Raymond Bickson is the Managing Director of Indian Hotels. Raymond studied at l`Ecole Hôtelière, Lausanne Goethe Institute, Berlin, and Université Sorbonne, Paris. He holds a graduate degree in Advanced Management Programme of Harvard Business School, Boston. He is educated in languages, French culture, hotel services, cooking and financial management from Cornell University, New York. The list of his international experience is exhaustive. Raymond worked in the kitchens of Hilton Berlin in 1973. He then moved on to work in Hôtel Plaza Athénée, Paris; Raffles Le Montreux Palace, Switzerland; and Kahala Hilton, Honolulu; where he worked on and off for around eight years. In 1977, he joined Regent International Hotels as an assistant guest services manager at Hyatt Regency Cerromar Beach Resort & Casino, Dorado, in Puerto Rico. He opened Mayfair Regent, New York in 1979, where he became an assistant general manager. In 1981, he served as the resident manager for Mayfair Regent Hotel, Chicago, and in 1984 as the executive assistant manager for The Regent, Melbourne. Later, he worked as a project manager for Regent International Hotels in China, and as a chief consultant for the restoration of the erstwhile Cathay Hotel and Palace Hotel (now known as The Peace Hotel), Shanghai. In 1988 he joined The Mark Hotel, New York, as a general manager. In December 2002, Raymond joined Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces as a chief operating officer in Luxury SBU, and later went on to become the executive director on the board of Indian Hotels. In the past Raymond has been voted as one of the `Top 10 Best Hotel Managers` by Leaders magazine from 1997-2002, and as the `Best Hotelier in the World` by the Gallivanter`s Guide in 2002. He was also nominated for the 2002 `Independent Hotelier of the World` award by HOTELS magazine.
