Ep 356 - Clive Aranha - The Hustle Behind Hotel Casiana
EPISODE INTRODUCTION
In this episode of Hustleshare, we sit down with Clive Aranha, General Manager of Hotel Casiana, to talk about how he went from running bars on cruise ships to leading one of the top hotels in Tagaytay. Clive shares how growing up in the hustle of Mumbai sparked his love for hospitality, how he built and sold his own restaurant in Australia, and what brought him back to the Philippines. He also talks about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, building strong teams, and how he helped turn things around at Hotel Casiana in just over a year—with the help of partners to fix key challenges and support their rapid growth.
Episode Timeline:
[00:02:16] – Clive’s hustle: Creating guest experiences through hospitality
[00:03:12] – Growing up in Mumbai and early careers
[00:06:11] – Building and selling a restaurant in Australia
[00:09:30] – Falling in love with hospitality from a neighbor’s stories
[00:11:38] – The grind behind five-star service and transferable skills
[00:15:21] – Founding “Spice N Ice” and learning the business the hard way
[00:28:13] – Evolving as a leader across cultures and countries
[00:33:04] – Taking over Hotel Casiana and spotting immediate areas to improve
[00:37:12] – “Sarap” moment: Building strong operational foundations and guest experiences
[00:44:56] – Hotel Casiana’s milestones thus far
[00:51:50] – Improving Wi-Fi and tech infrastructure with support from PLDT Enterprise
[00:53:00] – Relying on word-of-mouth and fixing the basics to improve occupancy
[00:58:57] – Clive’s Advice: SWOT, partnerships and staff involvement
QUOTES
“It’s always said that the building is as strong as its foundation. If the foundation is strong, the building can go as high as possible. So that’s what we did—we fixed all the basics first. And once we had that, we could move ahead and do the right things in terms of operations, in terms of menus, in terms of the guest offerings.”– Clive Aranha
CONNECT WITH CLIVE:
Official Website: https://www.hotelcasiana.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gmclivearanha
This episode is brought to you by OneCFO, PLDT Enterprise (MSME Fiberbiz & 5G SIM Only)
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