Sant Singh Chatwal

Last updated

Sant Singh Chatwal
Sant Singh Chatwal.jpg
Sant Singh Chatwal at Asian American Human Rights watch event in New York City
Born1946 (age 77–78)
NationalityIndian-American
Occupation(s)Founder and chair, Dream Hotel Group
Children Vikram Chatwal, Vivek Chatwal
Awards Padma Bhushan

Sant Singh Chatwal is an Indian American businessman and founder of the Dream Hotel Group where he is chair of the board. He has founded numerous hotel brands including The Chatwal, Dream Hotels, Time Hotels, and Unscripted Hotels, which operate in the United States and internationally. [1] [2]

Contents

Early life

Born in a Sikh family, Chatwal's family were refugees that fled Western Punjab in British India during the Partition of India in 1947. [3] He was one year old when the family left with his four brothers and three sisters. They settled in Faridkot, Punjab, India where the family became small merchants. He joined the Indian Armed Forces at the age of 18 where, according to Chatwal, he served as a fighter pilot on the country's first and only aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. [3] Chatwal grew up with Sikh traditions of his family. [4]

Career

Chatwal left India for Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to work for the country's commercial airliner.[ when? ] When he arrived he was told he would be required to take off his turban, cut his hair, and remove his beard. [5] He declined due to his Sikh heritage. [3] He then became a teacher in a local public school and became friends with the owner of a restaurant who asked him to fill in for a few months when he became ill. [1] He improved the business and was later asked to become a partner, later buying out the other owner. [5] In the course of time he became the owner of two restaurants serving Indian cuisine. [6]

In 1975, he left the country with some of his savings and opened a restaurant in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. [5] Chatwal also entered the hotel business while in Canada, purchasing his first hotel in 1976. [1] In 1979, he opened Bombay Palace, the first fine-dining Indian restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. [7] Chatwal expanded Bombay Palace internationally, opening restaurants in London, Hong Kong, and Canada, and eventually becoming a publicly traded company. [8]

He continued to acquire hotels, adding properties in Florida in 1980 and New York in 1982. He later combined all his properties into Hampshire Hotels & Resorts. He suffered from the real estate crisis in the 1990s and was forced to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. It was then he began to bring in investors as partners and focused on lifestyle branding of hotels, opening properties in New York, Los Angeles, and internationally. [8] By 2006, he was the largest independent owner of hotels in the United States, operating 13 hotels with 3,000 rooms valued at $750 million. [9]

Chatwal was close to former US President Bill Clinton and his family, and made substantial financial donations to his election campaigns, as well as to other causes and campaigns of the Democratic Party, engaging prominent representatives of the party. He has accompanied the Clintons on journeys to India, and was a Trustee of the William J. Clinton Foundation. In April 2014, he pled guilty to giving illegal campaign contributions to three federal candidates, including Clinton, between 2007 and 2011. [6] He was fined $500,000 and sentenced to probation and community service. [10]

Hampshire Hotels & Resorts rebranded in 2015 to Dream Hotel Group. [11] Chatwal remained as the chairman of the board and a new CEO was appointed to the group [1] [12]

Personal life

In 2010, then Indian President Pratibha Patil awarded Chatwal the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian honor. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sikhs</span> Ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism

Sikhs are an ethnoreligious group who adhere to Sikhism, a religion that originated in the late 15th century in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, based on the revelation of Guru Nanak. The term Sikh has its origin in the Sanskrit word śiṣya, meaning 'seeker', 'disciple' or 'student'. According to Article I of Chapter 1 of the Sikh Rehat Maryada, the definition of Sikh is: Any human being who faithfully believes in

  1. One Immortal Being
  2. Ten Gurus, from Guru Nanak Sahib to Guru Gobind Singh Sahib
  3. The Guru Granth Sahib
  4. The utterances and teachings of the ten Gurus and
  5. The initiation, known as the Amrit Sanchar, bequeathed by the tenth Guru and who does not owe allegiance to any other religion, is a Sikh.
<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khalistan movement</span> Sikh separatist movement in the Punjab region

The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno‐religious sovereign state called Khalistan in the Punjab region. The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different groups; some suggest the entirety of the Sikh-majority Indian state of Punjab, while larger claims include Pakistani Punjab and other parts of North India such as Chandigarh, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh. Shimla and Lahore have been proposed as the capital of Khalistan.

The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service of a high order...without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex." The award criteria include "service in any field including service rendered by Government servants" including doctors and scientists, but exclude those working with the public sector undertakings. As of 2020, the award has been bestowed on 1270 individuals, including twenty-four posthumous and ninety-seven non-citizen recipients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale</span> Figure in the Sikh Khalistan movement (1947–1984)

Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale was a Sikh militant. He was the leading figure of the Khalistan movement, although he did not personally advocate for a separate Sikh nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gurcharan Singh Tohra</span> President of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for 27 years

Panth Rattan Shiri Gurcharan Singh Tohra was a president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), a Sikh body in charge of controlling Gurdwara. He died of a heart attack in New Delhi on 1 April 2004 at the age of 79. He remained the head of the SGPC for a record 27 years, and was one of the most influential and controversial Sikh leaders of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jagjit Singh Chohan</span> Sikh separatist leader (1929–2007)

Jagjit Singh Chohan was a major Sikh leader of the Khalistan movement that sought to create a sovereign Sikh state in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent. Chohan established the Council of Khalistan at Anandpur Sahib on 12 April 1980 and became its first self‐styled president.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sikhism in the United States</span> Religious community

American Sikhs form the country's sixth-largest religious group. While the U.S. Census does not ask about religion, 70,697 Americans declared Sikh as their ethnicity in the 2020 census. The U.S. Census Bureau cites the 2008 American Religious Identification Survey's estimate of the adult Sikh American population at 78,000. The Pew Research Center estimated the Sikh American adult population to be 140,000 and the total population at 200,000 in 2012 while the World Religion Database at Boston University estimated the American Sikh population to be at 280,000 in 2012. Sikh organizations like the Sikh Coalition and American Sikh Congressional Caucus estimate the Sikh American population to be as high as 1,000,000, but do not provide any sources for these figures; 500,000 nevertheless remains the most cited Sikh American population size. With 1% of Asian Americans being Sikh, and 90.7% of Sikh Americans being Asian American, the American Sikh population can be estimated at around 200,000–300,000 in 2021. The largest Sikh populations in the U.S. are found in California (52%), New York (11%), and Washington (6%).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohan Singh Oberoi</span> Indian hotelier (1898-2002)

Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was an Indian hotelier, the founder and chairman of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, India's second-largest hotel company, with 31 hotels in India, Egypt, Indonesia, UAE, Mauritius and Saudi Arabia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harchand Singh Longowal</span> Indian politician (1932–1985)

Harchand Singh Longowal was the President of the Akali Dal during the Punjab insurgency of the 1980. He had signed the Punjab accord, also known as the Rajiv-Longowal Accord along with Rajiv Gandhi on 24 July 1985. The government accepted most of the demands of Akali Dal who in turn agreed to withdraw their agitation. Less than a month after signing the Punjab accord, Sant Longowal was assassinated by Gyan Singh Leel and Jarnail Singh Halvara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Labh Singh</span> Leader of Khalistan Commando Force

Sukhdev Singh Dhillon, best known as General Labh Singh and also known as Sukha Sipahi and just Labh Singh, was a former Punjab police officer turned militant who took command of the Khalistan Commando Force after its first leader, Manbir Singh Chaheru, was arrested in 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tony Singh (chef)</span> Scottish celebrity chef and restaurateur (born 1971)

Rajinder Tony Singh Kusbia is a Scottish celebrity chef and restaurateur. He is best known for combining Scottish produce with an arty, eclectic and accessible style of cooking.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vikram Chatwal</span> American hotelier and actor

Vikram Chatwal is an American hotelier and actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prithvi Raj Singh Oberoi</span> Indian hotelier (1929–2023)

Prithviraj Singh "Biki" Oberoi was an Indian hotelier. He was the executive chairman of the third-largest hospitality chain in India, the Oberoi Group, which runs a chain of luxury hotels under the Oberoi Hotels & Resorts and Trident brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 Sikh–Nirankari clash</span> Violent conflict in Amritsar, India

The 1978 Sikh–Nirankari clash occurred between the Sant Nirankari Mission and Sikhs of Damdami Taksal and Akal Kirtani Jatha on 13 April 1978 at Amritsar, Punjab, India. Sixteen people—thirteen traditional Sikhs and three Nirankari followers—were killed in the ensuing violence, occurring when some Akhand Kirtani Jatha and Damdami Taksal members led by Fauja Singh protested against and tried to stop a convention of Sant Nirankari Mission followers. This incident is considered to be a starting point in the events leading to Operation Blue Star and the 1980s insurgency in Punjab.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indians in the New York City metropolitan area</span> Ethnic group in the United States

Indians in the New York City metropolitan area constitute one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnicities in the New York City metropolitan area of the United States. The New York City region is home to the largest and most prominent Indian American population among metropolitan areas by a significant margin, enumerating 711,174 uniracial individuals based on the 2013–2017 U.S. Census American Community Survey estimates. The Asian Indian population also represents the second-largest metropolitan Asian national diaspora both outside of Asia and within the New York City metropolitan area, following the also rapidly growing and hemisphere-leading population of the estimated 893,697 uniracial Chinese in the New York City metropolitan area in 2017.

Girish Jhunjhnuwala is an Indian hotelier based in Hong Kong. He is the founder of Ovolo Group, an independent hotel group headquartered in Hong Kong, and the Chairman of Hind Group of Companies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shiromani Akali Dal</span> Political party in India

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is a centre-right Sikh-centric state political party in Punjab, India. The party is the second-oldest in India, after Congress, being founded in 1920. Although there are many parties with the description Akali Dal, the party that is recognized as "Shiromani Akali Dal" by the Election Commission of India is the one led by Sukhbir Singh Badal. The party has a moderate Punjabi agenda. On 26 September 2020, they left the NDA over the farm bills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raj Shetty</span> Indian businessman

Vardaraj Shetty is the founder, chairman and Managing Worker of the Ramee Group of Companies. The Ramee Group began operations in the early 1990s and now comprises 52 hotels in India and the Persian Gulf region.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Schram, Lauren Elkies (7 February 2018). "The Story of the Dream Hotel's Sant Singh Chatwal". Commercial Observer. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. ↑ Chatterjee, Purvita (7 June 2016). "Hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal takes his Dream to new markets". Business Line. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sant Chatwal is Hautel Living a Dream". Haute Living. 29 September 2008. Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  4. ↑ "I'm proud of my identity". Hindustan Times. 25 June 2005. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Darby, Edwin (8 March 1987). "Indian restaurateur curries favor with investors, customers alike". Chicago Sun-Times (HighBeam Research). Retrieved 15 January 2018.
  6. 1 2 Bahree, Megha (22 April 2014). "San Chatwal: An Indian American Hotelier's Fall From Grace". Forbes. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  7. ↑ Hudson, Kris (30 August 2010). "Survivor Stands on Verge of a Grand New Expansion". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  8. 1 2 3 Attwood, Ed (20 September 2013). "Sant Singh Chatwal: King of New York". Arabian Business. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  9. ↑ "Sant Chatwal to open his 'Dream' hotels in India". Hindustan Times. 30 August 2006. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  10. ↑ Clifford, Stephanie (18 December 2014). "Hotelier Avoids Prison for Violating Campaign Finance Laws". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  11. ↑ Ricca, Stephanie (4 February 2016). "Dream Hotel Group sharpens focus on key brands". Hotel News Now.
  12. ↑ Duttagupta, Ishani (14 December 2015). "Sant Singh Chatwal announces expansion, rebranding plans for his hotel group". The Economic Times. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.