Introducing The 2007 Hoteliers Of The World

By Jeff Weinstein, Editor in Chief -- HOTELS Magazine, 11/1/2007

The days of the classic hotelier appear to be numbered. Today’s hoteliers, it seems, must have better revenue management skills than people skills. As this industry continues to progress and expand globally, it is getting harder and harder to find classically trained hoteliers to nominate for and to honor with HOTELS’ annual award. More and more top executives are coming from marketing and financial backgrounds, not hotel operations backgrounds. But in 2007, the readers of HOTELS magazine have voted two true hoteliers as the winners of the Hotelier of the World awards. Raymond Bickson and Natale Rusconi have trained since their impressionable school days to run hotels. They are both patient, service oriented, devoted to the craft they love, and know how important it is to treat guests and staff with genuine kindness. For those reasons and for years of successfully honing their leadership skills with both dignity and grace, the 62,000- plus readers of HOTELS magazine have voted Raymond Bickson, managing director and CEO of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Mumbai, and Dr. Natale Rusconi, managing director, Hotel Cipriani, Venice, as the 2007 Hoteliers of the World.



For Raymond Bickson, the journey started during the heyday of Hawaiian tourism, when he was exposed to the business through his father, one of the co-founders of the Budget rental car company. Growing up in Honolulu, he met great hoteliers like Georg Rafael, Bob Burns and Adrian Zecha, who became mentors and guided him to Europe to start his training.

After apprenticing at great hotels in France, Switzerland and Germany, Bickson joined up with his mentors and during the 1980s became an integral component to the development of the famed Regent brand, helping open hotels from Melbourne and Shanghai to Chicago and Puerto Rico. Because of the brand’s commitment to true luxury, Bickson was able to further develop his skills and teach what it means to practice the true spirit of hospitality.

His longest stint came in New York, after Rafael hired him to run The Mark, where he became and served for 15 years as the dean of New York hotelkeepers. When Ratan Tata later approached him to grow his Taj brand, it was an opportunity too good to pass up, and today Bickson is in the midst of doubling the company’s hotel holdings and participating in India’s fascinating development story. Even as he wears his corporate hat, Bickson maintains his aloha spirit and remains a model of luxury hotelkeeping.

For Rusconi, the journey came naturally, as he was born into the business in Milan some 81 years ago. After growing restless at his parents’ hotel, he ventured out on his own to make a name for himself. He went to London to work at The Savoy, and then returned to Italy to work for the CIGA group, in hotels such as Venice’s Gritti Palace and the Grand Hotel in Rome. In 1977, Rusconi found his home at the Cipriani.

It was during his 30 years there that Rusconi earned the reputation as one of the world’s great hotelkeepers, inspiring the staff and dedicating himself to transforming the out-of-the-way hotel into a world-class destination. And even as he prepares to retire at the end of the year, Rusconi continues putting in long days to ensure that the jewel he helped to build keeps its luster, both outside and in.