her years in hospitality have also influenced the way she understands a hotel itself. For Poonam, it is never simply a building with rooms. It is a living ecosystem of people, experiences, numbers, emotions and stories, with each element affecting the other.
That journey has now brought her to her current role as General Manager of Radisson Resort Hatgad Saputara, where she brings together the experience she has gathered across different areas of hospitality. At this stage of her career, business results provide only part of her motivation. She is equally driven by the opportunity to build people who can achieve those results long after she has moved on.
Developing confident leaders, creating meaningful guest experiences and leaving a positive impact on the destination where she operates have become important measures of meaningful success. For Poonam, that is where leadership finds its real value: in the people who grow under it and the experiences they go on to create.
Finding Her Place in Hospitality
Hospitality attracted Poonam because it is one of the few industries where people are both the product and the experience. Every day brings something different. She may begin her morning looking at a business plan and end the day celebrating a guest’s anniversary, solving an operational challenge or mentoring a young colleague. That variety has always energised her.
As her career progressed, her ambition evolved. Initially, it was about learning the business and becoming good at what she did. Over time, it became about understanding the hotel as a complete business and eventually about creating an impact through leadership.
Some of her most formative years were spent at Radisson Blu Udaipur Palace, where, over a nine-year journey as Vice President – Commercial, she was part of a remarkable business transformation, with turnover growing from approximately ₹35 crore to ₹100 crore.
That experience taught her the importance of patience, consistency and long-term thinking. It also showed her that extraordinary results rarely come from one big idea. They come from hundreds of small, disciplined decisions made consistently by a strong team.
That lesson became even more relevant as her career gave her exposure to different functions across hospitality.
Seeing the Hotel as One Business
Moving across operations, sales, commercial strategy and luxury hospitality completely changed the way Poonam looks at a hotel.
Having exposure to different functions taught her that a hotel cannot be managed department by department. Rooms, F&B, sales, finance, engineering, HR and guest experience are all interconnected.
A commercial leader who understands operations makes better business decisions. An operations leader who understands sales understands why certain guest segments matter. A leader who understands finance appreciates the consequences of every operational decision.
Today, when Poonam looks at a hotel, she sees four things simultaneously: the guest, the people, the process and the profit.
That perspective has helped her become more holistic in her decision-making. Revenue is important, but revenue without guest loyalty is fragile. Cost control is essential, but cost-cutting that compromises the experience can be counterproductive. Employee engagement matters because the guest ultimately experiences the culture of the organisation through its people.
The hotel, in her view, has to work as one business.
That broader perspective became particularly important when she took charge of Radisson Resort Hatgad Saputara as General Manager.
Unlocking Hatgad Saputara
When Poonam took charge, she was stepping into a beautiful property in a destination that still had enormous potential to be unlocked.
Her first priority was to understand the business fundamentally, the product, people, markets, destination, competitive landscape and commercial opportunities.
The property has 103 rooms, extensive banquet facilities, beautiful outdoor spaces and multiple F&B experiences. But infrastructure alone does not create demand. The larger question was who the property wanted to attract and why guests should choose Hatgad Saputara.
That led to a stronger focus on weddings, MICE, leisure and wellness, along with feeder markets including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Surat and Gujarat.
At the same time, Poonam wanted the internal culture to evolve alongside the business. Her belief is clear: “You cannot create an extraordinary guest experience without first creating an environment where employees feel valued and empowered.”
For her, the destination story and the internal culture cannot be separated. Both influence what the guest eventually experiences.
Giving Guests a Reason to Travel
Poonam believes a destination cannot be built simply by selling rooms.
“You have to give people a reason to travel.”
Udaipur already has an established tourism identity. Saputara and the surrounding Hatgad region offer something different, nature, quiet, monsoon landscapes, local culture, spirituality and a slower pace of life.
The identity she is building around the property is therefore centred on slow, sustainable and spiritual living.
One thought captures the philosophy particularly well: “We don’t sell rooms. We curate breathing space.”
The idea is to encourage guests to experience the destination rather than simply stay within the hotel. That means unhurried itineraries, nature-led experiences, wellness rituals, local-first cuisine, experiential dining and opportunities to disconnect from screens and reconnect with family and oneself.
The resort’s 100 percent vegetarian positioning is another important differentiator, while respecting Jain, Gujarati, Marwadi and wellness-oriented culinary preferences.
Ultimately, the ambition is that guests should leave with a memory and a story, not simply a checkout bill.
Finding the Balance Between Experience and Business
Poonam does not see short-term commercial gains and long-term guest experience as opposites.
The real leadership challenge, in her view, is finding the point where they reinforce one another.
Every decision is evaluated through the lens of guest experience, business sustainability, operational practicality and financial impact.
Occupancy is important, but the right business mix is equally important. A strong wedding, MICE or leisure segment can create value beyond the room night. It contributes to F&B, banquets, ancillary revenue and destination visibility.
Cost control follows the same principle.
It should not mean compromising the guest experience. It should mean eliminating waste, improving productivity and making smarter decisions.
Poonam therefore asks two questions: “What will give us revenue today?” and “What will strengthen the business tomorrow?”
That long-term thinking is particularly relevant in destination hospitality, where reputation and repeat business are long-term assets.
When Preparation Meets the Unexpected
Years of handling major weddings, MICE events and large-scale experiences have taught Poonam another important lesson: great execution is never accidental.
A major wedding or MICE event involves hundreds of details, rooms, food, banquets, engineering, housekeeping, security, transportation, guest movement and communication.
The biggest lesson, she says, is that great execution comes from preparation, clear ownership, communication and contingency planning.
But preparation does not mean everything will go according to plan.
During high-pressure situations, teams look towards the leader for composure. A leader does not necessarily need to have every answer, but must create confidence that the problem can be solved.
After years of handling complex operations, Poonam has become a strong believer in preparing extensively while remaining flexible enough to respond when reality changes.
Her description of hospitality captures that unpredictability:
“Hospitality is live theatre. You can rehearse, but you can never completely predict what happens once the curtain goes up.” The same thinking forms the way Poonam approaches recruitment and talent development.
Growing People, Not Just Teams
Poonam has learned that skills can be taught, but attitude, curiosity and ownership are priceless.
Recruitment, therefore, is not only about filling a vacancy. It is about identifying someone who can grow with the organisation.
Once people join, development becomes a leadership responsibility. Poonam believes in mentoring, cross-functional exposure, recognition and giving young professionals opportunities to take ownership beyond their immediate job descriptions.
Learning, she believes, should also remain engaging. Leadership exercises, communication training, interactive hotel quizzes and practical learning opportunities help make development part of the culture.
Culture is equally important.
At the hotel, festivals are celebrated together and opportunities are created for people from different departments to come together. These moments create something that policies alone cannot create, a sense of one big work family.
“People stay where they feel they belong, where they are learning and where they believe their contribution matters.”
For Poonam, building that sense of belonging is as much a leadership responsibility as achieving business results.
Making Sustainability Practical
Poonam approaches sustainability with the same focus on practical execution.
“For me, sustainability has to be practical, measurable and integrated into everyday operations.”
At Radisson Resort Hatgad Saputara, this includes solar power, energy-efficient LED lighting, glass bottles and dispensers, linen-reuse practices, paper bags and straws, drip irrigation, STP-recycled water, ETP systems and EV charging infrastructure.
The solar plant has already contributed meaningful energy savings, particularly outside the monsoon season. With approximately four acres of landscaping, responsible water management is especially important.
But sustainability, for Poonam, extends beyond reducing environmental impact.
It also includes sourcing, local employment and opportunities for local artisans and vendors.
A hotel operating in a destination is part of that destination’s economic and social ecosystem. If local communities benefit, local talent finds opportunities and local culture is celebrated respectfully, tourism becomes much more meaningful.
Understanding What Guests Will Want Next
Poonam sees guest expectations changing, particularly around the meaning of luxury.
Luxury will continue to matter, but for many travellers it now includes time, privacy, wellness, authenticity, personalisation and the ability to disconnect.
People also want experiences that feel relevant to them rather than standardised packages.
Wellness is becoming broader too. It is no longer restricted to a spa treatment. It encompasses food, sleep, nature, movement, mental wellbeing and the overall pace of a stay.
Technology will simultaneously make hospitality more seamless. AI, data and digital tools can help hotels understand preferences, forecast demand and improve efficiency.
But Poonam strongly believes technology should make hospitality more human, not less human.
“A digital check-in may save time, but genuine warmth still comes from a person.”
For her, the future will belong to hotels that combine high-tech efficiency with high-touch hospitality.
Preparing the Next Generation
That future will require the next generation of hospitality professionals to understand much more than traditional hotel management.
Poonam believes they need commercial understanding, financial literacy, digital awareness, sustainability, data interpretation and emotional intelligence, along with the ability to lead people through constant change.
But she also wants young professionals to remember the essence of hospitality.
“People will remain our greatest differentiator.”
Her advice is simple: stay curious, remain humble, take responsibility and never stop learning.
- Do not chase titles; build capability.
- Do not chase recognition; build trust.
- And do not be afraid of difficult assignments, they often teach you the most.
After two decades in hospitality, Poonam has come to believe that leadership is not about being the person with the loudest voice or the most answers. It is about creating an environment where others find their voice and develop the confidence to lead.
Her personal leadership mantra brings that belief together:
“Be the leader you would want to work for.”
For Poonam, that means building workplaces where people feel respected, trusted, challenged, celebrated and inspired to become better versions of themselves.
And that brings her understanding of hospitality back to where it began: people.
If the people behind the hotel feel valued, empowered and trusted, they can create the experiences that guests remember. In that sense, leadership is not simply about running hotels.
It is about building people, creating memories and shaping the future of hospitality.