#HASHTAG AWARDS
ABOUT HVS ANAROCK #HASHTAG
- The #HASHTAG Awards (HVS ANAROCK Showcase Hospitality & Travel Awards Gala) celebrates exemplary achievements in the industry.
- The #HASHTAG Awards are presented to exceptional Hotel General Managers across each segment – Economy & Budget, Midscale, Upscale, Upper Upscale, and Luxury – as well as to hotels in each of these categories that have delivered outstanding performance.
- The award nominations go through a comprehensive and stringent evaluation process with a leading Knowledge Partner and a select Jury.
- The winners will be officially announced and honored at the HVS ANAROCK HOPE (Hospitality Overview Presentation & Exchange) conference set to take place from February 26-28, 2025, at the Taj Cidade De Goa Horizon, Goa.
- #HASHTAG is fast becoming the gold standard for hospitality awards.
2025
#HASHTAG AWARDS CATEGORIES
HVS ANAROCK SHOWCASE HOSPITALITY
& TRAVEL AWARDS GALA
BEST HOTEL BUSINESS
LUXURY
UPPER UPSCALE
UPSCALE
MIDSCALE
ECONOMY & BUDGET
BEST HOTEL LEISURE
LUXURY
UPPER UPSCALE
UPSCALE
MIDSCALE
2025
#HASHTAG AWARDS CATEGORIES
HVS ANAROCK SHOWCASE HOSPITALITY
& TRAVEL AWARDS GALA
BEST GENERAL MANAGER (GM) - BY JURY
LUXURY
UPPER UPSCALE
UPSCALE
MIDSCALE
ECONOMY & BUDGET
General Manager of the Year
(ONE FROM THE ABOVE 5)
ASHUTOSH KHANNA
Partner,
Heidrick & Struggles
NEELAM DHAWAN
Board Member, Mentor and Advisor
of Businesses and Entrepreneurs
PRAKASH IYER
Leadership Trainer,
Motivational Speaker,
Best-selling Author
RAJAT K JAIN
Independent Board Director,
Angel Investor,
Former CEO, Founder,
PadUp Ventures
Ashutosh Khanna
Partner,
Heidrick & Struggles
Ashutosh (Ash) Khanna is a Partner in Heidrick & Struggles’ New Delhi office and leads the Consumer Markets Practice in South Asia. With more than 15 years of executive search experience, Ash works closely with C-suite clients to find talent solutions that address increasingly complex business challenges .Starting with FMCG and then marketing services, Ash’s involvement has largely been within the consumer sector. His body of work includes board advisory and executive search for CEO and functional leaders.
He leverages the deep relationships he formed within the marketing and adverting sectors to work with clients on senior-level searches in the consumer goods, retail, marketing services, and travel/hospitality sectors as well as digital nave companies. In addition to executive search and advisory work, Ash finds satisfaction in building employer branding for start-ups with local and regional business location.
Prior to Heidrick & Struggles, Ash worked with another global executive search firm for 15 years. Before that, he was COO, India at Grey worldwide, and with Bayer, Lowe Lintas, and WPP in several P&L roles.
Neelam Dhawan
Board Member, Mentor and Advisor of Businesses and Entrepreneurs
Neelam Dhawan is currently a Non-Executive Director at ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Capita PLC, Fractal Analytics and Yatra Online. She is also the Chairperson of Capillary Technologies, a young startup. She is on the Governing Board of IIIT Delhi. She also advises and mentors various organizations on business transformation.
She was on the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips, Netherlands (2012 to 2022) and the Head of IBM India Advisory board from December 2018 will August 2020.
Neelam has vast experience in the IT industry. Starting from 1982, she has held various positions including that of Managing Director, across HCL, IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. Her last executive assignment was that of Vice President Asia Pacific and Japan, for Hewlett Packard Enterprise till March 2018. Over several years, leading business journals such as Fortune, Forbes and Business Today have recognized her as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business.
Neelam is an Economics Graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University. She also has an MBA degree from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India.
She was on the Supervisory Board of Royal Philips, Netherlands (2012 to 2022) and the Head of IBM India Advisory board from December 2018 will August 2020.
Neelam has vast experience in the IT industry. Starting from 1982, she has held various positions including that of Managing Director, across HCL, IBM, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. Her last executive assignment was that of Vice President Asia Pacific and Japan, for Hewlett Packard Enterprise till March 2018. Over several years, leading business journals such as Fortune, Forbes and Business Today have recognized her as one of the Most Powerful Women in Business.
Neelam is an Economics Graduate from St Stephen’s College, Delhi University. She also has an MBA degree from Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, India.
Prakash Iyer
Leadership Trainer,
Motivational Speaker,
Best-selling Author
Prakash Iyer is a former CEO, a best-selling author, a motivational speaker, a certified leadership coach and an uncertified cricket junkie.
He spent three decades in the corporate world before stepping out to pursue his passions. In his last corporate role, Prakash was the Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark. Interestingly, he also served as the CEO of the Mumbai Indians in their title-winning IPL campaign in 2015. An MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, he started his career with Unilever
His fourth book titled ‘How Come No One Told Me That?’ – was published by Penguin last year.
He spent three decades in the corporate world before stepping out to pursue his passions. In his last corporate role, Prakash was the Managing Director of Kimberly-Clark. Interestingly, he also served as the CEO of the Mumbai Indians in their title-winning IPL campaign in 2015. An MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, he started his career with Unilever
His fourth book titled ‘How Come No One Told Me That?’ – was published by Penguin last year.
Rajat K Jain
Founder
PadUp Ventures
Rajat Jain is a Gurgaon based corporate leader turned startup enthusiast who is on the social journey of creating India’s leading open architecture mentoring platform for deserving startups, to get early-stage business support. An IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumni, he founded PadUp Ventures in 2015 along with his partner Pankaj Thakar. PadUp is focussed on providing deep mentoring services to early-stage tech startups to help them survive and scale, to drive INNOVATION and create value.
After a 30+ years career in Corporate India in leadership roles, Rajat is also now a Non-executive Independent Director on several Boards including Aditya Birla Finance, Fino Payments Bank, Droom Technologies and Mahindra Holidays. He is also a trustee on the Board of the well-known Make-A-Wish Foundation, as well as Braj Foundation and an Advisor to the E&H Foundation.
In his corporate career, he has worked in the FMCG, media & entertainment, technology and telecom sectors in India, both at young stage companies and MNCs like Unilever, Sony, Walt Disney and Xerox. His last roles were MD of Xerox India and MD of Disney India before he started his social journey in 2015.
After a 30+ years career in Corporate India in leadership roles, Rajat is also now a Non-executive Independent Director on several Boards including Aditya Birla Finance, Fino Payments Bank, Droom Technologies and Mahindra Holidays. He is also a trustee on the Board of the well-known Make-A-Wish Foundation, as well as Braj Foundation and an Advisor to the E&H Foundation.
In his corporate career, he has worked in the FMCG, media & entertainment, technology and telecom sectors in India, both at young stage companies and MNCs like Unilever, Sony, Walt Disney and Xerox. His last roles were MD of Xerox India and MD of Disney India before he started his social journey in 2015.
ABOUT HVS ANAROCK #HASHTAG
HVS ANAROCK SHOWCASE HOSPITALITY & TRAVEL AWARDS GALA
- The #HASHTAG (HVS ANAROCK Showcase Hospitality & Travel Awards Gala) Awards will celebrate exemplary achievements in the industry.
-
The #HASHTAG Awards will be presented to the most exceptional Hotel General Managers across each segment
– Economy & Budget, Midscale, Upscale, Upper Upscale, and Luxury – as well as to Hotels in each of these categories that have delivered outstanding performance during the year. - The award nominations will go through a comprehensive and stringent evaluation process using a specialized quantitative and qualitative rating matrix created by HVS ANAROCK in collaboration with our Knowledge and Process Partners, Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIM Udaipur).
- These will be further reviewed and evaluated by an independent Jury of distinguished business leaders from diverse industries who are not affiliated with the Travel and Hospitality sectors.
- The winners will be officially announced and honored at the HVS ANAROCK HOPE (Hospitality Overview Presentation & Exchange) conference to be held on 15th and 16th February 2024 at Taj Cidade-De-Goa, Goa.
- #HASHTAG aims to establish the gold standard for hospitality awards.
ABOUT OUR KNOWLEDGE AND PROCESS PARTNER
INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT UDAIPUR
- Set up by the Indian Government in 2011, the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur (IIM Udaipur), a second-generation IIM, is one of the fastest-growing management schools in the country.
- Taking the legacy of older IIMs forward, IIM Udaipur aspires to set new benchmarks in the field of management education by combining excellence in both teaching and research.
- IIM Udaipur secured accreditation from the AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business) in merely eight years of its establishment. With this accreditation, the institute is counted in the same league of global institutes, such as Harvard Business School, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the MIT Sloan School.
- IIM Udaipur is ranked 16th by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Rankings 2023 of the HRD Ministry and is ranked #5 amongst IIMs in the list of 2023.
- IIM Udaipur is the only IIM to feature in the Top 100 of the prestigious FT Masters In Management World Rankings for 5 consecutive years since 2019. It also featured in the prestigious Masters in Management (MIM) QS World University Rankings 2024 for the fifth consecutive year. IIM Udaipur is also currently ranked 4th in India, after ISB, IIM Ahmedabad and IIM Bangalore, for research in management according to the methodology used by UT Dallas, which tracks publications in the leading global journals.
- For more information, please visit https://www.iimu.ac.in/
BEST HOTEL
#HASHTAG AWARDS CATEGORIES
BEST HOTEL AWARDS IN
BUSINESS SEGMENT
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – LUXURY
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – UPPER UPSCALE
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – UPSCALE
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – MIDSCALE
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – ECONOMY & BUDGET
BEST HOTEL AWARDS IN LEISURE SEGMENT
RESORT OF THE YEAR – LUXURY
RESORT OF THE YEAR – UPPER UPSCALE
RESORT OF THE YEAR – UPSCALE
RESORT OF THE YEAR – MIDSCALE
BEST HOTEL
#HASHTAG AWARDS CATEGORIES
BEST HOTEL AWARDS IN
BUSINESS SEGMENT
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – LUXURY
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – UPPER UPSCALE
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – UPSCALE
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – MIDSCALE
HOTEL OF THE YEAR – ECONOMY & BUDGET
BEST HOTEL AWARDS IN LEISURE SEGMENT
RESORT OF THE YEAR – LUXURY
RESORT OF THE YEAR – UPPER UPSCALE
RESORT OF THE YEAR – UPSCALE
RESORT OF THE YEAR – MIDSCALE
#HASHTAG AWARDS
HVS ANAROCK SHOWCASE HOSPITALITY & TRAVEL AWARDS GALA
2024
Establishing The Gold Standard
For Hospitality Awards!
BEST GENERAL MANAGER
#HASHTAG AWARDS CATEGORIES
BEST GENERAL MANAGER (GM) AWARDS - BY JURY
BEST GM 2023 - LUXURY
BEST GM 2023 - UPPER UPSCALE
BEST GM 2023 - UPSCALE
BEST GM 2023 - MIDSCALE
BEST GM 2023 - ECONOMY & BUDGET
General Manager of the Year 2023
(ONE FROM THE ABOVE 5)
#HASHTAG AWARDS
HVS ANAROCK SHOWCASE HOSPITALITY & TRAVEL AWARDS GALA
2024
Establishing The Gold Standard
For Hospitality Awards!
BEST GENERAL MANAGER
#HASHTAG AWARDS CATEGORIES
BEST GENERAL MANAGER (GM) AWARDS - BY JURY
BEST GM - LUXURY
BEST GM - UPPER UPSCALE
BEST GM - UPSCALE
BEST GM - MIDSCALE
BEST GM - ECONOMY & BUDGET
General Manager of the Year
(ONE FROM THE ABOVE 5)
ANISHA MOTWANI
Brand, Digital & Strategy
Expert
Founder & CEO,
Storm The Norm
Anisha Motwani
Founder & CEO
Storm The Norm
Anisha Motwani is a multi-faceted business leader & draws from her rich experience of over 30 years in diverse industries – FMCG, automobiles, financial & health services. After a successful 25 years corporate career, Anisha founded Storm The Norm Ventures in 2015, a company specializing in Brand, Digital & Innovation Projects. She brings in new perspectives on how businesses can challenge the conventional norms & storm them in a way that will help them re-wire to succeed in a disruptive world.
Anisha has been the advisor with the World Bank on the prestigious ‘Swachh Bharat Programme”, Adoption of Solar Rooftops and National Mission for Clean Ganga. She serves as an Independent Director on the board of some leading organizations , such as Abbot India, Welspun India, Star Health Insurance, Nuvama Wealth Mgt, Hindware Home Innovation, Philips Domestic Appliances and Godrej Finance.
She is the author of Storm the Norm – a first-of-its-kind collection of 20 contemporary stories of truly inspiring businesses and brands from India that either wrote or rewrote the norms of their respective industries and brought unprecedented change and vibrancy.
Anisha has been the advisor with the World Bank on the prestigious ‘Swachh Bharat Programme”, Adoption of Solar Rooftops and National Mission for Clean Ganga. She serves as an Independent Director on the board of some leading organizations , such as Abbot India, Welspun India, Star Health Insurance, Nuvama Wealth Mgt, Hindware Home Innovation, Philips Domestic Appliances and Godrej Finance.
She is the author of Storm the Norm – a first-of-its-kind collection of 20 contemporary stories of truly inspiring businesses and brands from India that either wrote or rewrote the norms of their respective industries and brought unprecedented change and vibrancy.