M.S. OBEROI, hotelier, died aged 103
Travellers have many reasons to be grateful to M.S. Oberoi. It was Oberoi who first employed chambermaids and opened the first boutique property in Bali. Oberoi is also the only hotel group in the subcontinent that bans outside wedding celebrations, the source of the greatest
noise in urban India.
The creator of India's only internationally recognised luxury brand was born in the tiny village of Bhaun in the Jhelum district of Punjab in 1898.
Legend has it that just after World War I, he fled to Simla, the summer capital of the Raj. Walking down the Mall he spotted the Hotel Cecil, where he was given a position as a hall clerk on 50 rupees a month. By 1930, he obtained a small loan from his uncle to buy Clarke's Hotel.
From then, it was a steady progression of purchases, including the Grand in Calcutta in 1937 and the then leading group Allied Hotels in 1943.
During World War II he avoided being requisitioned by the British military by offering officers first-rate facilities for low prices, though they had to pay extra when accompanied by females.
The Oberoi Group expanded after Independence in 1947 and later acquired other related businesses, such as a travel agency, car rentals, flight catering and corporate air charters. Oberoi also founded India's first Hotel Management School, which still turns out 100 graduates annually.
A short ebullient man, he spoke flawless English with an Indian accent. He gained numerous local and international awards and never had any taint of scandal or sharp practice surrounding his name.
In latter years he retired to his farm just south of the capital where he developed the best vegetable gardens in north India, which supplied all of his numerous outlets.
- INDEPENDENT
