Sant Singh Chatwal is a Punjabi-American businessman. He is the founder of Dream Hotel Group and owns several hotels in the United States such as The Chatwal, Dream Hotels, Time Hotels and Unscripted Hotels.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Sant Singh Chatwal was born on Saturday, 18 May 1946 (age 77 years; as in 2023) in West Punjab, British India. Their zodiac sign is Taurus. He is the owner of Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, but after it was rebranded as Dream Hotel Group he resigned as CEO of the company in April 2014, remaining business chairman of the hotel.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 7″
Weight (Approx): 65 kg
Hair Color: Salt and Pepper
Eye colour: black
Family
Sant Singh Chatwal belongs to a refugee Sikh family who immigrated to Western Punjab, British India during the Partition of India in 1947.
parents and siblings
He was one year old when his four brothers and three sisters left the family. They settled in Faridkot, Punjab, India where the family became small traders.
Sant Singh Chatwal’s parents
wife and children
Sant Singh Chatwal is married to Daman Chatwal. His father was in the Indian Army. The couple has two sons named Vikram Chatwal and Vivek Chatwal. Vikram Chatwal is a famous socialite who gained international attention for his relationship with American actress Lindsay Lohan.
Sant Singh Chatwal with his wife Daman Chatwal and his sons Vikram and Vivek
Religion
Sant Singh Chatwal follows Sikhism.
livelihood
At the age of 18, he joined the Indian Armed Forces and served as a fighter pilot on the country’s first aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant. Sant Singh Chatwal left India and went to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to become a pilot. He began working for Ethiopian Commercial Airlines. Due to the guidelines, he was asked to remove his turban and cut his hair and beard. He refused to follow the guidelines out of respect for Sikh heritage. Due to this he changed his profession and became a teacher in a local public school. During that time, he became friends with the owner of a restaurant in Addis Ababa. He became ill and asked her to take over his restaurant for a few months. In those months he made huge profits for the restaurant. Later, the owner asks him to become a partner in his restaurant. He left Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in 1975, taking part of his wealth to operate a restaurant in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Chatwal became involved in the hotel sector in Canada. A year later in 1976, he began building some early establishments and in 1979, he launched the first high-dining Indian establishment called Bombay Palace in Midtown Manhattan. Chatwal took over Bombay Palace Global before it became a publicly listed corporation and operated eateries in London, Hong Kong, the United States and Canada. In 1980, he purchased some hotels in Florida and in 1982, he acquired several properties in New York. In 1986, he owned about 76 restaurants in several countries. In 1990 he faced a real estate crisis due to which he went bankrupt. By 2006, he had come out of the bankruptcy trap and had become the most important private hotel operator in the country’s capital with 13 hotels and nearly three thousand rooms, worth $750 million. In 2001, Sant Singh Chatwal merged all his properties and most of his funds to create Hampshire Hotels & Conventions. Sant Singh Chatwal became a US citizen in 1994. He is a member of the American India Foundation and the William J. He is a trustee and director of some organizations, including the Clinton Foundation. In 2008, Sant Singh Chatwal became a major donor and fund-raiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign. In 2015, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts was transformed into Dream Hotel Group with 187 guest rooms and suites and other high-end amenities. Chatwal remained chairman of the board. He announced this in an interview
We are entering into a strategic partnership with Singapore-based real estate development company Castlewood Group to focus extensively on Asia and we are also changing the name and business focus of our group Hampshire Hotels to Dream Hotels, which is now The focus is solely on the lifestyle luxury segment with the brands Hoga Dream, Time and Unscripted.”
Sant Singh Chatwal with Barack Obama, the first African-American President of the United States (2009–17)
Sant Singh Chatwal with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi
Sant Singh Chatwal (second from right) with Manmohan Singh (far right), the 13th Prime Minister of India from 2004 to 2014, and Bill Clinton (second from left), the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001.
Sant Singh Chatwal with his wife at his hotel Bombay Palace
controversies
Sant Singh Chatwal pleads guilty to illegal donor scheme
Sant Chatwal Singh had good relations with Bill Clinton’s family. He was a fundraiser for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2008. In April 2014, Sant Chatwal Singh pleaded guilty in federal district court in Brooklyn to a straw donor scheme and paying more than $180,000 in illegal contributions to federal candidates between 2007 and 2011. Clinton.
Vikram Chatwal, son of Sant Singh Chatwal, was arrested in 2013 in an attempted drug bust
Vikram Chatwal, son of Sant Singh Chatwal, faced difficulties while attempting to board a plane in April last year due to smuggling of marijuana, cocaine, other illicit drugs and prescription drugs. According to the Times, he has since spent several days in rehabilitation.
Awards, Honors, Achievements
- On 26 January 2010, Indian President Pratibha Patil awarded Sant Singh Chatwal with India’s third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan.
net worth
His net worth is $20 million dollars.
Favorite
- Colour: His favorite color is red. He often wears a red turban and red shoes.
Facts/General Knowledge
- Chatwal has a good relationship with former United States President Bill Clinton and his family. He has made significant contributions to his presidential bid as well as to a number of Democratic Party issues and campaigns, including being notable supporters of the organization. He traveled with Clinton to India several times.
- In 2010, due to several legal allegations made against Sant Chatwal, he became an unpopular choice for the Padma Bhushan, India’s third highest civilian honour.
- Chatwal established an educational institution in Delhi to provide tuition-free schooling, clothing, food and medical care on a regular schedule to poor children of the neighbourhood. The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee is in charge of the construction effort, which includes an auditorium, art exhibits, a computerized research bookstore and an art gallery. He revealed in an interview that,
I have just donated $1 million to the Sikh Center for International Studies which is setting up a high-tech exhibition on the Sikh holy book Guru Granth Sahib and Sikhism inside the premises of Delhi’s Rakab Gunj Gurdwara.
- In addition to numerous government acquaintances, notably Bill and Hillary Clinton, steel billionaire Lakshmi Mittal was an investor, and volunteer trainer Deepak Chopra, as well as various singers and models, notably Lindsay Lohan, frequented the Chatwals. When Vikram, who has a more serious financial background, traveled to India in 2006 to marry a Bombay model with an entrepreneurial pedigree, it featured on the covers of New York magazines and as a style piece in the newspaper The New York Times. Mixing in these circles, especially with people of political influence, was clearly important to Sant Singh Chatwal.
- According to Sant Singh Chatwal, more than 99 percent of Sikhs appreciate India while only a handful of them support Khalistan. He stressed that people discussing Khalistan are unfamiliar with Punjab and consider them a minority. Chatwal appreciated the initiatives taken by the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire Sikh community, especially for the inauguration of the Kartarpur Corridor in Punjab. He further said that Sikhs have held important positions in India, including ministerial and ambassadorial roles. He said in an interview that,
There is hardly anyone who is supporting Khalistan. There is hardly anyone who is supporting Khalistan… There are some kind of big misunderstandings going on… All of us Sikhs, more than 99 per cent, we love India. India is our country…no one is interested in Khalistan. I am very clear that there are very few people here (supporting Khalistan). I don’t know who is funding him, he has never been to Punjab. I am proud to be a Sikh. I have been in this country for more than 50 years. India has done excellent work under the leadership of PM Modi. He opened Kartarpur Corridor for Sikhs. He has done a lot for the Sikhs. We are very proud of what he has done for the Sikhs. I am saying openly, there is hardly anyone who is supporting Khalistan. I am afraid to say that those who are talking about Khalistan have never been to Punjab. I don’t know what they are thinking about it, they are very few. Whether they are in Canada, or America, there is no one to support them. Sikhs hold very prominent positions in India. One of our ministers, Hardeep Singh Puri, is a Sikh. Sikh Ambassador Sandhu Saheb (Indian Ambassador Taranjit Singh Sandhu) is in Washington DC. We, as a Sikh community in North America, are enjoying such a good facility. We love India, we travel to India. In India, Manmohan Singh was the Prime Minister and Giani Zail Singh was the President for five years. We have Army Chief, Air Force Chief, Navy Chief… in very prominent positions.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn