PRIMROSE VILLAS
TARIFFS: Prices start at `23,000 per night UNIQUENESS: Perched on a mountain top, Primrose has been conceptualised and designed by a couple (who also runs it). The property is part of a 127-year-old coffee estate spread over 100 acres. The rooms are mostly made of glass to give a scenic view of the landscape, and merge outdoor with indoors. The rooms are decorated with antique furniture – Victorian and Jacobean – and artefacts. for guests for immersing themselves into the local culture. The property is a gateway to the Thar desert and offers facilities such as Akhara (fitness centre), Neel (swimming pool), Taash (card and billiards room), Rait (spa) and Relaxation (yoga), besides adventures such as mountain biking, camel safari, silk route exploration and chudail trail – a midnight drive to spots in the area where the spirits are supposed to roam.
“At Suryagarh, we aim to offer guests a peek into the traditional Rajasthani hospitality. The hotel presents the secrets of a land that has been long shrouded in myths and legends,” says Manvendra Singh Shekhawat, Managing Director of MRS Hotels, which has two more boutique hotels — Narendra Bhawan and Laxmi Niwas Palace in Bikaner. Most luxury boutique hotels have tied up with independent brands like PH&R or Relais & Chateaux ( R&C) to expand reach as most tourists are from foreign countries.
Broadly, the hospitality sector in India is divided into three categories. One is domestic chains such as Oberoi Hotels and Resorts and ITC Hotels that own and manage their hotels. The second is foreign brands like Marriott, Accor and Hyatt Hotels that get into management contracts with hotel owners. In these two cases, the room inventory is large. But boutique hotels have a smaller room inventory – ranging from 5 to 40 rooms – that makes them unattractive for large players. And that’s where brands such as PH&R and R&C come into picture. “These brands have global offices. Besides sales and marketing support, R&C does a lot of knowledge sharing and consulting work,” says Yeishan Goel, CEO of hospitality consulting and services firm THRS.
Becoming a member of these brands involves a detailed process that includes inspection by anonymous inspectors and a vote by the board. All members undergo regular inspections. R&C has a strong focus on cuisine and gastronomy. Among its 540 members, more than 370 are Michelin Star properties.
However, the dependence on foreign tourists has been waning of late due to two major shifts: the rise in the share of domestic highend travellers and the year- long attraction of some destinations. The mix of domestic and international guests in luxury boutique hotels has changed to nearly 75 per cent international and 25 per cent domestic. Earlier, the number of international guests used to be almost nine times the number of domestic tourists. “When I started