Vikram Chatwal

Early life and education

Chatwal was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and his family moved to Montreal, Canada in the 1970s and then to New York City in the 1980s, where his father invested in fine dining and hotels. Chatwal is of Indian Sikh heritage, growing up in a Sikh household and attended Sikh camp in upstate New York where he learned to recite prayers. Chatwal attended the United Nations International School in New York City as well as the Wharton School of Business where he graduated in 1994.

Career

Chatwal's father, Sant Chatwal, founded Hampshire Hotels and Resorts, as well as the Bombay Palace restaurant chain, but in 2014 had to resign as CEO due to an arrest by the FBI on illegal campaign contributions to which Sant Chatwal plead guilty in the US District Court, Eastern District of New York getting US$500,000 fine and 1,000 hours community service. After graduating from Wharton in 1994, he decided to try a career path different than the family business and began working for Morgan Stanley. He worked as an actor and movie producer, landing roles in films such as Zoolander and Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd.. He was also a model, becoming the first Sikh model to appear in Vogue Magazine. Chatwal decided to join the family business in 1999 and opened the Time Hotel, a luxury hotel located in New York City. This was the first of six independent luxury hotels that he initially operated under his company Vikram Chatwal Hotels.

In 2006 Chatwal opened the Night Hotel, located in New York's Times Square. In his early career, Chatwal was often referred to as a "Playboy" for his eccentric lifestyle and social network he hung out with. During that time, he was named one of the world's most eligible bachelors by a BBC television program the magazine Radar. Chatwal's business was affected by the real-estate crisis of the 1990s and in August 2010, it was reported Chatwal's flagship property the Dream Hotel in Manhattan was scheduled to enter foreclosure proceedings within 90 days if he did not make payment on a $99 million mortgage. Despite the economy, Chatwal expanded his hotel-management operations by opening additional hotels in New York City, Miami and overseas. The initial expansion came in 2010 with the opening of the Chatwal Hotel, a $100 million project in the New York Theater District. Through his expansions, Vikram has helped grow the Chatwal brand to include additional properties in Manhattan, Miami, Bangkok and Cochin, India.

In 2015, Chatwal's Dream New York hotel completed a $20 million renovation. Updates included a playscape in the ground floor lobby as well as updates to guest rooms and suites. As part of the renovation, the hotel name was changed from Dream New York to Dream Midtown.

During his career, Chatwal was awarded the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the first South Asia Media Awards in New York City in June 2005. He was also featured on the June 19, 2006 cover of Forbes Asia. He is also attributed as revitalizing the hotel industry in Manhattan, opening the Time Hotel during a time when few other hotel groups were investing in the area.

Filmography

Personal life

Chatwal was previously married to Indian model Priya Sachdev with whom he legally separated from in 2011. The wedding took place on 18 February 2006 and was spread across ten days in three Indian cities. It was attended by more than 600 people from 26 countries and included notable guests such as steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, model Naomi Campbell, Patricia Velásquez, rapper P Diddy, HRH Prince Nikolaos of Greece, Bill Clinton, and several Indian celebrities. Chatwal was previously engaged to Spanish model Esther Cañadas in 2013. They broke up approximately one month later, after which it was initially reported that Chatwal filed a lawsuit against Cañadas to recover the $300,000 engagement ring that he gave her; however, no lawsuit was pursued.

Chatwal made news in December 2014 during his appearance at the Miami-based Art Basel. Chatwal purchased a Pablo Picasso piece named Venus in the amount of $1.2 million, beating out P Diddy who was also bidding on the piece.

In April 2013, Vikram was arrested at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport in Florida while trying to board an aircraft with cocaine, marijuana and prescription pills. After posting $13,000 bail, he flew back to New York City to attend a drug treatment program, which helped in dropping the charges by the 17th Circuit Court in Broward County the following year

In 2016,he was arrested again, this time by the NYPD for setting fire to 2 dogs with an aerosol can and lighter. Chatwal was booked on one felony count of criminal mischief—and 3 misdemeanors. He was booked for torturing an animal, reckless endangerment and arson. Vickran Chatwal got 5 days community service.