Kapil Chopra: Oberoi hotels' curator

When the Oberoi group launched its upscale The Oberoi hotel in Gurgaon in 2011, right next to its Trident hotel, it bagged everybody's attention for its contemporary look, fine-dining restaurants and artworks (it even has Peter Negi's Nature Morte gallery).

It had 202 keys - 187 rooms and 15 suites - spread over nine acres. (The industry norm is 100 rooms per acre). Yet, it cost only Rs 450 crore (Rs 4.5 billion) to build.

Kapil Chopra then was the senior vice-president of Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, and was instrumental in setting up the new hotel.

His stamp was all over the place. All the artworks were handpicked by him. He would personally escort visitors and reviewers all over the hotel.

The group has now elevated him as the president. He was looking after the two hotels, the Trident and Oberoi, at Gurgaon; he will now look after all its 20 properties in India.

Chopra, 40, owes his success to the two Gurgaon hotels. It was under his leadership that the Oberoi, Gurgaon, was voted the 'World's Leading Luxury Hotel' by the World Travel Awards for the second consecutive year in 2012.

The hotel was also awarded 'Best Hotel for Business in India' by Conde' Nast Traveller, India, Readers' Travel Awards 2012.

An

alumnus of the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development, Chopra has spent nearly two decades in the hospitality industry.

During this stint he has even bagged the Hotelier of the Year award by Hindustan Times in 2012. while the group got voted 'World's Leading Luxury Hotel Brand' by the World Travel Awards in the same year.

But there is much more to Chopra than being just an hotelier. He is well-known as an avid art collector and also for his frank reviews of contemporary art works.

Chopra also founded country's first e-magazine on art called The Wall. He is one of the investors in the online art store called bestcollegeart.com, which promotes upcoming artistes.

He writes for various international and national publications on this subject. He is also a regular with his blogs on Indian art at indianartinvest.blogspot.in.

As he mentions, "This blog is a way to share the knowledge that I have acquired so that readers could start exploring the world of art to enjoy, appreciate and invest."