ITBHUGlobal.org: The Chronicle: Interview with Mr. Satish Duggal (Mechanical 1970) - Founder and President of Twin Tier Hospitality

May 21, 2008

Interview with Mr. Satish Duggal (Mechanical 1970) - Founder and President of Twin Tier Hospitality

Chronicle Editor @ May 21, 2008

Satish Duggal (Mechanical 1970) is the President and Owner of Twin Tier Hospitality, a hotel management group headquartered in Sayre, Pennsylvania. Mr. Duggal worked for Corning Incorporated for more than twenty years, before opting for early retirement in 1999 to concentrate on his growing business. The August 2007 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine announced that Twin Tier Hospitality Corporation was one its Hot 500 companies in the United States, ranking Twin Tier as 194th. To date, Twin Tier owns 12 hotels in New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

For Chronicle, Rajat Harlalka (Electrical 2005) took the opportunity to speak with Satish Duggal to learn about his highly successful career and gain an insight into the hospitality industry.

Q-1: Welcome, sir. For the benefit of our readers, can you tell us a little bit about your background?

I was born in Faizabad, a small town in UP, India but at the age of 5 my parents, 2 brothers, 4 sisters, and I moved to Varanasi. I attended several schools in Varanasi area, from second grade on before applying to college. Even though I was accepted to Kanpur IIT, I chose BHU because of its reputation and because it would allow me to attend school as a day student living at home. Although being a day student was difficult and it involved an hour and a half commute twice a day, I enjoyed the company of other students in my neighborhood as we traveled to and from school each day. Knowing that I excelled at math and science and that engineering would provide me with a number of career opportunities upon graduation, I chose to study mechanical engineering.

I graduated from BHU in 1970 with a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering and eager to further my education and get a masters degree, I came to the US to attend the State University of New York at Buffalo. When I arrived, I decided to also pursue an MBA in order to get a more well-rounded educational background. I graduated in 1973 with both masters degrees and took an offer to work as a Systems Analyst for Burroughs Corporation in Rochester, NY.

Q-2:You were associated with Corning Inc. for over two decades. Please tell our readers about your work and role in Corning Inc.

I joined Corning Incorporated in 1976 and over 22 years, I held various positions. In my last position, I was responsible for business development of catalytic converters and small engines in the European and Asian Markets. This involved managing team members who developed market opportunities, manufacturing processes and various product lines to meet customer requirements.

As I rotated through different functions throughout my time at Corning, I learned a great deal about operations, sales and marketing, and business development. Learning about each of these areas provided me with a solid background in running a business and building an organization that will sustain itself in the future. Additionally, I learned how to turn a business around, to identify its problem areas, and its potential strengths and make the business profitable. These experiences, along with the ability to compete in a global setting and implement best practices have been extremely helpful in my work at Twin Tier Hospitality.

Q-3: Would you tell us briefly how you started Twin Tier Hospitality? What were the challenges you faced?

I decided to leave Corning in 1999 to concentrate on the growing business my wife and I were already managing. At the time, we were already running 2 hotels and 2 convenience stores, and while I learned a great deal during my time at Corning, I felt that I could make a much larger impact concentrating on our own endeavors.

We chose hospitality in particular for a number of reasons, the two most important being growth opportunity in the industry and the transferable skills I had gained from my career at Corning Incorporated. By the time I had left Corning, I had already established myself as a reputable player in the hospitality industry, successfully purchasing and running two Best Westerns (one in Ithaca, NY, and one in Sayre, PA). This led to ample opportunity in that industry, and over the next 5 years I was able to purchase 4 of additional hotels, generating a total of approximately $25M in revenue annually.

However, the success did not come without challenges, especially in the beginning. Hospitality is a very capital-heavy business that requires significant financing. With limited entrepreneurial experience, it was extremely difficult to show the consistent performance necessary to attain funding. The balancing act was quite difficult as well: as I mentioned, there was a time when I owned two stores and two hotels while still working for Corning Incorporated. Without the help of my wife, that would have been impossible. The current, and I suspect ever-present, challenge involves laying the foundation for a sustainable business that will remain profitable well into the future. This involves identifying appropriate talent, the people that will lead the business in the years to come, documenting and standardizing the processes that have worked well for us, and diversifying geographically to provide stability.

Q-4: Please tell us the major challenges the hospitality industry faces in 2008-09. Where do you see the industry heading?

As I understand, the hospitality industry in the US, as with most industries, will be affected by the economic climate. High gas and commodity prices will inevitably lead to fewer travelers and although we have not yet seen the effects of this slowdown, our summer travelers may be affected.

Regardless of the economic climate, I expect that the hospitality business will continue to grow both in the US and abroad, especially in developing markets such as Indian and China. The industry in general is moving towards providing customer centric, personalized service with more expensive amenities and CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems that allow companies to track customer needs.

Q-5: Would you agree that the Hospitality industry has been slow to use technology to improve its services. E.g. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) cards can track a guest’s habits during a stay and allow a hotel to create in-house promotions based on those patterns. However, I don't see much of that.

While I do agree that the hospitality industry is slower to adopt new technology that other industries, we have made efforts to leverage technology where it is affordable and beneficial. For example, online booking and self check in have been very well received. Although I understand that many players are using CRM systems and other more progressive technologies, the reality is that both hospitality clients and employees are often not highly educated. Also, after traveling several miles and arriving late, corporate clients and leisure customers want more personal touch. While new technologies serve this goal, the learning curve involved makes the implementation of these tools extremely difficult.

Q-6: Please share with our readers some memories from your days at IT-BHU?

I remember my days at BHU fondly as I found my courses, professors, and classmates fascinating. I was thrilled to be taking classes in an academic environment that offered professors who were dedicated to their students. I found machine design and automotive engineering particularly interesting; growing up as the son of a railroad employee in a family without any means of transportation, I have always viewed cars as a vehicle for freedom. I was extremely excited to learn the intricacies of how they worked. My time at BHU also inspired my passion for business. I took my first business class with Doctor Govil, where I learned the basics of entrepreneurship: how to start a business, how to make it profitable, financial management, etc. I carry these lessons with me to this day, and I credit Doctor Govil with providing me with the foundation on which I have built Twin Tier Hospitality.

While I didn’t live in the hostel, I was extremely excited to be part of the academic environment at BHU. I was fortunate to make friends with both the commuter students, as well as those who stayed in the hostel. It was extremely interesting to get to know the other students, and it helped me realize the wealth of opportunity that existed in the world. The political climate at the time only added to the academic environment, making the experience extremely stimulating and fulfilling.

Q-7: What advice will you give to current students/recent graduates aiming to become entrepreneurs?

The biggest piece of advice I can provide current students is to identify personal and professional goals early in your career. Understand what will be important to you, where you want to be, and what you want to be doing 10 or 20 years in the future. Although this is a difficult process and your goals may change, having a goal will allow you to work towards something tangible. It will make creating a career path far less daunting.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, specifically, then you need to understand what type of business you want to start, or grow, what strengths you have and what will need to be developed in order to successfully run that business, and what amount of capital is necessary in order to get your business off the ground. As an engineer, I strongly recommend using your quantitative and analytical skills in a business environment where you work with, manage, and interact with other people. By complimenting the analytical skills you learned in the classroom with some practical experience working with and managing people you will be a much more well rounded professional.

Another important piece of advice is to always take measured risks. Make decisions with an understanding of the consequences. Make sure you have a back-up plan that will support you if things do not work out. Plan to invest in an environment that supports growth and new business and make sure that you have the support necessary in case your plan does not work out.

Thank you, sir. We hope information provided by you will be useful to engineers who want to become leaders of corporate world.

(Chronicle would like to extend its sincere thanks to Ms. Radhika Duggal, daughter of Mr. Satish Duggal, for her help in conducting the interview.)

Mr. Satish Duggal can be contacted at: sduggal@twintierhospitality.com

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Additional links

1) The website of Twin Tier Hospitality