Global hospitality consulting firm HVS and its joint venture partner in India have mutually terminated their partnership after 20 years. Manav Thadani, chairman of HVS Asia Pacific who started India operations through the joint venture in 1997, has launched his own company, Hotelivate.
“We are breaking away from HVS. The entire team of HVS India, around 42 people, are going with me. All the services will move to Hotelivate. We will do much more in terms of the service offerings,” said Thadani. “HVS predominantly did valuation and executive search. We will do that and a lot more.”
HVS was the biggest consulting firm in the hospitality business in India and provided hotel valuation, contract negotiation and brand management services to top chains. The US-based company operates globally through joint ventures in various countries. HVS did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on the matter. Thadani said Hotelivate will open offices in Singapore and Bangkok, besides Delhi and Mumbai. In November, ET reported HVS was restructuring business in India by transferring non-core services such as debt syndication, project execution, planning and investment advisory to a new company called Hotelivate.
The new company has Thadani as founder-chairman, Megha Tuli as partner and co-founder, Natwar Nagar as managing partner, executive search, Achin Khanna as managing partner, strategic advisory, and Saurabh Gupta as managing partner, investment advisory and asset management.
“As HVS, we were able to bring in systems and processes never seen before in the region that helped us establish a niche for ourselves as consultants. With Hotelivate, we will add services to our portfolio,” Thadani said.
Hotelivate’s portfolio includes strategic advisory (feasibility studies, valuations, management contract negotiation), executive search, professional skills development, investment advisory, asset management, revenue management, project execution planning and advisory and debt advisory.
