2. Patanjali Keswani: Looking a Year Out in Advance

Keswani, who studied in IIT-Delhi and IIM-Kolkata, realized the huge difference between 5-star deluxe and guest house accommodation choices in India, while he was working with The Taj Group of Hotels. He felt that there is a huge shortage of hotel rooms in India.

He purchased a land in Gurgaon with his savings believing that he could run a unique high-class yet reasonably priced hotel. And in 2002, he launched the first Lemon Tree Hotel with a vision to run a small single hotel which was nationally familiar and a trusted Indian brand in the hospitality space.

Most Decisive Moment: The major decision he took which wrote the success story of Lemon Tree Hotels was that he opted to design, build and operate all its hotels on its own. Whereas, the common approach in Hotel industry is to give management contracts to others and run franchisees. This resulted in an efficient project construction and cost-effective operating costs, a reliable customer experience, and better returns for the shareholders.