UNVEILING GAURAV APTE'S JOURNEY FROM MUMBAI TO LEADING GOA MARRIOTT RESORT & SPA

Gaurav Apte is the General Manager of Goa Marriott Resort & Spa, Miramar. Gaurav who always comes across as a very suave personality is a man of few words and his actions actually speak louder. But we tried to get in a candid conversation with Gaurav, trying to discover a little more behind his shy smile.

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Tell us something about your early days.

I was born and brought up in Mumbai. I was good at sports and basically an outdoor person who likes to explore different places and spend time with a lot of friends.

How did you choose hospitality as a line, was it intentional or happened by chance?

It actually happened by chance. I had got through a good institute in Pune for a Bachelor of Computer Studies and my second option was hotel management as my cousin used to be a Chef in one of the 5star hotels. I used to think that my cousin gets to make and eat such fancy dishes, the hotel industry would be definitely better than Computer studies, hence decided to give it a try.

How has living in Goa been for you, was it easy or did you face any challenges initially?

Goa used to be and it still is my favorite place to stay or work. I used to make it a point that at least once a year I travel to Goa and spend a few days there. My first visit to God was after my 10th Class, where we school friends decided to venture out on our own to Goa and it was right then that I fell in love with Goa didn't have any issues moving to Goa as the people are very friendly and also the Konkani language is not difficult to understand if you know Marathi well

What do you think is your greatest strength and your biggest weakness? 

My greatest strength is teamwork. I absolutely believe that you are as strong as your team. Leadership is all about holding the team together to achieve a common goal. My biggest low is when I am unable to prevent any team member from leaving the company and unable to manage their career aspirations,

As a team leader, how do you cope with bad business days and keep your team motivated?