Meet man, who once used to clean floors, wash dishes, built business of 195 hotels in…, his name is…

Rahul Chaudhary, CEO of CG Hospitality, is the fourth generation of Nepal’s famous Chaudhary Group. This 140-year-old business is now one of South Asia’s most powerful industrial players. But still Rahul’s life was not as easy as it might seem.

“We ventured into hospitality nearly 27 years ago,” he said in an interview to hotelierindia. “My personal journey kicked off in 2006 while I was still at university. I was washing dishes and scrubbing floors, attending classes in America, and on weekends, I’d hit the road searching for investment opportunities.”

That initial struggle transformed his life drastically. He started with an investment of five hotels and built a portfolio of 195 hotels in 12 countries. “Here we are today with 195 hotels and 12,000 keys. Not too bad for just 25 years, right?” he added.

Rahul grabbed first international deal in New York back in 2006.  But many thighs went wrong with the deal. “The night before we were set to close, the price surged by 10-15%. My father even hung up on me while he was on vacation in the Maldives. But we managed to seal the deal the very next morning.”

That deal changed many things for him  and he started believing in his basic instincts. His father is also the legendary businessman Binod Chaudhary and also known as the richest person in Nepal. As a young man, his father, Binod used to stand outside the Taj in Mumbai, ‘dreaming of the day he’d get to stay there’ shared Rahul.

Binod teamed up with IHCL (Indian Hotels Company Limited) in Sri Lanka and the Maldives  was a big deal for him.They became the major partners in the IHCL portfolio with 17 hotels across five or six countries.

They started as a family business  and turned it into a passion. Rahul’s  older brother took charge of the Nepal operations. They didn’t have a hotel in Nepal, and someone needed to look after the hospitality side. So, Rahul joined it and started working there.

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