Keynote Speaker at Signature Awards (Birmingham) 2023

Surinder Arora is Founder and Chairman of the Arora Group. Having arrived in the UK as a teenager from India, Surinder founded the business in 1999, running a four-star hotel at Heathrow for airline staff. From there, he built a business based on strong principles of enterprise, including the purchase of the Renaissance London Heathrow hotel in 2012, where he worked as a waiter in the 1970s.

Today, the Arora Group is one of the UK’s largest private owner/operator of hotels with specialist property, construction and hotel development and management divisions. The Group owns and manages a diverse portfolio of assets across Britain’s key business and leisure locations, with a major presence at some of the UK’s key airports.

In 2017, the Arora Group opened the InterContinental London – The 02, the group’s fi rst London hotel. More recently Surinder opened the Fairmont Windsor Park and acquired Luton Hoo Hotel, Golf & Spa. The group also owns and operates Buckinghamshire Golf Club in Denham.

In July 2017, as part of Heathrow Airport Expansion, Surinder announced his intention to build a terminal, Heathrow West, to serve the new Third Runway. However, a third runway looks unlikely but Surinder is determined to build a new passenger terminal to introduce much needed competition at Heathrow Airport.

Surinder and his wife Sunita are also co-founders of the Arora Family Foundation, supporting social responsibility initiatives in the UK and overseas. Since its inception, the foundation has raised a total of £3 million.