P.R.S. Oberoi obituary: The luxury Indian hospitality industry has lost a doyen

Most of Oberoi Hotels’ expansion coincided with India opening up its economy in the 1990s. Till then, it was still a relatively small business. The gap in the market, to Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi’s eye, indicated a demand for high-quality business traveller hotels in India. Consequently, he worked towards fulfilling that gap, and today, EIH (the flagship company of The Oberoi Group that runs the hotels business) has a list of impressive properties across the world.

In his long stint at the helm of the Group, Oberoi, known to friends as Biki, not only consolidated and grew his father’s legacy of building a premium hotels business in India, but also took the brand to many foreign shores, and earned many accolades for it. It is this rich and storied legacy that P.R.S. Oberoi leaves behind, with his demise on November 14 at the age of 94.

His approach, of having a limited number of hotels, but without compromising on their services or quality, was what set the Oberoi brand apart. With a guest list that included the likes of Bill Clinton in 2000, when he was the US President, and pop star Michael Jackson before that, among other notable personalities, the Oberoi hotels have long been known for the best of what Indian luxury hospitality has to offer. A veteran hotelier, who requested to remain anonymous, says the Oberoi brand has had a clear positioning around luxury. “You certainly would not see guests being casually dressed in a pair of bermudas for instance.”

A lot of credit for that goes to Oberoi’s way of managing the hotels business. Known to be suave and articulate, Oberoi was educated in England and Switzerland, and also received India’s second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan in 2008, for his service to the country.

Today, EIH has 29 hotels and resorts across six countries, with 22 of them located in India under the Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, and Trident brands. As for the business after the passing away of the Group’s patriarch, how it plays out will be on everyone’s radar. But one thing is for sure; it will be difficult to fill his shoes.

@krishnagopalan