Habib Rehman Passes on: Hospitality Loses an Iconic Stalwart

Habib Rehman, legend unto himself, who oversaw much of the transformation at ITC hotels, passed on last month. He scaled the heights in hospitality and tourism, alongside a time when our industry was growing; he grew with the industry, say, from the late 70s to the early part of this century, a career spanning some 40 years wherein he started at the bottom of the ladder, climbed steadily, to taking a seat on ITC Board, head of ITC Hotels.

Looking back, it must have been a collective action group at ITC, difficult to say how much each of them contributed individually. There was the chairman Y C Deveshwar, Habib himself, and then Kanwal Malhotra and Nakul Anand – Habib was the original foodie, coming from the illustrious culinary traditions of Hyderabad, nurturing the talents of chefs like Imtiaz, at the Bukhara and Dum Pukht, iconic traditions unravelled in the kitchens of Hindustan, founded as a principle by another legend, A N Haksar, the first of the chairmen at ITC, who thought of the diversification from cigarettes at ITC Ltd.

Habib was a short-service Army Major. He remained the fauji at heart, discipline being his forte. Under that steel like frame, he was the most compassionate of human beings, a great host if there ever was one, at home with a dozen dogs whom he considered family. He kept a full floor for their habitat, complete with air-cooled interiors, with a retinue of servants to look after them.

Was he the accidental hotelier? He joined G L Hotels, originally to work at their Pune Ince Cream factory, recalls, Sunil Lamba, son of P L Lamba, one of the two promoters at G L Hotels. They owned the Rama International at Aurangabad. The ice cream factory was delayed and Habib was offered to join the hotel, which he did. As it so happened, Rama International was bought over by ITC Hotels, giving Habib a divinity inspired chance to enter hospitality and ITC, a company that he cherished till his last days.

From the basic start, then at Rama, rising to the top at ITC Hotels, all within the same organization is a dream like progression for any professional. Such is the mettle of people like Ajit Kerkar, who also grew up the ranks within the Taj Hotels. Or, Nakul Anand, who started as a management trainee at ITC Hotels and climbed up the ladder, retiring as a board member of the parent company.

Habib was a trained soldier, a strict discipline seeker, known for detailed planning, an art that must have been nurtured further at ITC, always known for concept notes and detailed reports on projects before embarking upon them. He was always proud of his planning of ITC Grand Bharat, next to the ITC Classic Golf Course, a property that brought together some of the iconic concepts embedded in many of their other properties. In a manner of speaking, all these came together at ITC Grand Bharat.

What was Habib’s legacy? In his last few years, he had become increasingly reclusive, a bit disenchanted perhaps, as he believed he had years left in him to do more, remained a dutiful ITC guy till the end. On hospitality and on the business of hotels, he was always troubled by the lack of returns on investment, as his company continued to invest, and did not get adequate returns. On tourism, he believed we had yet to start reaping the benefits that we should have as a country. That tourism remained unrecognized for its economic potential.

A principled hotelier, a practising and committed believer in the power of tourism, with ingrained hospitality in him, both in the hotel and at his home.