Amarjeet S. Kudle -: Amarjeet comes with a vast experience of fifteen years in Hospitality domain. Out of which for eleven years, he has been a part of Oberoi Group. This includes his experience as a Chef, finally moving to Learning and Development. His expertise lies in varied fields of hospitality, starting from airline catering, hotel operation, and further committing to learning solutions. His tenure of a Training Manager at OCLD has been a fulfilling experience.
Amarjeet was the Regional Learning and Development Manager with the British Foreign Commonwealth office for four years, where he was responsible for managing training solutions for the nine countries in South Asia which has given a different dimension to service management. This assignment has taken him to 25 countries where he has empowered participants, from over 60 nationalities.
Presently as the Chief Host & Mentor of the Team, he is deeply involved in creating a magical experience for the guest of La Villa Bethany.
Sunita Kudle : Sunita has gained a comprehensive experience of fifteen years in hospitality, by working in departments like Food& Beverage, Front Office and Sales and Marketing. As a part of ITDC, she had the fortune of serving three Prime Ministers and two Royals members as their personal valet. Her tenure in ITC Grand Maratha Sheraton Hotel, Mumbai and ITC Maurya Sheraton Hotel and Towers, New Delhi has been exceptionally. It was under her leadership, the Lebanese Restaurant Maroush was rated as ‘Star of the Year- 2003’ by Hindusthan times.
She not only got ‘Green Belt’ Accreditation in Six Sigma quality assurance procedure but was also identified as a trainer for the mass awareness of the Six Sigma Pilot Project at ITC Maratha Hotel.
However, now Sunita is completely involved in designing a perfect leisure time for her guests and devoted to preserving the history, environment and essence of her new home – Landour.
For all their community & social commitments, in February 2014, both Sunita & Amarjeet were awarded the REX Karamveer Puraskar by the International Confederation of NGOs (Instituted in partnership with the United Nations to encourage proactive citizenship). They are the first couple to get this prestigious award.
Corporate Social Responsibility
La Villa Bethany (LVB) was a dream for us both, being professional hoteliers with a cumulative work experience of over 30 years having worked in the finest hotel chains in India. It was our calling right from the beginning of our careers to share our skill sets, experience and blessings with the underprivileged. We realized that in a country like India, there are many youth who are willing, talented and have the right attitude and aptitude but can’t do much due to the lack of opportunity. It’s these youth that we have taken on board and given them an opportunity to make a difference.
La Villa Bethany is a green inn in a very holistic manner and is committed to provide sustainable and responsible tourism. We are the only property in all of Landour to use solar energy to heat our water and also cook our food. With a capacity of 80,000 litres of rain water harvesting (which is being increased), we are the only self sufficient property in the city, where water management is a huge challenge, especially during peak tourist season.
We encourage local produce and resources in every aspect of running LVB. Through our work, we have actively supported many NGO’s who work for the upliftment of rural women in the state of Uttarakhand. All our toiletries, blankets, day covers and carpets have been procured from different NGOs that are based in the state. The daily perishables that are used at LVB are procured from the different villages that are situated on the north face of the mountain. Most of the vegetables that we get are straight from the farm to the fork. During the renovation, repairs and maintenance, we have actively engaged local talent and sourced the raw material locally as much as possible. Most of the construction material like slate and wood used during the renovation has also been reclaimed and locally sourced.
Landour is steeped in colonial history and there are lots of establishments that were started in the pre-independence era. La Villa Bethany encourages these local artisans and craftsmen who produce exceptional jams, jellies, preserves, cheeses, hand-made pressed flower greeting cards, bespoke footwear and high quality woolen scarves, stoles, knitwear and appliqué and patchwork quilts and household items. As our commitment to these institutions, we use their products on a regular basis and also encourage our guests to buy their products. At LVB, we have a small merchandise kiosk from where guests can purchase their wares.
100% of our staff is local youth from the mountains that come from very humble backgrounds. Many of them are semi-literate and through our venture, we have trained them in the art of hospitality. These local talents have risen to the challenge and have done a magnificent job which reflects in the fact that within a very short span of 4 years, LVB has won 7 International awards and recognitions. Our supporting teams consisting of transport providers, laundry, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, masons, garbage disposal providers and IT support are all local youth who desire to have the right opportunities provided.
In June 2013, our state of Uttarakhand was ravaged by massive cloud bursts and floods. Villagers in our immediate vicinity from whom we were purchasing our daily perishables lost their farms in the ensuing flash floods. In order to provide them with a long term sustainable livelihood, we have adopted over 750 families. We (LVB family including guests) have distributed livestock such as goats, cows and bulls in the first phase along with agricultural tools and seeds. Along with this, technical input and knowledge on contour-trenching, seed banking, organic farming and watershed management have also been imparted to the village folk. In-order to prevent further deforestation, we have distributed solar cookers. In addition to the above, sewing machines were also distributed to village women. All this is in line with our vision of empowering the weaker sections of society in our immediate neighbourhood and taking a long term perspective of developing competencies which can be used to further the local sourcing of La Villa Bethany.
What are the core values?
The leadership wisdom of our Lord Jesus Christ is the fundamental values of La Bethany Villa Team:
What is La Villa Bethany’s Team culture?
We have designed a well crafted path to ensure that the ‘WOW’ factor is created at every interaction with the guest. Our team culture is guided by FOUR pillars:
1. Integrity: This is one of our most important values which is demonstrated towards guests, team members, external customers, and government agencies. This helps us to stay focused on our mission.
2. Transparency: We believe transparency gives way to TRUST. Hence transparency is followed in all our decision making process, first for the guest, then the team, and finally the management. Our belief is: ‘WOW’ can be created for guest only with HAPPY front line staff’.
3. Collective Social Responsibility: Our social responsibility is envisioned by recruiting underprivileged youth from the mountains, empowering them with essential training and education, to make them complete hospitality professional. However in future, we plan to focus on education for rural children in regions of Uttarakhand. As part of this mission, La Villa Bethany is tied up with self help groups working for the cause.
4. Mutual Accountability: We observe this value as ‘key to success’. This extends the limits of the employee and the organization to the higher level of excellence. By encouraging the team to take ownership, we can take our guest experience to a new height.