In the past, Sherpa had also been associated with Soaltee Crown Plaza, Radisson, and Hotel Annapurna, among many other star hotels in Nepal. In all these four decades, Sherpa has been consistently working to improve the condition of hospitality management in Nepal.[break]
Keshab Thoker
The Week´s Ashish Dhakal met Sherpa this week to talk about his journey and experiences in this field.
How did your career in hospitality management in Nepal begin?
I had always wanted to do something different and innovative. At the same time, I was intrigued by the idea of meeting new people and knowing about their cultures and dealing with them. I thought that there was no other better career option for me than hospitality management if I were to follow my fascination of acquaintances with new people. That’s what made me join this field.
I started working with the Oberoi Hotels, a chain of renowned hotels in India, famous in the world for their standard, quality and service. It’s probably one of the very best places to work at. After being associated with many departments at the Oberoi, I was transferred to Soaltee Crown Plaza in 1994 as its Resident Manager. Thus, from Soaltee, my journey in hospitality management in Nepal began.
Back then, hospitality management was not considered a serious career option. How did your family and relatives respond to your decision?
Indeed, back when I started working, teaching and the civil service were the two most popular career choices in Nepal. And doctors and engineers were the next in line. But my interest in doing something out of the box, meeting new people and interacting with them drove me into pursuing hospitality management.
Also, as I come from a Sherpa family, I was encouraged to enter this field. We Sherpas have always been associated with hospitality in the mountaineering and tourism field. So, my family’s response was really good. They stood by me all along, supporting me.
How has your experience been in hospitality management so far?
I had a pretty good start at the Oberoi and then at Soaltee Crown Plaza. I worked as the General Manager at Soaltee for six and a half years and then moved to a Hong Kong-based hotel to gain more experience regarding the organization of hospitality options.
After Hong Kong, I came back to Nepal and joined Hotel Annapurna as its General Manager. Two years later, I went to Hotel Radisson where I was appointed General Manager for three years. I again returned to the Annapurna as its Chief Executive Officer. After a brief association with Fishtail Pokhara, I was appointed Vice President of Gokarna Forest Resort in February 2011.
Looking back at the distance I’ve travelled, I feel really glad to come this far. I’m happy at the progress I’ve made and am indebted to everyone who supported me. All in all, I’ve had an exciting experience in having traveled this far in hospitality management in Nepal.
In your opinion,what’s the most intriguing thing about hospitality management?
As I said earlier, hospitality management gives one an opportunity to meet many people coming from diverse backgrounds. One can find people from countries they may not have heard of. It is always exciting working in hospitality management.
One also develops the skills to deal with various people. With that, gradually confidence grows in one. Such skills are vital in life. Without it, one can hardly make any progress. Also, one learns to behave pleasantly with others.
These days, hospitality management has grown more like a passion in me rather than just my job. Looking at myself at work, I try to learn something about the background of the person I’m meeting. With the information, I’ll be able to offer him services he won’t refuse. It’s something hospitality management has taught me.
How is hospitality management in the past different from the present?
In case of education, a remarkable progress is apparent from comparing yesteryear’s hospitality management with today. There are many students interested in this field and a lot can be expected out of these enthusiastic candidates.
The same goes for the field as a whole. In the past, very few people knew about good places to spend days here in Nepal. But in the present context, with the help of the Internet, there have been tremendous changes. People have been able to advertise about themselves to a large audience and at the same time learn about the ways of the world. People have been able to share information about the level of hospitality they can extend to those visiting them. This is clearly a big change in the field of hospitality management in Nepal.
Truth be told, hospitality management of today is different and better than that of yesterday by a big margin.
It’s been accepted that Nepal holds a brighter prospect for tourism and hospitality management is closely associated with tourism. What do you think of the scope held by hospitality management in Nepal?
Nepal is a small country with gigantic scopes for tourism, and there’s no doubt about that. And it’s also true that hospitality management is very closely linked with tourism. If there’s no good hospitality management, there can be no prosperous tourism.
Nepal has so much to offer to tourists, ranging from extreme sports such as bungee, rafting and mountaineering to blissful nature. We have also been gifted with a natural lean towards hospitality. People in the rest of the world take us Nepalis to be noble, kind and very hospitable. If we can take this attitude to greater heights with some concerns for the betterment of the hospitality management, we can surely have a better future.
Also, in today’s condition with less job opportunities and many remaining unemployed, hospitality management can present a lot of opportunities for people who want to grasp the opportune moment.
What would you want to say to the students aspiring at present to become successful hospitality managers in the future?
One major thing that all students of hospitality management must know is that no matter how glamorous this field looks on the outside, no one can expect much if one isn’t dedicated. If one isn’t hard working and dedicated enough, he won’t be able to make much progress in this field.
Furthermore, our country has very few Nepali general managers in hotels. We have to depend on foreign manpower to take care of our hotels. If these students are encouraged to do better in this field, we’ll be able to have our own native manpower working as General Managers in our hotels.
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