The Maverick Hotelier

Every now and then, an entrepreneur emerges to turn the market on its head. Kapil Chopra, founder of the unconventional The Postcard Hotel, tells Hotelier India what it means to disrupt the luxury segment in the hospitality industry, how people are his biggest strengths, and his journey from hotelier to entrepreneur

How did the concept of The Postcard Hotel evolve? How have you ensured that the format is path-breaking in hospitality?

There were several factors that led to the real journey of The Postcard Hotel. I was running The Oberoi Group hotels and was in sync with how the world around us was changing. Suddenly, I noticed far more guests checking into The Oberoi Whiteflower Hall Shimla. In fact, the check-ins went up five times in the last few years, and that didn’t happen with any other hotel.

The reason was obvious. More Indians are travelling and they are looking for differentiated, experiential travel. There is a lovely Google report which states that Indians will do 2.2 billion trips this year, and here we are always obsessing about foreign travellers. Even if 5 per cent are luxury travellers and are relevant to The Postcard Hotel, that is almost 100 million people. Let me quote the National Geographic Traveller survey, which states that Indians are taking 5.6 trip a year, against 4.2 trips taken by other international travellers.

When I look at luxury hotels in resort destinations, everyone has got into this mould of cookie-cutter hotels. They almost mimic city hotels, except the pool may be bigger and they have landscaped gardens. In India, we have four categories of hotels. The commodity hotels are budget hotels. They give you hot water and airconditioning. The second category is great product hotels which look good and may be part of a brand. The third category are the luxury hotels, which have great service standards. But they may not be able to promise privacy. Then AirBnB came into the picture, which I consider level 4 of hotels, called experiential hotels. While the product, services and facilities are important, what is more important today is engagement with the local communities.