Features
From a ‘Gut-Feeling’, 50 Years ago…
CONFESSIONS OF A GLOBAL GYPSY
President – Chandi J. Associates Inc. Consulting, Canada
Founder & Administrator – Global Hospitality Forum
chandij@sympatico.ca
Continued from last week…
Acknowledgement
A special thank you to Mr. Sriyantha (Simon) Senaratna, Precedent Partner, Simon & Associates, Attorney’s-at-Law and Notary Public, Sri Lanka, who was the Managing Director of Walkers Tours, 50 years ago when they entered the hotel industry. He provided valuable historic information about the beginning of a remarkable journey of a hotel company, for this article.
Cinnamon Hotel Brand
John Keells Group operated their hotel management company under different brand names. In 1970s as Walkers Tours Hotels, in 1980s as Hotel Management & Marketing Services Limited, and in 1990s as John Keells Hotels. In the year 2005, they rebranded their hotel chain as Cinnamon. In 2023, Cinnamon is the largest hotel company in Sri Lanka. They also have four hotels in the Maldives. With the opening of their 16th hotel – Cinnamon Life Colombo, the company will have a stock of 3,288 hotel bedrooms in Sri Lanka and The Maldives. Today, both in terms of the quality of the hotels and the quantity of the room stock, Cinnamon is arguably the greatest hotel company in Sri Lanka.
Generations of board members and professional hoteliers have contributed to this remarkable journey, having many unprecedented successes. In spite of various macro level challenges such as corruption, political instability and the 26-year civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009, Walkers Tours/John Keells hotels managed to survive and progress. At the end of the day, it is still important to understand the humble beginning of this hotel company and appreciate the pioneers who commenced that amazing journey, 50 years ago…
How Did Everything Start in 1973?
After reading my recent episodes of ‘Confessions of a Global Gypsy’ dedicated to my time at The Lodge and The Village, Habarana, I received more than the normal volume of reader’s mail. One was a long e-mail from a person with whom I had no contact for 40 years. This person, Sriyantha (Simon) Senaratna was the Managing Director of Walkers Tours when I joined them in 1977.
He wrote to me: “Chandana, this is a voice from the past. I have been following with great interest your series of articles on your life in the leisure industry appearing in the Sunday Island. Firstly, I want to thank you very much for the kind references that you have made about me personally in some of your articles. I was greatly overjoyed, last Sunday when you mentioned the name of Somaratna Silva as the architect of Habarana Village. I would like to mention the background to Habarana Village, which almost did not happen.” After exchanging a couple of further e-mails, he kindly agreed to collaborate with me in writing the following question and answer section of this article. Thank you, Mr. Senaratna!
As a US trained lawyer, how did you end up in the Tourism and Hotel Industry, over 50 years ago?
Answer: In 1970 I returned to Sri Lanka from the US and became an employee of Mr. N. S. O. Mendis, one of the great corporate leaders in Ceylon of that period, owning Mackwoods, Mackinnons, Delmege and the later acquisition, Walkers. He appointed me to the Board of Management to overlook the legal affairs of the behemoth Walkers & Sons. He never stepped into any of his acquisitions, but let the boards run them and report to him directly from time to time at his residence.
At one of the meetings, he mentioned to me that Walkers had a small travel company called Walkers Tours & Travels Limited, and whether I could look it over, in addition to my other duties. I had no idea of the Travel Industry, but he was a marvellous judge of people and he thought that I could do something. So, at the age of 30, I became the Managing Director at Walkers Tours.
How did Walkers Tours & Travels Limited operate in the early 1970s?
They were handling two large charter operations — Tjaereborg Rejser from Denmark and Neckermann from West Germany. I studied the statistics and found out that the profits were razor thin. The greater portion of money was made by the hotels. You will recall that all these groups went on a week-long round trip, which usually included a night in Kandy, a night in Polonnaruwa/Sigiriya and another night in Annuradhapura. I was of the view, if we acquired three nights of the round trip, we would be doing well.
How was the location of Habarana chosen to build the first hotel project of Walkers Tours — The Village?
I felt that the best central location was Habarana, which was the cross road to all these historic attractions in the Cultural Triangle. I suggested to Adrian Wijemanne, the Chairman of the Board of Management, that Walkers build a hotel at Habarana, which would result in Walkers Tour’s profits increasin dramatically. We put forward a proposition to Mr. Mendis who accepted it. I was happy that my ‘gut-feeling’ was accepted by my superiors, at that time.
Thereafter Adrian, Neville Arnolda, Norman Impett and myself went to Habarana to see whether there was a suitable site. After a fruitless day of searching, we returned. After a few days Adrian, who was by then a firm believer in the idea of a hotel in Habarana, suggested that he and I meet the land officials at the Anuradhapura Kachcheri. In his work as a civil servant, he had many dealings with the Anuradhapua Kachcheri.
We met the Chief Clerk at the Kachcheri whom he knew to be a very experienced officer by the name of Perera. He immediately pulled out the one inch survey map of the area, after we advised him of the purpose of our visit. He studied the map for a few minutes, looked up and said, “I have found the ideal place for you at Habarana!”
We were quite surprised, but he said, “Let me come with you to show you the site.” So, when we came to the Habarana junction, we turned right towards Sigiriya and about 200 yards from the junction he asked us to stop the car. We looked around, it was an impenetrable jungle.
He got the help of some villagers and he took us about 200 yards into the jungle and suddenly we were looking at the Habarana Lake. Both Adrian and I looked at each other and smiled. We knew we found our site. The Government gave us 50 acres for 50 years. That was the beginning of Walkers Tours Hotels.
Who originated the concept for The Village Habarana?
Soon after we returned from Habarana to Colombo I immediately contacted Somaratna Silva (Soma) and discussed it with him. Soma was a very close friend of our family and I was his Power-of-Attorney holder whenever he was out of the country. He and I went back to the site and he identified what needed to be done. A few weeks later he came up with the concept of the Village. Mr. Mendis agreed.
Believe it or not, Soma was not a qualified architect, so there are no drawings of the village signed by him. He was the Sri Lankan representative for a large pharmaceutical group, a part of the Heineken Beer empire. In Amsterdam he followed his life’s passion of architecture and went through his training in architecture. When he came back to Sri Lanka, he showed me some of the houses he had constructed for his friends and I was deeply impressed by the concepts and the innovative use of space. In fact, the house I am living in today was designed by Soma, but for purposes of obtaining approval, all his buildings including Habarana Village and Sigiriya Village were signed by local architects.
How did the Ceylon Tourist Board react to The Village Habarana proposal?
Mr. Mendis agreed with Soma’s plans and the drawings. I took those to the Ceylon Tourist Board (CTB) to get their approval. The Development Director at CTB took a look at the drawings and said “What is this? This is not a hotel! I cannot approve this!” As you will recall at that time, the concept of a hotel was a brick-and-mortar structure with a central front office, dining room and bar. That is what he expected. Then I met with M. Y. M. Thahir, the Director General and Dharmasiri Senannayake the Chairman of CTB to convince them of this new concept. Fortunately, after several days they accepted. We commenced the project which was called ‘Habarana Walkinn’.
Who else made significant contributions to The Village Habarana project?
The interior décor of each of 60 initial cottages was done by Chole de Soysa, the wife of our Chairman A. C. H. De Soysa who had just retired as the first Chairman of the CTB. The gardens were landscaped by Bevis Bawa, and Lucky Senanayake did a magnificent mural in the lobby. Then came the choice of a manager. Soma, who had an unerring eye for people, suggested Bobby Adams, whom he had met as the Catering Manager at Queens Hotel in Kandy in 1973.
How and when did John Keells Company get involved in The Village Habarana project?
Meanwhile Mr. Mendis called me one day and said, I am selling Walkers Tours to John Keells, who were then exploring the possibility of entering the tourism sector. They started with Walkers Tours and I joined their main board. With that, Walkers Tours commenced The Village project in 1973 and joined the hotel industry with optimism and ambition to expand quickly.
When I put forward the name of Bobby Adams as the hotel opening Manager for The Village, the board, particularly David Blackler and Mark Bostock objected, saying that Bobby had no experience as a manager of a hotel, but I stood my ground and the rest is history. As you know Chandana, Bobby progressed very well.
When I was working at The Village and The Lodge in the mid-1980s, both hotels had a few weekly buffet dinners, which I heard that you were not keen about. Is that a fact?
Yes, when Habarana Village opened in 1976, I insisted that there will be no buffets whatsoever! Each meal was a sit-down meal. This was equally so when we opened Sigiriya Village. As weekly buffets were so common in all city, resort and roundtrip hotels in Sri Lanka, I wanted The Village to be different and unique, not only in its concept and design, but also in its products and services.
‘No buffet’ policy was not popular with the restaurant staff as you can imagine. When I sat for meals, it sometimes arrived late… perhaps a subtle message to me!! Of course, I noted but let it pass. After I left the company, I believe that policy was changed.
What are the other hotel projects you became involved in when you were the Managing Director of Walkers Tours?
We started with Habarana Village and just before its opening, Dr. Neville Fernando approached me to manage Hotel Swanee. After that, we took over another hotel in the same area called Dulmini owned by a local businessman. Thereafter, the film idol Gamini Fonseka approached me to manage his Sanasuma Hotel in Weerawila. Finally, before I left, we took over Hotel Ceysands owned by Lalith Kotalawela. These were the hotels under my purview in my time at Walkers Tours.
When, why and how did you become a competitor to Walkers Tours / John Keells?
A few years later, in 1979, I left John Keells as I was not in agreement with the manner in which they wished to expand the industry. I resigned and formed Gemini Tours and went on to build Sigiriya Village, which to me is a more classic example of Soma’s ability, where once again Bevis Bawa did marvels with the garden and Lucky Senanayake produced another magnificent mural in the lobby, with the interior décor of the rooms being attended to by Chloe de Soysa.
Before leaving the leisure industry during the time of the LTTE civil war, I also became one of the first Sri Lankans to invest in the Maldives, which I realised at that time was going to be an important tourist destination. When I left the industry on the invitation to be a partner of the long-established law firm D. L. & F. de Sarams, I really was going back to my first love, Law. When I left de Sarams about 29 years ago, I set up my own law firm of ‘Simon and Associates,’ where I still work, leading a set of marvellous lawyers and chartered secretaries, who handle over 400 client companies.
Do you have any other concluding comments?
Yes. In conclusion, I must mention Chandana, that when the Sigiriya Village project was nearing completion in 1980, having already become familiar with your ability and talents, I got Soma to approach you with an offer to be the hotel opening Manager of the Sigiriya Village. With 20/20 hindsight, I believe you made the correct decision by not accepting our offer, because as I see it, you blossomed under John Keells, and thereafter you had a fantastic global career. Congratulations, Chandana! I look forward to reading your column every Sunday.
FINAL ‘CONFESSIONS…’ ARTICLE
After three more articles, on March 5th, 2023, the concluding article of the weekly column: ‘Confessions of a Global Gypsy’ will be published by the Sunday Island. Thank you for your readership over the last two years.