Features
CONCLUSION Part ‘A’PASSIONS OF A GLOBAL HOTELIER
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
Dr. Chandana (Chandi) Jayawardena DPhil
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
Thank You!
This 90th episode and next Sunday’s 91st episode provide the concluding narration of the ‘CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY’ column. In addition, during the last 27 months, I published nine other special feature articles in the Sunday Island. Those were on topics such as: ‘My Princess of Hospitality’, ‘Tsunami’, ‘COVID-19’, ‘Baila King and I‘, a couple on ‘China’ and stories of famous people I hosted as a hotelier (President Castro, Prince Philip, Pelé.).
I thank you for reading these 100 articles. I enjoyed sharing my personal stories with you. My life is an open book and very soon ‘Confessions of a Global Gypsy’ will be published as a book. I wanted to write this book mainly for my three children, to keep a record of their father’s unusually action-packed life of his early career in hospitality operations and management.
Hospitality industry, by accident
Last 89 episodes of this column covered 18 years of my life, from age 17 to 35. My story started on April 5, 1971, the day an armed communist revolt was commenced by Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) / People’s Liberation Front against the Government of Ceylon. I was 17-years old at that time and was a grade 12 student at Ananda College in Colombo 10. On that day my life and dreams for the future changed significantly.
Throughout my 13 years at the largest school in Ceylon (Ananda College), from kindergarten to grade 12, I was a very bad student. I did not read any assigned texts, and devoutly ignored homework assignments, in order to find time for fun and games. Therefore my teachers were surprised when I passed the Grade 10 Ordinary Level government examinations in my first attempt. I was good at sports and showed some leadership qualities, both at school and in the diverse community where my family lived – the Bambalapitiya Flats.
I was also a cadet and held the rank of Corporal in my scool platoon. My dream was to join the army as an officer cadet for a two-year training program when I turned 18. I was sad when my parents told me decisively that, “a career in the Army is now far too dangerous and we do not want our only son to die at war!” I was forced to choose another career.
My parents had doubts that I would be successful at the Grade 12 Advance Level government examinations to enter a university and eventually become a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer (as preferred for their children by most parents in then Ceylon). They gave me three career choices and wanted me to pick one. My father provided some pros and cons for all three choices.
He said that, “Once the war ends, tourism has the potential of becoming a key, non-traditional industry in Ceylon. Those who earn a recognized qualification and join the industry at an early stage will have excellent opportunities. There is a Hotel School in Colombo, run by a European faculty, which offers a three-year diploma in Hotel and Catering Operations.”
As a frequent global traveller, my father had already inspired me to follow in his footsteps. He was suggesting that a career in tourism would provide me with opportunities to travel to different countries. Such opportunities were rare in developing countries at that time and not affordable to a vast majority of Lankans. As a free-spirited teenager, living in a hostel for three years and getting good ‘free’ food were also convincing and selling points from my father. I said, “OK, I will become a hotelier!” without fully realizing what that entailed.
After an unsteady start …
Soon after joining the Ceylon Hotel School, I focused on gaining industry experience at every possible opportunity. I started at the lowest ranks within the hospitality industry and did a record number of ten part-time jobs during the next three years. Although I was fired from my first job and nearly expelled by the West German Principal of the Ceylon Hotel School for bad behaviour, a few years later I concentrated on doing well in post-graduate studies in Sri Lanka and Europe. My father was correct when he predicted to my mother who was very worried about me, “Dulcie, don’t worry. Chandana is a late developer and eventually will do well.” Thank you, Thaththa!
During the first 18 years of my adventurous career, I gained experience as a dishwasher, busboy, waiter, bellboy, roomboy, receptionist, barman, cook, assistant manager, trainee chef, executive chef, food & beverage manager, resort manager, and operations manager of John Keells Hotels Group, senior lecturer, tourist guide lecturer, travel agency director and general manager of two large resorts, and food and beverage director of a five-star, international hotel. By mid 1989, in the midst of two terrorist wars in Sri Lanka, I was ready to commence a global career in hotel management.
I continued in the tourism and hospitality industry for another 34 years in different capacities, mainly as a Hotel General Manager. I was a Professor and Dean and during the last 10 years, a Leadership Consultant. I am still involved in the hotel industry and academia, but as a coach to younger generations of hoteliers and hospitality professors, with the hope that they may benefit from some of my old stories and experiences.
I firmly believe that those who were fortunate to have colourful and unusually exciting careers have a responsibility to share their wealth of experience to help others. It is difficult to cover all of the experiences I have gained during my long career. Therefore, in the rest of the space I have in the two concluding articles of the ‘Confessions’ series, I will use more than the usual number of photographs to tell the story. As someone once said, “A picture is worth a thousand words.”
Dreams in Bombay
In May, 1989, I boarded a flight from Colombo to Bombay (re-named Mumbai six years later) with 50 former employees of Hotel Lanka Oberoi. I was the only outside recruit to join Hotel Babylon Oberoi in Iraq. As I was the only divisional head (Food & Beverage Manager) in the group of new recruits, I had to assume a leadership role during the journey and settling period in Baghdad. After a night in Bombay arranged by the Oberoi Hotels, we took a second flight to Baghdad. All 50 had some level of anxiety about working in a war-torn location with a totally different culture, but we were happy with the high salaries offered to us.
Before landing in Bombay, and the short stay in that colourful city, I wrote a one-page plan for my future. I was ambitious and keen to become the General Manager of an internationally branded hotel in a few years time. Having been a senior lecturer and trained by ILO/UNDP as a trainer, I also planned to return to the academia after completing a PhD. I had already submitted a proposal for a doctoral thesis to the University of Surrey in England, where I had completed a master’s degree in International Hotel Management four years prior. The last point I included in my hand-written plan, before we landed in Iraq, was that I eventually wanted to set up a consulting firm focusing on hospitality management. I already had done a few ad hoc consulting assignments and thoroughly enjoyed those opportunities.
Nightmares In Baghdad
I did well in Iraq, opening new restaurants and organizing a series of food festivals. I also trained many young Iraqis returning to civilian life after the eight-year long war with Iran. Although I found Iraqis to be very friendly, under the rule of Saddam Hussein, Baghdad was infested with ‘plain-clothed’ government spies closely watching every movement of the expatriate workers. No one knew who was spying on whom. My family (wife and son) were well looked after by Oberoi, with full-board accommodations in a corner suite overlooking the River Tigris. Every Friday (my off day) when we went out sightseeing and meeting with friends, on our return to the hotel we realised that someone had gone through all of our belongings and deliberately left clues that our suite had been searched.
Catering to the whims and fancies of the president’s murderous, elder son, Uday Hussein, in the hotel night club and casino was a scary challenge. A major culture shock for us was getting used to the fact that most men in Iraq openly carried firearms, and all our offices were wire tapped by secret police. In spite of these challenges, I focused on laying a good foundation for my global career, whilst working in Baghdad.
Back in London
When the University of Surrey accepted me to their MPhil/PhD program, we had a good reason to move from Iraq to England. Using our contacts in our most favourite city in the world, both my wife and I quickly found good jobs in London. I was appointed the Assistant Director (to my mentor, Professor Richard Kotas) of the School of Hotel Management at Schiller International University London Campus. In this American university I learnt a lot about the North American education system. I did three days of teaching in addition to my administrative duties and doctoral research. Later, I was promoted as the Acting Director, when Professor Kotas retired. We bought a house in London and planned to settle down in England. We were very comfortable there.
Visiting Professor in Luzern
Around the same time, I commenced doing teaching assignments as a Visiting Professor of the International Management Institute (IMI) in Switzerland. That experience prepared me for the various Visiting Professor roles I held in later years in Sri Lanka, Guyana, Canada, USA and the UK.
General Manager at Mount Lavinia
As I was doing well in academia and loved teaching, I commenced thinking that I should spend the rest of my career in post-secondary education. That plan changed when Mr. Sanath Ukwatte, Chairman of Mount Lavinia Hotel offered me an expatriate, three-year contract as the General Manager. As the benefits package was very good, it was another offer that I could not refuse. When I was leaving London, the Schiller International University offered me a teaching contract for the next three summers, which I accepted, as well.
In addition to being the General Manager of Mount Lavinia Hotel, I also managed the Catering Services for BMICH National Convention Centre of Sri Lanka, and set up another subsidiary, service company as the General Manager. Having worked there as a Trainee Waiter in 1972/1973, I was very happy to return as the General Manager after 18 years. I simply loved Mount Lavinia Hotel and did some innovative projects with its 700 employees.
Founding IHS as the Managing Director
I then conceptualized and opened the International Hotel School (IHS) of Sri Lanka within the Mount Lavinia Hotel, as the Founding Managing Director in 1991. It was a ‘Swiss-style’ functional hotel school, and the first of its kind in Sri Lanka. We secured five international accreditations/pathways for further education for IHS graduates in Europe and North America. IHS also launched Sri Lanka’s first Executive Diploma in Hotel Administration. In 2023 – the 32nd year of the school, I was appointed as a Director of IHS Guild.
The accreditation of IHS by the world’s largest professional body for hospitality managers – Hotel and Catering International Management Association (HCIMA) in the United Kingdom, opened many door for Sri Lankan hoteliers. IHS created the foundation to form the Sri Lanka Chapter (international group) of HCIMA. In 1991 I was elected as the Founding Chair of HCIMA – Sri Lanka.
IHS also led the establishment of Hotel Skills Improvement program of the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL). As the Chairman of this committee, I led the training of ‘On the Job Trainers’, with a team of top hospitality educators in Sri Lanka. It was an ambitious program, in spite of prolonging civil was in Sri Lanka continuing to affect tourism. It was considered a best practice in Asia and we were invited to share the concept at major regional conferences.
Setting up a Consulting Consortium
After I completed my three-year contract at Mount Lavinia Hotel, I had two career choices. I applied to all top international hotel corporations and indicated that I am looking for a General Manager position anywhere in the world. At the same time, I founded a consortium of hotel consultants in Sri Lanka. Our team of consultants which I led, included three other well-known Sri Lankan Hoteliers – Hiran Serasinghe (former General Manager of Ramada Renaissance), Damayantha Kuruppu (hotel equipment expert) and Kamal Happuwatte (hotel training expert and later, the Principal of the Ceylon Hotel School). While negotiating to take over two resort hotels for management, four of us did our own individual consulting assignments. Such a consortium was a new concept in Sri Lanka in 1994.
Consultant to the Chairman of Galle Face Hotel
From end of 1993, my main individual consulting assignment was at the Galle Face Hotel. I felt honoured, when the Chairman of the hotel company – the late Mr. Cyril Gardiner sought my advice as a Resident Consultant to further develop this world-famous iconic hotel established in 1864. I enjoyed working for this legendary businessman, and found it very interesting. A few months after I commenced my work at the hotel, when I was offered a General Manager post by the largest British hotel company – Forte PLC, Mr. Gardiner was very kind to release me from his assignment. “Don’t worry about leaving us so soon. Chandana, as a Sri Lankan hotelier, you have made me very proud!” he said.
General Manager in Guyana & the Amazon
In 1994, Forte PLC sent me to South America to manage two of their hotels – the only five-star hotel in the capital city of Guyana and an eco-resort in the Amazon Rainforest. In Guyana I set up a few new subsidiary companies, including a horse-riding school, and the first ever hotel school of Guyana where I was Principal. I also worked as a Visiting Professor of Tourism Marketing at the University of Guyana. I opened and curated an art gallery in the most prestigious venue in Guyana – at the lobby of the Guyana Pegasus Hotel.
Jamaica, the land I lLove…
My next assignment was to manage the largest hotel in the capital city of Jamaica. There, I had an amazing three years filled with exciting events, quality assurance initiatives, innovative training, and above all, joy of providing hospitality to over 100 celebrities. With my team, we won several prestigious awards – for food, events and eventually as the first ever hotel in North America to be awarded ISO 9002 in 1998.
After 1998, I left hotels to join academia again and to complete my doctoral studies. In 2007, I returned to hotel management briefly, when I opened the largest, five-star hotel in Guyana as the General
Having married a Jamaican, I consider Jamaica as my fourth home (after Sri Lanka, Canada, and the United Kingdom). Jamaica is very close to my heart.
… To be concluded next Sunday under the theme:
‘Missions of a Global Professor’ …