“The School of Hard Knocks”!


May 14, 2019

The attached Quote by the late President of USA aptly describes the resolve & determination my grandfather & family have shown over the last seven decades.

Over these decades, we have faced – and continue to do so - political problems, pressures & interferences; hotel politics; community politics; family crisis; business pressures; sports politics; monetary problems.  Is it because we are minorities?

My late grandfather, Dinshaw B Avari, was an orphan in Mumbai.  Himself learning under a lantern, my grandfather gave tuitions to pay his way through college, obtaining a B.Com from Bombay University.  He started his career in the Sun Life Assurance Co of Canada and in 1929 was sent to Karachi to open the Company's office.  From this eventually led to the purchase of the Bristol Hotel in Karachi and the start of our family’s hospitality career.  When Beach Luxury Hotel opened in 1948, the property was requisitioned.  In Lahore in the 1950/60s, a new “scheme” by the Governor then, requisitioned our property for so-called public use.  Our Avari Towers Hotel in Karachi, absolutely ready for operations, remained closed for two years due to “competitor” politics…I can go on and on.
However, Calvin Coolidge’s Quote stands tall on our Office wall, as we have weathered the tides & onslaught against us…and survived…and grown … due to the persistence of my grandfather & father!

In the face of these challenges my grandfather used to quote “More things are wrought by prayers, than by man alone”.  There is no substitute for persistence and hard work … and Prayers and faith in God help you overcome such challenges and tribulations.

… and no school can ever teach you this!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

OUR PEOPLE

Image
January 9, 2019 Our Core Values revolve around our people, our team members - Associates, Supervisors, Officers, Assistant Department heads, Department Heads and the General Manager - who work with us.  (More on our Core Values in another post however). A while back, a team member asked why I was requesting our hotels to post our monthly “Employee of the Month” [competition] on social media (incidentally we need to change this title to “Team Member of the Month”).   That surprised me as I realized our own teams don’t know the purpose of this competition … …and, at it’s very bare level, it’s to publicly  RECOGNIZE the services and contribution of our people in our hotels on a monthly basis. The “prize” is not going to make them millionaires!   It’s however the quest for recognition of an outstanding job done in the previous month – either towards guest satisfaction; or honesty; or towards her/his peer; and so on.   Two people are chosen monthly- o...
Read more

Common Sense has “left the building”!

Image
March 15, 2019 (Image courtesy "https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwin9JW8qYPhAhWIzaQKHcY_CEAQjhx6BAgBEAM&url=https%3A%2F%2Fboldomatic.com%2Fview%2Fwriter-feed%2Fswag-fiir3&psig=AOvVaw22OoZgoM_sG5bt0ZPQKbzy&ust=1552711021351225")   March 15, 2019  Does one really need to have “common sense” not to throw trash on the road from the car?  What about a car tail-gaiting a motorcycle?  How about when I take my mother in law to the Gym at the hospital and every single time , I open and close the physiotherapy door on my own with no one helping an attendant pushing a wheel chair – not the nurses walking by nor the people sitting inside!?  Hey, how about spitting beetle nut on the side of the stairs? OR, the worst, urinating on the side of the road? Do we really need to be taught common courtesies - isn’t it ingrained in humans since we are born?   NO .   Thinking back, I...
Read more

PRINT … SOCIAL … what next … HOLOGRAPHIC???

Image
 October 6, 2020   Hotels [rooms] marketing used to be so much easier- you put an advert in the newspaper or magazine to promote your product or facility or promotion.   That’s IT!   TV was around but one of the most expensive mediums to market a hotel- and only the large Hiltons, Hyatts and Sheratons of the world used it.   Then came the ‘90s email usage on a commercial basis, so we started emailing clients and guests.   Close on its heels came the WWW … followed by our “friend”, SOCIAL MEDIA in the last decade!   Very very confusing … not only to customers – with the JUNK being posted daily - but also to hotels.   Where & who do we market to?   When will our customer be “online”? Who will see our advert in the clutter & junk of the information available on the Web & Social?   Newspapers officially have a shelf life of 24 hours … in practice, it’s a few hours – the moment the paper is put back...
Read more