Ruchi Uberai
Director Amritara Hotels & Resorts
Having worked her way up, Ruchi initially joined Amritara as General Manager for Amritara Poovath Heritage Haveli, and was heading the operations of the property for three years. Having learnt the ropes, Ruchi took on the mantle of the hotel brand as its Director. The brand has grown by leaps and bounds under her leadership.
Amritara Hotels has come a long way from its inception as a hotel marketing and representation firm fifteen years ago and is now a full-fledged hotel brand with a network of thirteen functioning hotels across India.
When Ruchi joined the board in 2018, the thinking caps were donned by the management and soon the results started showing up with an even spread of properties across the country. Ruchi explains, “The focus was not on plain standardisation of product across a star rating or category but to create experiences.”
Even during the tough times faced by the hospitality and travel sectors over the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ruchi rolled up her sleeves and took advantage of this low period to Improve their Internal systems, reservation and property management systems, enhance computing technology and train their staff.
As a leader, Ruchi believes in listening to her employees’ ideas, she offers feedback and values their inputs. This not just empowers your team, but also builds a high-performing team. Ruchi considers the ability to control emotions and stay calm and collected when faced with hardships, the key quality of a leader. This is especially true today when many teams are turning to their leaders for the optimism that they are rapidly losing. When it comes to empowering people, one needs to maintain positivity at all times.
“The emotions you express will affect those around you. If you want positive, enthusiastic team members, then you have to show up as a positive and enthusiastic individual too.”
She strongly believes that leaders now must thrive in an atmosphere that’s fluid and more democratised. Connecting and collaborating intensively across the organisation is necessary for success. Today, teams are cross-functional and can connect and interlink through virtual platforms and tools in increasingly authentic and intuitive ways that were previously unimaginable. According to Ruchi, a collaborative leader should place team needs and priorities above personal needs and priorities. A successful leader today actively involves others in making decisions that affect them and, likewise, they give credit to others where credit is due.
Next Vacation: She is travelling to Sydney for a month to visit her sister, who she hasn’t met in over two years.