From Rhodes Scholar to Running 500-Year-Old Forts: Neemrana CEO Sonali Kaikar | CXO Connect

By Times Of India

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How do you run 18 heritage hotels, some in buildings over 500 years old, and still turn a profit through COVID without letting a single employee go? On this episode of CXO Connect, Prasad Sanyal speaks with Sonali Kaikar, CEO of Neemrana Hotels. She studied psychology at LSR, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, and played golf at the national level before joining the family's heritage hospitality business in 2010. They talk about: * How Neemrana stayed profitable in 2020 with no layoffs and no hotel shutdowns * The staff who once pulled the wires on an ERP system, and how she brought in computerised billing anyway * Standardising a chain where no two rooms are alike * Hiring locally: why attitude beats formal hospitality training * Restoring Raja Rani Mahal in Chanderi and Barwa Sagar Fort near Jhansi, including the dying art of choona work * Why luxury today means simplicity, authenticity, and disconnecting * Gen Z, Instagram, AI chatbots, and the parts of hospitality that should never be

Tags: times of india, toi, news today, world news, breaking news, latest news, news, Neemrana Hotels, Sonali Kaikar, Neemrana Fort Palace, heritage hotels India, hospitality CEO interview, CXO Connect, Prasad Sanyal, luxury travel India, heritage restoration India, women in leadership, hotel industry COVID, Times of India