David Mathews

David Mathews
General Manager
Trident Bandra Kurla, Mumbai

A Fine-Tuned GM

'I'm a Virgo, so you can imagine, I’m a pernickety nag!’ His words, not ours! He’s half Malayali, half Punjabi, married to a Sindhi, father to a 24-year-old, and leader of a team mostly comprised of 23 year-olds. David Mathews is an interesting personality, to say the least, who fusses over details, an industry professional for over three decades now. “Even if I wanted to, I can’t feel my age, for I’m surrounded by young ones, and the hotel industry keeps you on your toes,” smiles the GM of Trident, Bandra Kurla, Mumbai.

From 1989 onwards, it’s been a rewarding albeit challenging journey in the hotel management realm − as is de rigueur in the industry − for the young lad who started off with a gold medal from the Oberoi School of Management. Funny how life throws you off track and you veer yourself back on, or rather you’re veered onto the path that was destined for you by a divine force. This is David’s story.

“I thought I would become a journalist and go abroad to do my Master’s,” he begins. “I had done my BA in Economics from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai. I always joke that I went from Marx & Ricardo to mayo and risotto.” So he did, and it paid off for him and for the industry. In 1991, David began his career with The Oberoi, Mumbai, in Food & Beverage, at the erstwhile Rotisserie and Kandahar, both for a year each. He worked on the introduction of The Palms in 1993, a makeover from what was the famed coffee shop, Samarkand.

Come 1994 and David did go abroad to pursue his Master’s, but in International Hospitality, not journalism, from the University of Buckingham. Vibrant Oman was his next stop, his graduation cap still gleaming, where he worked for just about six months as F&B Manager before returning home and starting afresh with the Sarovar Hotels group. He looks back on his time there. “(The late) Anil Madhok was my first VP when I started at Sagar Plaza in Poona, as F&B Manager, followed by Cama Park Plaza, Ahmedabad, where I served as GM, from 1998-2001.” Then again, fate had other plans laid out for the man who began his career with The Oberoi Group, only to return to his roots.

In 2001, when he was in Delhi, he visited The Oberoi and met a colleague who spoke to him about the Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur being newly launched. And thus, David rejoined the Oberoi Group and went on to head hotel operations at one of our favourite properties, Wildflower Hall in Shimla. Trident Gurgaon followed, then again to Wildflower Hall, where he served as GM for almost six years. It was back to Delhi in 2010 when David took up the role of GM at Trident Gurgaon and then GM at The Oberoi, Gurgaon, for the next four years. Where has he been the longest, you ask? “My current role as GM at Trident Bandra Kurla, where I have spent seven + years already, since Jan 2017,” smiles David. “And retirement is coming up soon!” He recalls an incident with the legendary late PRS Oberoi, when he was unsure of how a smaller property like Trident, in terms of event space, will position itself against other hotels in the area. He got his answer in Mr Oberoi’s reply which was simply that a hotel near a large convention facility like BKC boasts of, requires a hotel with enough rooms to accommodate business travellers. “Trident, Bandra Kurla, has huge potential for this very reason,” David states. “We plan our room rates six months to a year in advance. We are booked years ahead even. Forecasting is difficult in this industry, but being a manager is great fun; it’s been quite a shift from my F&B background.”

It’s all really great fun for David, who starts his day at the hotel at 8:15 am, walking around to the restaurants and public places to have a look-see, then on to revenue meetings, followed by HOD meetings and any other urgent appointments he might have. From 11-12, he conducts interviews for incoming staff, for each and every member who joins the hotel has to go through him. “Would you believe there’s a 40-50% attrition rate in Bombay in the industry? It is all about hiring the right heart, one who works to delight the guests above all. I let the employees do the magic. This is Hogwarts and I’m Albus Dumbledore,” he quips, and continues with his schedule…Post lunch is a brief with HODs along with other updates.  6 pm onwards he judiciously checks emails to the tune of 250 a day, and finally, takes a walk around by about 8:30. By 9, he is ready to call it a day and go home. There is no work life balance as such, he confirms, and that’s how the cookie crumbles!

But David gets to go home to his lovely wife, Dr Sonia Bharwani, a PhD academician who worked on bringing in the Lausanne School’s Hotel Management curriculum to Bombay and who currently serves as a senior consultant for VFS Global Academy. Sonia and he look forward to weekend getaways close by and one international trip a year, the last being Turkey in June. His 24-year-old we mentioned earlier goes by the name Keisha, an MA graduate from Switzerland, now working as a consultant in Amsterdam.

David also waits to get home to catch up on his Korean TV dramas and random YouTube videos. “Hey, I need something to numb my brain at the end of the day. While the Korean shows help with that, the YouTube is more for my education and learning, mainly on subjects like the environment and technology, and I read a lot on current affairs.” With that, we leave David to his me time.