Surinder Arora
Encyclopedia
Surinder Arora is a Punjabi
English businessman whose hotel business is believed to make him worth £225 million. He concentrates on hotels near airports, making a specialty of providing rooms for aircrew, and has close links with British Airways and a strong personal interest in aviation In 2009 he was ranked at 388 in The Times
list of the richest people in the UK with a net worth of £140 million.
and were about to emigrate to the United Kingdom
. Arora as left with an aunt and uncle whom he believed to be his parents until he re-joined his real parents in the UK ar the age of thirteen. Arora's family had a strong work ethic and he has described his mother as being very ambitious for him.
Arora spent 11 years working as a customer service officer for British Airways
. During this time he took private flying lessons, which he paid for by working as a waiter in a hotel he was later to own.
In 1988 Arora became a salesman for the Abbey Life
insurance
company, becoming a salesmanager and achieving a rating as the company's second best salesman after one year.
) to serve airline staff at Heathrow Airport. The hotel that replaced the B&B won a contract from British Airways in 1999.
In 2004 Arora won the franchise for the upmarket Accor
Sofitel
brand and bought the 500-bedroom Le Meridien London Gatwick hotel to rebrand as the Sofitel London Gatwick. Sofitel London Heathrow, a £180m 600-bedroom sister hotel was announced in the same year. Today Arrora owns hotels that provide a total of over 5500 bedrooms including franchises from Hilton and Holiday Inn
.
Arora also has a reputation for being extremely people oriented and tends to refer to members of his business as "being like family". Turn over of staff, especially maids, is much lower than the high hotel industry average. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/17/5
Tony Blair
but against the 2003 Iraq War. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/17/5. Despite his previous support for the Labour Party he is now a member of the New Enterprise Council, a group of entrepreneurs that advises the Conservative Party
on business policy. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/parties-clash-in-corporate-credentials-battle He is also a member of the London
Skills And Employment Board http://www.london.gov.uk/lseb/about/members/arora.jsp and deputy chairman of Wentworth Golf Club. http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2006/09/21/308966/surinder-arora.html
Punjabi people
The Punjabi people , ਪੰਜਾਬੀ ), also Panjabi people, are an Indo-Aryan group from South Asia. They are the second largest of the many ethnic groups in South Asia. They originate in the Punjab region, which has been been the location of some of the oldest civilizations in the world including, the...
English businessman whose hotel business is believed to make him worth £225 million. He concentrates on hotels near airports, making a specialty of providing rooms for aircrew, and has close links with British Airways and a strong personal interest in aviation In 2009 he was ranked at 388 in The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
list of the richest people in the UK with a net worth of £140 million.
Early life
Arora was born in the Punjab in 1961 to parents who had been displaced from India Pakistan border town FazilkaFazilka
Fazilka is a city and a municipal council and 22nd newest district in the state of Punjab, India and recently declared as District on July 27, 2011 consisting three subdivisions Fazilka, Jalalabad and Abohar besides three sub-tehsils Arniwala Sheikh Suban, Sito Guno and Khuian Sarwar.- History...
and were about to emigrate to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Arora as left with an aunt and uncle whom he believed to be his parents until he re-joined his real parents in the UK ar the age of thirteen. Arora's family had a strong work ethic and he has described his mother as being very ambitious for him.
Arora spent 11 years working as a customer service officer for British Airways
British Airways
British Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
. During this time he took private flying lessons, which he paid for by working as a waiter in a hotel he was later to own.
In 1988 Arora became a salesman for the Abbey Life
Abbey Life
Abbey Life plc was a leading life assurance business based in London also with an office in Bournemouth. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.-History:...
insurance
Insurance
In law and economics, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent, uncertain loss. Insurance is defined as the equitable transfer of the risk of a loss, from one entity to another, in exchange for payment. An insurer is a company selling the...
company, becoming a salesmanager and achieving a rating as the company's second best salesman after one year.
Hotel career
In 1993 Arora left Abbey Life to develop a "B&B" (Bed and BreakfastBed and breakfast
A bed and breakfast is a small lodging establishment that offers overnight accommodation and breakfast, but usually does not offer other meals. Since the 1980s, the meaning of the term has also extended to include accommodations that are also known as "self-catering" establishments...
) to serve airline staff at Heathrow Airport. The hotel that replaced the B&B won a contract from British Airways in 1999.
In 2004 Arora won the franchise for the upmarket Accor
Accor
Accor is Europe's leading hotel group , part of the CAC 40 index , and operates in over 90 countries. Headquartered in Courcouronnes, Essonne, France, near Évry, France, the group owns, operates and franchises 4,229 hotels ranging from economy to luxury on five continents .Previously, the group...
Sofitel
Sofitel
Sofitel is a luxury hotel chain managed by Accor, which opened its first property in Strasbourg in 1964. Its first overseas opening in Minneapolis, USA was in 1974. In 1995 Sofitel had 100 hotels in 40 countries and employed 12500 people....
brand and bought the 500-bedroom Le Meridien London Gatwick hotel to rebrand as the Sofitel London Gatwick. Sofitel London Heathrow, a £180m 600-bedroom sister hotel was announced in the same year. Today Arrora owns hotels that provide a total of over 5500 bedrooms including franchises from Hilton and Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
.
Business style
Arora has a reputation for valuing long-term business relationships. He stresses that he has consistenly used the same lawyers and a single bank, the Allied Irish Bank, throughout his career. http://www.propertyweek.com/story.asp?storycode=3063546Arora also has a reputation for being extremely people oriented and tends to refer to members of his business as "being like family". Turn over of staff, especially maids, is much lower than the high hotel industry average. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/17/5
Politics and public life
Arora was a strong public supporter of the Labour PartyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
but against the 2003 Iraq War. http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/17/5. Despite his previous support for the Labour Party he is now a member of the New Enterprise Council, a group of entrepreneurs that advises the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
on business policy. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/parties-clash-in-corporate-credentials-battle He is also a member of the London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Skills And Employment Board http://www.london.gov.uk/lseb/about/members/arora.jsp and deputy chairman of Wentworth Golf Club. http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2006/09/21/308966/surinder-arora.html