Cygnett Hotels & Resorts expands its leadership structure across culinary, learning and development, and information technology, reinforcing organisational capability as the company prepares for its next phase of growth.
As mid-scale and upper mid-scale hotel chains expand into new markets, strengthening functional leadership becomes essential to sustaining service standards, improving operational consistency and supporting scalable growth. Cygnett Hotels & Resorts appoints three senior professionals to key roles across culinary, learning and development, and information technology — areas that directly influence guest experience, talent capability and digital readiness.
The appointments include Rahul Rana as director – culinary, Sanjit Kumar Thakur as corporate learning and development manager, and Ravvinder Bhola as general manager – information technology. Together, the roles cover core pillars that shape a hotel group’s long-term competitiveness: food and beverage innovation, workforce development and technology integration.
Culinary leadership to support brand evolution and guest experience
Rahul Rana brings twenty-two years of global experience across Accor, Marriott, Hyatt, InterContinental and Sarova, with assignments in the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, the Maldives, Indonesia, Kenya and India. His background in launching Pan-Asian, Peruvian and regional speciality concepts, along with his expertise in large-format buffet presentations, positions him to guide Cygnett’s culinary direction as guest expectations evolve and portfolio diversification continues.
For a growing mid-scale brand, strengthening culinary leadership is essential to differentiation, menu engineering, cost management and consistency across properties.
Learning and development function gains senior capability
Sanjit Kumar Thakur assumes responsibility for corporate learning and development, supporting talent capability across the group. With nearly fifteen years of experience and a background spanning Taj, Oberoi, Radisson, Sarovar and Accor, Thakur brings both operational grounding and strategic understanding of people development.
As hotel companies face tight labour markets and rising skill requirements, the L&D function plays a critical role in retention, productivity and leadership pipeline creation — foundational elements for multi-property operators.
Technology leadership to strengthen digital infrastructure and resilience
Ravvinder Bhola joins as general manager – information technology, bringing more than two decades of experience across Starwood, Taj and Marriott. His expertise in IT governance, cybersecurity, system deployment and digital transformation aligns with the increasing reliance on integrated technology platforms across property operations, guest experience, distribution and data security.
For fast-expanding chains, establishing a secure and scalable technology backbone is essential to operational efficiency and risk mitigation.
Leadership perspective
Commenting on the appointments, Sarbendra Sarkar, founder and managing director of Cygnett Hotels & Resorts, said: “As a key hospitality chain we are committed to strengthening our leadership team with experienced professionals who bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to their roles. As we continue to grow our footprints across the country, we are hoping that their unique combination of skills, passion and commitment will help to maintain our service standards and support our expansion plans.”
