Meet Shahid Hamid FIH

A veteran of over forty-four years in the Bangladesh hospitality and tourism industry, Shahid Hamid FIH began his career in 1978 with Hotel International Ltd. (HIL), the public limited company that commenced the journey of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, where he was initially involved with the coordination of the hotel’s construction and later joined the pre-opening operations team in 1980. During his nineteen years of service with Pan Pacific, his dynamism gained him quick ascension to a series of strategic posts such as Director Sales & Marketing, Asst. General Manger, and Acting General Manager of the hotel. His career then took him to serve for the Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts in Gold Coast-Australia, Vancouver-Canada, Jakarta-Indonesia, and Singapore.

While his entry into the glamorous world of hospitality may have been unanticipated, his tenure with the iconic Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel acquired him a kaleidoscope of knowledge and experiences from investment capital to equity management required in both developing and operating hospitality businesses. Thus, setting his stellar career in motion to reach the great heights he is revered for today and obtaining him a series of international awards and recognitions as well as the well-deserved appellation “Father in Hospitality” from the Bangladesh hospitality and travel-tourism fraternity.

In 1996, he set up the first ever hotel management company in Bangladesh known as “HOST Management Consultants Ltd”. Under his wings, HOST operated a number of notable clients including BRAC Centre Inn owned by BRAC, one of the largest NGOs in the world, for eight years with a Management & Operations contract. In 2003, Hamid joined Hotel Sarina as General Manager after having been part of the hotel development team and within a short period of time, effectively established a remarkable reputation for the hotel both in terms of revenue performance and image in the hospitality arena of Bangladesh. He was promoted in January 2005 as Executive Director of the Sarina Group to spearhead the expansion of the hotel and diversify the business in the tourism sector. Hotel Sarina after completing its expansion was awarded 5-Star status in mid-2006.

Hamid joined Dhaka Regency Hotel & Resort as the General Manager in 2008, just one year into the hotel’s soft launch, where he was responsible for streamlining the services, quickly gaining Dhaka Regency a reputation for excellence. Under his watchful supervision, the hotel initiated many new engagements and offers which set the hospitality trend for Dhaka City. He then went on to serving as the Executive Director of Dhaka Regency, commencing property upgrades and strategic innovation in the products and services to suit the needs of the new generation of guests in the market. True to his reputation, in the 13 years during which Hamid was at the helm of the hotel, Dhaka Regency not only acquired numerous awards from the international and local travel fraternities but also served as the benchmark for upscale independent hotels in Bangladesh.

Since 2014, Hamid has also been serving as Chairman of Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Bangladesh Chapter. During the 67th PATA Annual Summit held in Gangwon-do, South Korea, Hamid was elected as Executive Board Member of PATA Global. The PATA Executive Board is the highest policy making board belonging to the Association, consisting of only 12 members, who each fulfill a two-year term upon election, serving as the guiding hand for travel-based decisions affecting the Asia and peripheral counterparts. Consequently, this is the first time in the 67 years’ history of PATA that a Bangladeshi citizen was elected onto its prestigious Executive Board.

Most recently, Hamid has been appointed as an Alternate Member of the new composition of the World Committee on Tourism Ethics (WCTE), a subsidiary of the UNWTO General Assembly, whereby he is to serve for the period of 2021-2025. His mandate on the Committee is to be responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and reporting on the implementations of the principles enshrined within the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism as well as to address all those issues with ethical implications for society or the environment which are directly or indirectly linked to the tourism sector. Coincidentally, this new ascension to the role of an international tourism statesman arrived corresponding to the 50th Anniversary of the independence of Bangladesh.

Hamid currently heads as Chairman of SH’otel Hospitality Management & Consultancy Ltd., a revitalized overhaul of the renowned consultancy establishment in the industry, Hospitality Management Consultants Ltd. (HMC), which had its corporate office located in Bangkok, Thailand and Bangladesh office in Dhaka. Upon its revitalization from HMC to SH’otel in Summer 2020, using its vast network of tourism, food, and hospitality experts as well as periphery industry professionals, the company now offers a wider range of services and solutions from hotel investment consultancy, property acquisition & merger, and asset development to pre-opening administrative setup, operation management, and sales & marketing support.

True to the industry that he is a significant part of, Hamid, in his long forty-three years of occupation, kept himself affiliated to an impressive number of travel-based associations such as Hospitality Catering International Management Association (HCIMA) – UK (now known as Institute of Hospitality), Cornell Hotel Society (CHS) – USA, SKAL International Bangladesh, Bangladesh International Hotels Association (BIHA), and International Hotel Association of Bangladesh (INHAB) to name a few. Since its inception, Hamid has also served as the Chief Advisor to Regency Hospitality Training Institute (RHTi), the first ever vocational foundation in Bangladesh to be affiliated with American Hotel & Lodging Association Educational Institute (AHLEI), Institute of Hospitality (IoH), UK, and Centre of City & Guilds, UK.

In 2011, he was awarded the title of Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality (FIH) after being evaluated by the Institute for his career achievements as well as general contribution to the sector. Incidentally, “Fellow” is the highest order of rank that can be achieved from the Institute of Hospitality-UK and Hamid is only one of two persons from Bangladesh to be recognized in this caliber. Most recently, he was appointed as Board Member for the Advisory Committee to the Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism of the Government of People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

It is no wonder that he was awarded for his long tenure in this industry by the Bangladesh Hotel & Guest House Owners Association as the “The Best Hotelier” of the Year 2005. Industriously, he has also represented Bangladesh and the respective hotels where he has worked in prominent tourism trade fairs around the world. In December 2016, he was recognized and awarded the “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his outstanding contributions to the Bangladesh hospitality industry during the Silver Jubilee of The Bangladesh Monitor, which organizes the leading hospitality, travel, and tourism award program in the country. Most recently, Hamid was awarded a second “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Rotary International Zone 6B at the closing ceremony of Rotary Public Image International Conference 2019 in Dhaka, recognizing his relentless commitment to ensuring superior hospitality services and continued upward progression of the sector throughout his tenure in the Bangladesh tourism and hospitality industry.

Among the various academic honors accredited to him, there are an Honors Degree in Political Science and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Dhaka University, and later channeling his interest in hospitality, he received Diploma Degrees on Sales & Marketing in 1986 and General Manager’s Program in Hotel Management in 1992 from Cornell University in New York, U.S.A. Upon returning to Bangladesh from his overseas studies, Hamid worked under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism for its project during the first ever Tourism Month held in 1992.