Vijay Raghavan

 

 

Meet the Experience Makers

Not burning hotels down with Vijay Raghavan

When C&T Experience Maker, Director, Stay Experience Product Operations Vijay Raghavan decided to #Joinourextraordinaryworld, he got the opportunity to push boundaries and have his big ideas realized on one of the biggest hospitality stages in the world. With only one rule.

 

Whether he’s busy pushing technological possibilities or taking brutally honest user-feedback from his harshest critics – his children – Vijay has an infectious passion for delivering seamless guest experiences. As a key C&T Team Experience Maker, he’s given the backing of the board to turn his vision into reality in more than 6,000 hotels around the world.

“Our previous CIO, the late Mr Eric Pearson, once told me: ‘Vijay, if you don’t burn down the hotel, you can try whatever you want!’ That rings in my head over and over again. That entrepreneurial spirit gets kindled in me. It doesn’t feel like work to me.”

For Vijay, working at IHG feels more like heading to a technological playground than a 9-to-5 grind. The opportunity to stay one step ahead of the curve in the hospitality industry, and beyond, is all the motivation he needs to jump out of bed every morning.

“Before a technology hits your home, it hits a hotel. So, that’s where you first experience it. It’s given me the opportunity to work at the cutting-edge of consumer technology. Whatever I’m doing makes a difference to our guests’ experience – ”

 

With one of Vijay’s latest projects – IHG Connect – already established in more than 4,500 hotels the C&T Team are on a roll. Their ability to blur the lines between consumer-grade and hospitality-grade digital experiences is something that Vijay is incredibly proud of. A gift he believes is born of the uniquely entrepreneurial culture here at IHG.

“I chose to work at IHG 15 years ago. They were one of the best companies then and I believe they still are today. The people are amazing. The benefits are great. The environment allows you the freedom to do what you want to do. It allows a little bit of that entrepreneurial spirit to come out of you.”

#Joinourextraordinaryworld to join talented people like Vijay at the cutting-edge of digital innovation today. Get started by taking a closer look at our current C&T Team opportunities below. And bring a fire extinguisher.

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at ASP._Page_Views_MacroPartials_QueryStringStandardButton_cshtml.Execute() in C:\inetpub\Websites\ihg.careers.website\WWW\Views\MacroPartials\QueryStringStandardButton.cshtml:line 11
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy()
   at System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage.ExecutePageHierarchy()
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy(WebPageContext pageContext, TextWriter writer, WebPageRenderingBase startPage)
   at Umbraco.Web.Mvc.ProfilingView.Render(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Mvc\ProfilingView.cs:line 25
   at Umbraco.Web.Mvc.ControllerExtensions.RenderViewResultAsString(ControllerBase controller, ViewResultBase viewResult) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Mvc\ControllerExtensions.cs:line 74
   at Umbraco.Web.Macros.PartialViewMacroEngine.Execute(MacroModel macro, IPublishedContent content) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Macros\PartialViewMacroEngine.cs:line 98
   at Umbraco.Web.Macros.MacroRenderer.<>c__DisplayClass17_0.<ExecuteMacroOfType>b__0() in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Macros\MacroRenderer.cs:line 335
   at Umbraco.Web.Macros.MacroRenderer.ExecuteProfileMacroWithErrorWrapper(MacroModel macro, String msgIn, Func`1 getMacroContent, Func`1 msgErr) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Macros\MacroRenderer.cs:line 306
   at Umbraco.Web.Macros.MacroRenderer.ExecuteMacroWithErrorWrapper(MacroModel macro, String msgIn, String msgOut, Func`1 getMacroContent, Func`1 msgErr) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Macros\MacroRenderer.cs:line 265
   at Umbraco.Web.Macros.MacroRenderer.ExecuteMacroOfType(MacroModel model, IPublishedContent content) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Macros\MacroRenderer.cs:line 332
   at Umbraco.Web.Macros.MacroRenderer.Render(MacroModel macro, IPublishedContent content, IDictionary pageElements) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Macros\MacroRenderer.cs:line 238
   at Umbraco.Web.UmbracoComponentRenderer.RenderMacro(String alias, IDictionary`2 parameters, IPublishedContent content) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\UmbracoComponentRenderer.cs:line 116
   at ASP._Page_Views_Partials_grid_editors_Macro_cshtml.Execute() in C:\inetpub\Websites\ihg.careers.website\WWW\Views\Partials\grid\editors\Macro.cshtml:line 15
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy()
   at System.Web.Mvc.WebViewPage.ExecutePageHierarchy()
   at System.Web.WebPages.WebPageBase.ExecutePageHierarchy(WebPageContext pageContext, TextWriter writer, WebPageRenderingBase startPage)
   at Umbraco.Web.Mvc.ProfilingView.Render(ViewContext viewContext, TextWriter writer) in D:\a\1\s\src\Umbraco.Web\Mvc\ProfilingView.cs:line 25
   at System.Web.Mvc.Html.PartialExtensions.Partial(HtmlHelper htmlHelper, String partialViewName, Object model, ViewDataDictionary viewData)
   at ASP._Page_Views_Partials_grid_editors_Base_cshtml.Execute() in C:\inetpub\Websites\ihg.careers.website\WWW\Views\Partials\grid\editors\Base.cshtml:line 20