Interviews

Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi was the Executive Chairman of EIH Limited, which is the flagship company of the Oberoi Group, one of India’s largest luxury hotel chains. The group was founded in 1934 by Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, Prithvi’s father.

To begin his interview, Oberoi explained that because his father was a hotelier, he grew up living inside of hotels and learning about the hospitality business. After he finished his schooling and with the encouragement of his father, Oberoi went abroad to work in a number of hotels throughout Europe. After a few years, Oberoi returned to India and gained additional experience at the Maidens Hotel in Delhi before moving to Kolkata and working at The Oberoi Grand. In the early 1960s, while working at The Oberoi Grand, Oberoi was given the additional task of looking after the group’s four hotels in Pakistan. Oberoi discussed how these four hotels were ultimately taken over by Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965 as enemy property and were never returned (and were never compensated for).

In this interview, Oberoi explained that the group hit an important milestone with the opening of The Oberoi Intercontinental - New Delhi, in 1965. The Oberoi Intercontinental was India’s first modern hotel, which marked a pivotal moment for India’s tourism industry. In this interview, Oberoi described that they were able to finance this hotel by acquiring credit from American companies and were able to import equipment to create the hotel using the Export-Import Bank of the United States. Oberoi explained that, after the hotel was constructed, his father implemented a goal of turning The Oberoi Intercontinental into one of the highest rated hotels in the world. With this goal in mind, in 1966, The Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development was launched to train hotel managers in three different disciplines: general management, kitchen, and housekeeping. Additionally, Oberoi explained why his father decided to challenge India’s conservative norms by employing female staff beginning with the opening of The Oberoi Intercontinental. As a result of these training and hiring practices, Oberoi described the hotel’s employees and the quality of service they provide guests as the group’s best and biggest asset.

The interview continued as Oberoi explained the next series of luxury hotels the group built in India during the 1980s and their initial international expansion into Sri Lanka, Singapore, Nepal, and Egypt. He went on to describe the group’s introduction of computer technology. Oberoi pointed to this as the key technological innovation that made a significant change in the hotel industry. Oberoi continued by discussing continuing challenges in India: the need for the Indian government to recognize tourism as a major industry, bureaucratic barriers to improving infrastructure, the issue of corruption, and the need for businesses to advocate for environmental sustainability and to become engaged in social impact projects.

To conclude the interview, Oberoi reflected on how three generations of the Oberoi family have put distinctive stamps on the group: his father (the “businessman”), himself (the “hotelier”), and his son (the “operator”). Oberoi discussed the future of the group and the appointment of his son, Vikram, as Managing Director and CEO of EIH Limited in 2015. In the year of this interview, Oberoi’s father’s dream of creating the highest ranked hotel was realized: the Oberoi hotel brand was recognized as the best hotel brand in the world according to a readers’ poll in Travel and Leisure Magazine.

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