JULIAN GROOM is Le Meredien Man in India, an international hotelier who is passionate about his role. "In two words, it means providing customers with 'relaxed elegance'," he explains. He is the general manager of Le Royal Meredien in Bombay, and the regional coordinator for the worldwide group in West Asia. Groom is the typical Englishman abroad.

A Yorkshire person, "like Geoffrey Boycott", but whose accent got polished while working in some of the finest hotels in the UK. He promises, tongue-in-cheek, "But one can talk jolly posh when one wants to!"

He's been a rolling stone, this Le Meredien Man, starting his career with the Harpenden Motels of UK in 1978 as a trainee manager. "I was the dog's body," he says, "used and abused!" But better off than most. Because, as a schoolboy out to make pocket money, Groom had done all kinds of odd jobs in the catering business. During college, he was working in Yorkshire's fanciest hotel.

And when he enrolled for Harpenden's three-year management training course, he was already well-versed in "hoteliering" with practical knowledge of every job from the waiter's to the barman's. They passed him in a year-and-half and promoted him to assistant manager!

His 23-year-old career's been one of rapid promotions, a quick and steady rise, and each time in a bigger and better hotel. "What to do next, that's been the question I've always asked myself," Groom explains. It's the question that led him to work for Le Meredien Hotels & Resorts, the largest international hospitality group, and what brought him to India.

"I'm here to formulate and implement the Meredien standards," he says. He started by opening a Le Meredien hotel in Pune in 1998. Then the Le Royal Meredien in Bombay, a chic and trendy hotel with a colonial ambience, French elegance and Bombay's vibrancy.

As Meredien's man in West Asia, Groom looks after its properties in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune as well. And he will also be in charge of the hotels opening up in Cochin, Goa, Calcutta, Udaipur, Jaipur, another one in Bombay, and Kathmandu. What does being a Le Meredien Man mean? "There a French way of putting it," Groom replies.

"Je ne sais quoi... which literally means, 'I don't know what...' It's a feeling. A togetherness. An invisibility of connection. This organisation treats you like family. It helps you to grow. The management is relaxed and warm. There's no regimental approach. But we have values. There is a certain commitment towards caring for the guest. There's a certain European Frenchness in our product that makes us operate in a passionate environment."

Julian Groom is passionate about most things in his line of business. Especially food. "I'm not a gourmet, though," he says. "I like all cuisines, but I'm a mood eater, I like presentations. I eat with the eye." He can cook, too. "Somewhere inside me, a skill for cooking classic French cuisine is rusting. I dropped it to do different little things."

And he loves champagne..though he dosen't drink. Wines? "I can tell you whether something's good or bad...and it's rubbish that you have to be a conoisseur of wines to be able to do so!" But it pays if you're a Le Meredien Man, of course!