From a young freedom fighter, then an officer serving in the Indian Army, to playing a prominent pioneering role in the Handloom Industry, and later becoming a major textile exporter, Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair has risen to fame and success through sheer grit and hard work.

At the age of 65, he started to build The Leela group of hotels which today has become one of the most celebrated indigenous hospitality groups in the five-star luxury segment. Inspired by the high luxury standards of European hotels, he set up the first Leela hotel in Mumbai in 1986 and signed a marketing alliance with Kempinski. Today, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has seven luxury properties in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Gurgaon-Delhi N.C.R., Udaipur, Goa and Kovalam; with more hotels opening in Chennai, Agra, Jaipur and Lake Ashtamudi in Kerala. His mission is to delight and exceed his guests' expectations through gracious Indian hospitality, laid down in the ancient Indian scriptures as Atithi Devo Bhava or 'guest is god'.

Globally recognized as an environmentalist, hotelier and a visionary, Nair has been the recipient of many prestigious accolades. For his unstinting efforts in environment conservation, he received the Global 500 Laureate Roll of Honour by the United Nations Environment Program in 1999 from Emperor Akihito of Japan . Lauding him as a doyen hotelier, the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences honoured him with the Lifetime Achievement Five Star Diamond Award in 2009; the Green Hotelier Award by the Geneva based International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA) and the Maharana Mewar Foundation's Uday Singh Award for "Outstanding Practical Achievements in the Protection and Improvement of the Environment" in 2002.

In 2008, Business Week, US listed him among the 50 global octogenarians who still 'rock the world'. Recent awards in 2010 include the Hall of Fame Award at the Hotel Investment Forum India held in Mumbai and the 'Hotelier of the Century' Award given by the International Hotel and Restaurant Association. Nair also received the highest Indian civilian honour - the Padma Bhushan from Smt. Pratibha Singh Patil, the Hon'ble President of India.

Even today, his indomitable spirit and enthusiasm see him working on elaborate plans for the future. For both, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, and for India.