Humane Hospitality in India: Inside Elivaas and the Rise of Luxury Villas with Ritwik Khare | EP 3

Justin Sun (: 00:33

Today's guest has built one of the fastest growing names in India's luxury villa space, Elivaas, a brand redefining what it means to blend technology, trust, and a truly humane hospitality. Ritvik Khare is the founder and CEO of Elivaas.

But his path here is far from linear. He began his career in finance at Citibank, moved into insurance, and then spent nearly a decade at Make My Trip, India's largest online travel platform, where he helped build the hotel business from the ground up. Later, he shifted gears into education with Lead School, an edtech company reshaping access to learning.

before returning to his first love, travel. Today, at the helm of Elivaas, Ritvik brings together everything he's learned. Data discipline from finance, scaling strategy from tech, and the heart from hospitality to create a new kind of villa brand for India and beyond. We'll talk about how Elivaas began, how India's short-term rental landscape is evolving, and what humane hospitality really means in a tech-driven age.

Justin Sun (: 01:33

Ritvik welcome to The Curious Concierge. It's so nice to have you here.

Ritwik (: 01:36

No lovely thanks Justin thanks for having me and great talking to you today ⁓

Justin Sun (: 01:40

Absolutely, and happy Diwali

as well. We're recording this right during this weekend, so thank you for spending some time with me instead of your family.

Ritwik (: 01:48

a belated happy Diwali to everyone who listening in.

Justin Sun (: 01:51

Ritvik, you've had fascinating career journey. you worked in finance to insurance to a travel then education startup before founding Elivaas. It's almost like you've had a master class across every major business category before deciding to build something on your own. When you think back to your early career, what first?

drew you into the world of travel and hospitality? Was there a specific moment or experience that made you realize hospitality was the space you wanted to be in?

Ritwik (: 02:20

Yeah, very pertinent question. So firstly, just want to add a little bit of a qualifier. We are hospitality and real estate both. Right. So I personally have love for both these industries. when I did my first in that Citibank, it was in the mortgage business.

So for a living I used to meet real estate builders and home developers and I took a fascination to real estate per se right. I started liking this asset class and understood a little more than the average person in that sense. one of the things which led me to get fascinated by this industry was finally the stint at Make My Trip.

where I was in the thick and thin of building the online travel industry in India, for hotels specifically. Flights had already matured a little bit and in a fast growing upcoming market like India.

because there was love for real estate, when me and my co-founder Karan, we figured out this massive problem which we were seeing firsthand in India.

we realized that wow what can be better getting it right in the middle of real estate and hospitality and that's how Elivaas was born and I think my my seeds were sown in my first year at job which was in the developers business, home loans business meeting with builders real estate as my key area of work and then finally my stint at Make My Trip and the stint after Make My Trip which made me realize that look what gets the best out of me is travel and real estate as such so

I would say very fortunate and a very unique opportunity that works.

Justin Sun (: 03:42

I love

that. it's fascinating because real estate is something that everyone loves. And hospitality, Everyone wants experience. so combining both and with your previous experience, I'm sure you've learned so much to contribute to where you're at today. You were part of Make My Trip during a very pivotal period.

when India, as you mentioned, was still getting used to booking hotels online. What was that journey like from the inside?

Ritwik (: 04:07

I joined Make My Trip in 2012. Our online hotels penetration in the Indian market was in low single digits. And today it's in high above 50%, kind of a number. I think the journey was phenomenal from two or three points of view. One, basically understanding that execution is absolutely everything,

there were 7-8 competitors in the market at that point in time and all at fairly equal footage and then fast forward 7-8 years ahead and Make My Trip was by far the market leader by a huge margin not just by a percentage points but pretty much many many times bigger than the number 2, number 3

We had always read about it, that execution, for example, eats strategy for breakfast. But, living that through was phenomenal. Also, at that time, one other thing became very clear in the mind, and which is coming in very handy today for us at Elivaas

Any business is ultimately an equation the demand supply equation a lot of times people make the mistake of focusing mostly on one side Which is mostly on the demand side? but Look at any solid company from Amazon to anything else that you want to follow

hoteliers, started with about: 1000

and worked with them took their help as well to grow this whole franchise and industry. yeah, absolutely fascinating and inspiring and lots of learning during that stint.

Justin Sun (: 05:46

Wow. obviously there was the supply demand and the change in the market, but was there a turning point where you realized, this is absolutely going to change how Indians travel forever?

Ritwik (: 05:58

I can't recall a specific pivotal point like probably on the airline industry side India had this airline which launched which was called Deccan Airways and It launched if I'm not wrong 2005 2006 era and post that Everyone moved to online because they said we'll only book online But I can't call one pivotal moment for the hotel side in India, but

I think after: 2014

as we called it in the era of: 2013

of: 2014

Justin Sun (: 07:11

Well, I love that you mentioned that shift, because I think it also connects to what you're doing now at Elivaas You've seen how Indian travelers have evolved from offline to online, from hotels to now villas. Let's talk about

evolution. India's travel market feels like it's having a real renaissance, especially in the villa and short-term rental space.

Families are traveling together, friend groups are booking entire homes, and there's this growing desire for space, privacy, and personalization. from your lens, how has the Indian traveler changed in the last five years? What are people looking for now that they weren't before?

Ritwik (: 07:52

Yeah, great question actually. two or three things and no particular order. But one thing we are realizing, surely and definitely in the Elivaas is that consumers now want control of the experience, right? And I think that's something very, very central to the whole.

short-term holiday space so what does that mean I'm actually not taking a two-day break I'm investing two full days with with you six to seven to eight times in a year and then one or two three times for a longish seven seven to fourteen day travel and that's the new new travel behavior at least with the upper end of the market and so when I'm investing time two to three days I want to control the experience

my liking. So that's one, right in the way of when I will have what, what will I have, what sort of real estate do I want and I do not want to be treated like one amongst 500 or one amongst 300. I want to be my unique self and I want to be given things on my terms, right? Especially when I'm, investing time and money both.

Second, we are seeing a lot of need and want for privacy on demand. we call this privacy on demand. So, what a villa or an apartment gives you is that whenever you want your privacy, it's there absolutely for you. The place is all to you.

Justin Sun (: 08:55

Mm.

Ritwik (: 09:06

The living room the veranda the swimming pool is all your usage and only for your usage. And then what you want to eat, when how you want it cooked, how prepared no doubt, but that's more on the first point.

Justin Sun (: 09:15

Mm.

Ritwik (: 09:16

And then when I want to spend time with others, I can call over people. we see a lot of our guests hosting parties at our villas where outside guests are also coming in for community time. so first is lots and lots of control. Second, we are seeing, massive privacy on demand as a trend. third, I would say is linked to the first two is

that I hate rules right so don't give me rules don't give me rules on what to do when to do how to do it what can you do what you cannot do other than the basics like you know you can't smoke here or you know just turn down

Justin Sun (: 09:37

Mmm.

Be a good neighbor.

Ritwik (: 09:47

Yeah, and take care of the neighbor. Other than that, I think there are no rules when you get to stay in an apartment or a villa. In fact, we customize the experience based on your requirements. my favorite three changing behaviors are these. No rules, privacy on demand, and control.

Justin Sun (: 10:01

That's very interesting. time is what people are buying, right? And you're talking about privacy and control, as you mentioned.

But when it

a traditional hotel where you have service and unlimited care we're talking about connection on a different level, right? We're talking about intimate private connections that people are inviting their friends over to the villa instead of a banquet or dining at a fancy restaurant at a hotel. What do you

having seen that shift in luxury towards intimacy and connection. What are Indian travelers looking for today? And are they doing something different at your villas when it comes to services like luxury chefs? Or is it still actually taking out the time to carve in, say, hey, I'm cooking for my family and friends, come over?

Ritwik (: 10:48

Yeah, great point. So firstly, Elivass is fully serviced. we got inspired by the best hotel brands in the country. we said why doesn't a villa deserve the same consistency, the same service and the same luxury, which a 200 room, hotel offers. we are a full stack service, whatever you can imagine in a luxury five star hotel brand, you'll get that and more. Just that it'll be a lot more personalized because the staff is a mini butler dedicated to you.

you

So specific to India, there are two trends which have got really accentuated post-COVID. One, Indians love to travel two to three generations traveling at least 50 percent of our bookings.

the minute you have two or three generations traveling together the customization needed and the care needed is that much more specific, right? We're also seeing a lot of people travel with friends and colleagues nowadays.

There is the need to create stories. everyone wants to create stories, right? People travel as much for their experience as they do for Instagram, today. it's great because you're sharing with others what experience you're having and what a phenomenal new experience you're having.

how does that translate? people jumping into the pool at midnight and, sharing that online. We have people, joining the chef and helping the chef cook the food.

People have their private bartender and they saying this is called the Ritvik drink because they're creating cocktails together. People are booking a yacht through our concierge and serviced by the Elivaas team as well as the yacht team and they're talking about that. Very strong focus on multi-generational travel.

Justin Sun (: 12:14

Hmm,

Ritwik (: 12:14

and stories, stories, stories and that second part is true for many other parts of the world today. that's the reality, and we've understood that and we encourage and we say share this so that others are able to experience the same thing because you are not just

investing dollars, you're investing time which has probably beyond the dollar value.

Justin Sun (: 12:32

since we're talking about the Indian traveler and how they travel, I'm curious post pandemic there was a rise of short term rentals and second home demand. Was there a single mindset shift you've seen in

Ritwik (: 12:40

Yeah.

Justin Sun (: 12:45

guests or owners when they come travel to your places, was there something that says, ah, I feel more confident now, times are changing. Is it the platforms that is allowing Indian customers say, Hey, this is, this is how I'm going to do it.

Ritwik (: 12:58

great point gets me thinking too. This actually is my challenge. what's really happened so far is that most of the players in the short-term rental villa apartment space have so far largely been a sales and marketing engine, they are a revenue management engine, they are a sales management engine and with very low touch effort once the guest has already booked.

that became a sort of a standard for travelers to expect. Whereas what Elivaas was trying to do was to say I'll handle you from inspiring you right through post checkout. during the stay, I will handle you like in a luxury five star hotel. So in fact, that opportunity is my challenge. My challenge is to communicate that scale that look.

Elivaas does best of both the worlds. It gives you much more real estate more privacy, much more control. Yet it's fully five-star. service, full stack.

when you travel you are not gonna be left alone. You're gonna not be saying that the experience is gonna be a question mark or let's go blind into figuring out that while the real estate looks good online but the service might change from villa to villa, city to city, or team to team.

once a customer is stayed with Elivaas, that problem is gone for us. And, and we are, experiencing that, that change in behavior of all of them. have a very high repeat rate. fantastic five on five review score. And we'll talk about that later in the call.

Justin Sun (: 14:12

Amazing. I think

what makes Elivaas so exciting, Because you're not just managing homes, you're designing, these micro resorts, as some people call it, for every type of traveler.

Ritwik (: 14:23

We call it actually micro resorts from a property point of view, but we are ultimately in the micro mice category. your meetings incentives is what we are ultimately doing is just that we are doing meetings of families. friends and now meetings of corporates So.

Justin Sun (: 14:35

Right, retreats.

Ritwik (: 14:36

retreats so ultimately we are the micromized industry travel industry as such

Justin Sun (: 14:41

I that's a great way to put it. And it's a great segue into, how this all came together, The founding story and what makes Elivaas, Elivaas. you've mentioned before that Elivaas was born out of personal frustration, trying to manage your own second home in Goa. I love when a business starts with solving your own pain point. Can you, take us back to that moment? what was...

happening when you first realized there's a real gap here and I'm trying to go fix it.

Ritwik (: 15:09

I was working closely with hotel industry leaders of the world including India and was always inspired by what these big brands have done at scale and saw the consumer experience because I was on the supply and demand side both during

my stint at Make My Trip. And that's when I started thinking that this is at scale something missing in our industry I bought a property in Goa. a lovely private pool four bedroom villa in north of Goa.

when I started meeting partners to try and partner with me as a big brand in the hotels industry would have if let's say I had a 200 room hotel, I realized that the consistency, ethos, the thought process was probably not yet there in the villa and apartment industry. the gap became very, very clear in the mind after meeting the ecosystem players of that time. And like I said,

Amazing companies in the space before we also came in they had done their own bit of innovation but largely they were low touch and focused the one part of the equation Which is more the demand side or the revenue management side But as a full stack experience having worked with these hoteliers some really inspiring minds. I said this gap Needs to be filled in today here and now

as of yesterday rather in the apartment and villa industry. one thing led to the other and was lucky to have worked with Karan in the past during my stint at Make My Trip and Karan was doing this for two large companies after Make My Trip in the villa rental space and on the tech and product side. So when we got talking we got inspired by massive growth happening in this segment seven eight times faster than the hotel segment.

and yet no credible player, credible brand in the ecosystem and I think this is true for many parts in Southeast Asia as well by the way. you cannot point your fingers at saying that look the consistency and confidence and values which the top five six hotel brands give you is available in the villa space at scale

Justin Sun (: 16:58

Right.

it's great to hear that you had so much synergy with Karan and was able to build such a great team. And in an interview previously, you said you named the company after your daughter, which is pretty beautiful. It really grounds the mission in something personal.

were you also mentioned Elivaas were two concepts built together. Maybe you could elaborate a little bit further on that.

Ritwik (: 17:19

Yeah, the registered company name is on my daughter and it was another story for some other day but the brand Elivaas is essentially elite villas and apartments as one version of it but there's a word in Hindi called Nivas and Nivas is a home so it's elite homes, elite vas

in Hindi they say, is his place. So here he stays. Right? So it's Elite Homes and here is where my best guest stays.

Justin Sun (: 17:44

I love that.

on the same interview, you even turned down an investor before incorporating, what was the decision behind that?

Ritwik (: 17:52

I wish I had a very intelligent answer to this but ultimately when you start off with just three sheets of paper and I'm hugely indebted to that person but at that point in time it was a random number in the head I just felt that my 23 years of work just meant a little more

Justin Sun (: 17:55

You

Ritwik (: 18:07

I mean it was gutsy move at that point in time many people told me not to do that

after that, two and a half, three months, we got the surge offer from Peak 15, which was a style called Sequoia Southeast Asia and India and Southeast Asia. the rest is all history.

Justin Sun (: 18:22

And as an entrepreneur, these risky moments, where you have to just listen to your gut and trust your instincts.

talking about experiences and personalization, you also often talk about humane hospitality. I love that phrase. a brand pillar for you guys. What does it mean to you in a world that's increasingly digital and automated?

Ritwik (: 18:38

Yeah.

two sides to this One is the consumer, the traveler, the guest right from the time of helping them select the right property because

every property, the location, the access, the kind of asset, whether it has a lift, doesn't have a lift, how many rooms, gardens, pool, what is in and around there. we keep the guest in the center. from that stage till they check out

we keep the guest at the center of it. that's something ingrained in every person at Elivaas. And every training is around that. It's actually more like the guest deserves everything she wants.

obviously there are within limitations but the guest is always right I think we moved the game to saying the guest deserves everything she's asking for. that's something which is our center. it's a very personal industry.

So my caretaker is probably under the same roof with you for those 24 to 72 hours. And in that period, it's like somebody at the forefront of a war at the border, that person is what holds the post.

So how do we work very closely with this person at the center of it? we said we are going to serve three stakeholders strongly. Pretty much like a food delivery app company, So who does a food delivery app company serve? It serves the restaurant owner. the consumer, but it also serves the rider. The rider is the game changer. Is the rider going to be delivering food in a happy mood and on time and fast, hot enough?

Or is he or she going to be late? Or is he or she going to come with a grumpy face? Or is he or she going to miss the delivery? So for us, the rider is the caretaker. The restaurant owner is the home owner. And the traveler is the guest. And I think just keeping equal focus on all three, in fact, all our technology work that Karan leads is all centered around these three pillars. our tech teams are divided into three parts.

it's inbuilt into everything that we do at Elivaas

Justin Sun (: 20:31

Amazing. how do you protect that soul of hospitality as you scale? You mentioned there's technology. Are you guys building something internally for housekeepers, for the guests?

Ritwik (: 20:41

Yeah, We use a PMS, we use all the relevant distribution technologies and so on and so forth. But what we are building on is, the right ecosystem for the housekeeper, Because ultimately, the belief has to be that that person controls the brand.

It's not my regional head sitting in a building somewhere. the brand will be defined mostly by the housekeeper. everything we do is around how do we select the right person.

And this is you know it might sound simple, but this is the IP and this is the core to it How do you select the right person? How do you eliminate the wrong person and then how do you work with them to ensure in a distributed real estate Ecosystem so imagine if you have to do a training session once a week you cannot call them under one roof so how do you deliver this training on their app and with the right topics through

the right video modules, and content generation is what's really our endeavor and what we are kind of continuously doing.

Justin Sun (: 21:35

absolutely agree. Having been part of the short-term rental industry as it's something that people overlook. People rely on a manager or someone to go around and check after the cleaning happens, but at scalability, it's extremely hard. when it comes to technology and embedding that into the housekeepers day to day, it's also...

extremely difficult. So it's exciting to hear that it's part of your training program. You're really seeking out the right, housekeepers and not only that, as you mentioned, they're also interfacing with the guests and could also be in the same quarters as well for an extended period of time. so putting that trust and education there with them is a fantastic idea. And it's really important.

Ritwik (: 22:16

A

lot of in the west of the world I'm told outsource this. imagine outsourcing your brand. you would never see a luxury five-star hotel brand do that. And I think the answer is pretty much there. Ultimately, the brand is the experience. And if you can communicate that at scale, the emotion you can communicate.

via the data.

Justin Sun (: 22:35

Wonderful.

at Elivaas, you also have several layers. you have Elivaas, have Elias stays and Prive Maybe you could share how do they relate and, what each brand speaks individually.

Ritwik (: 22:47

ultimately the core differentiation is in, the kind of real estate that you get

that is pretty much 50 to 60 percent of the difference. across the three brands, we have a full stack service.

we categorize it as Elias Stays customers somebody who's coming into the Villa apartment industry for the first time Is value conscious In Elivaas I would say graduating to an affordable luxury mindset

where people are more confident about, taking that extra spend in a new category. And then Prive by Elivaas where it's absolutely hunt for the unique experience, the best property, hunt for a very unique location and true luxury in that sense. each category, it's the kind of extra personalization that we can add, the kind of amenities that we

offer and the kind of policies that we offer that's at play. Interestingly the loyalty program of Elivaas which is Elivaas Reserve has all three brands pretty much treated equally in that sense. So it's a spend-based program and it's something which doesn't discriminate whether you stay because at the core of our hospitality is to say that look it's essentially a real estate difference.

but the software service or the brand ethos we've kept common thread across all three which is Elivaas.

Justin Sun (: 23:57

Wonderful. And I think this is a great transition to talking about your three pillars at Elivaas which is, I believe, monitor, monetize, and maintain. that's a very data-driven way of thinking for what's still a hospitality and real estate brand. But what's fascinating is that you pair that structure with something deeply emotional, as you mentioned, humane hospitality.

let's talk about the operational backbone. You've got over 500 properties, all with different owners, staff and setups. is there one thing that other property managers could learn a little bit when it comes to maintaining that quality across such a, fragmented network?

Ritwik (: 24:36

what's interesting and more challenging is we've done this across 32 locations in pretty much the last two years.

And the guest is not going to say, look now in Goa, you've been around for two years. So I'll have a lower expectation than let's say the folly you've just launched, Kerala yesterday. So I'm going to be a less demanding customer or my expectation is all of a sudden going to change. no, the core of it is just to step back. Our three offerings to the homeowner are maintaining, monetizing,

Justin Sun (: 24:48

Right.

Congrats.

Ritwik (: 25:01

and monitoring your property. So we'll come to that. But essentially, when we formed the company, we said, what will be the values we'll stand for?

And having been a corporate employee for two decades plus, I knew that many at times the values don't mean much beyond the founders, the values just remain on the walls of the company offices. So our three core values are gonna be 100 % trust and transparency. So the first T is trust and transparency.

The second T was team first and the third T was taking action. whatever we offer to a guest is fully transparent. Whatever we show to a homeowner is fully transparent. And that's what builds the trust over a period of time.

because we are biased towards action, quickly decide the course of action. That course of action once in a while might not work out well, but that's fine. But don't sit back with your hands folded. because we high on teamwork, you're not alone in this. You have a whole ecosystem which will get behind you as you solve that problem. Now,

to the homeowner, we on day one started building our homeowner app because it was extremely important to ensure that the homeowner gets, two requirements. Can I get a return on my asset? And probably more important because it's a second home, it's not a financial asset alone.

Can somebody keep my asset better than how I would have been able to do it myself? it boils down to these two questions.

London and your villa is in Kerala. Whatever. Right? So, we built out the right apps from day one for the homeowner. Then, like I had mentioned earlier, built out the app for the housekeeper so that they can deliver this at scale across the country and at speed.

And eventually we'll start working on the customer app. We haven't started that yet. ours is not a very frequent use case app requirement anyways. So I think the first two apps will see a lot more investment before we move on to the consumer app in that sense.

Justin Sun (: 26:42

Amazing. talking about transparency, you also mentioned, that your leadership culture is one of accountability and agility and bias towards action. how do you build that kind of mindset in a young company that's growing this fast? And congratulations, on your recent $10 million raise. are there any rituals or small team habits?

stuck since the early days, you've seen and taken on very different leadership roles.

Ritwik (: 27:09

Who we hire is at the core of everything, whether it's the manager sitting in the central corporate office or it's the caretaker,

we have our own set of eliminators and set of selection criteria it starts and ends with people in that sense. then, you know, link to that every reward recognition system at Elivaas is built around these three values.

We are a very data-driven performance culture

values is a little tougher but taking action is easily measurable I think that culture is now well settled everyone walks the talk

some said these values are too simple and just too basic and some love it

Let that be 100 % employee involvement So whenever I'm doing an interview interaction with somebody I'm spending at least 10 minutes on the values saying that if you do not resonate with these values, you might not fit in here.

if you identify strongly with all of them should you make this jump away from some other company into a young startup like us.

Justin Sun (: 28:02

what I'm hearing is talent is key, their values and their traits and other T and trophy like incentivizing and ensuring that there's a structure there where people are motivated, essentially. Elivaas isn't just scaling fast. it's scaling with purpose. one of the areas you've been very vocal about is sustainability. Would love to talk about that.

because I know it's not just a buzzword for you, it's a pillar of how you're building. So you're launching Amaya, Goa's first sustainable luxury villa project. And I love that it blends this Indo-Portuguese design with eco-conscious construction. Sustainability in luxury travel can often sound like marketing, but in your case, it feels more built-in than bolted on.

How did that idea for Amaya first come about? And what does sustainability mean to you operationally, not just aesthetically?

Ritwik (: 28:58

we don't own any of our assets. this was our early conversation with this young duo who's building a phenomenal real estate brand and their first project was this one in Goa. from the first meeting we hit it off and we loved their vision.

there were things which struck us one very high use on alternative energy solar specifically lots of focus on rain water harvesting because Goa gets good rain throughout eight to ten months in a year minimum

And the usage of construction material was all eco-friendly, that got us attracted with this company and we'll take this story out to the consumer. we're seeing a direct shift in the younger consumer, the more value they're attaching to this. if the same dollar can be sustainably spent, why not? Or rather be spent on a more eco-friendly property.

Why not? but what is very clear is that if one options was more eco-friendly the choice is very clear Elivaas Does a lot of effort to ensure there's no use of plastic. There's only recyclable material

getting used and they are more expensive from the slippers we give to the toiletries to the accessories we give to the water bottles etc everything is you know non-plastic so to say nothing is single-use plastic we have used a lot of energy efficiency in our properties invested at times by us invested mostly by the owners but we give a lot of weightage to that.

this is early days for this we'll get more serious about it Elivaas is an ESG governed company

This is not just for the press, this is for compliance, this is for really being sensitive, burning less carbon per guest per hour and that's our focus.

Justin Sun (: 30:27

travelers are starting to reward that intention, since this is a partnership, how is Elivaas collaborating with developers Are there tweaks in the development process that you're

having some input and saying, we need this.

Ritwik (: 30:40

glad you asked this question because, we are seeing developers in our offices at the land buying stage planning their project over the next three years on what, according to Elivaas, should be right, with two purposes in mind, what's best suited for an experience and more importantly, what will get more bookings.

we have recommendations depending on the location It takes a lot of time and investment from our side.

But it's something we believe is building into a nice IP for us. it's very, important to get the design right. So how do you build the community spaces is extremely critical as you design every element.

Justin Sun (: 31:15

It sounds like a opco propco opportunity on the horizon.

Ritwik (: 31:18

Absolutely.

a prop tech opportunity, let me just leave that teaser there.

Justin Sun (: 31:24

Love that.

to zoom out just a little bit, we talked a lot about, Elivaas, we talked about the travelers, but I would love to know what do you think in the next, five to 10 years?

What does it look like for India's hospitality and villa space? Are we moving toward more branded operators like Elivaas becoming the new hotel groups of the 21st century? Or do you think we'll see more individual like Aman or Taj equivalent villas coming from India?

Ritwik (: 31:53

So there is absolute 100%, not 99 % conviction that we are in for some boom times ahead, There's gonna be a travel boom for the villa and apartment category. And I don't think we have started scratching the surface yet, What we are gonna see because of the aircraft delivery starting soon, the massive automobile growth in luxury car segment,

because of the highways getting built We're adding 28 kilometers a day of highway growth in the country. And the increasing purchasing power the boom is real my personal belief is

we will see a coexistence of bouqitue homeowner with the property

at scale, time is of essence, people will flock towards brands. And I think you will see brands like Elivass ensuring we to offer consistency across 5,000 properties and beyond. the ambition is very clear that the Indian traveler is not going to be only domestic.

the Indian traveler is going to be domestic and international and how we marry the two together is what's keeping us awake at night.

Justin Sun (: 32:50

Well, absolutely. mean, in as an international traveler, there's so much to explore in India. And I agree, we're scratching the surface and it's exciting to see Elivaas be part of that story before we wrap up, I want to shift gears and do something more fun. We have a quick segment we call rapid fire and the curious question. So short, answers that, reveal a little bit of personality.

what do you think is the most underrated villa destination in India?

Ritwik (: 33:17

the most underrated villa destination would be Ranthambore in my mind. I am inviting many builders to come and build in Ranthambore. Maybe it's my bias for the love for the tiger that apart I think this is a market which needs more real estate action

Justin Sun (: 33:32

One design or service trend you'd retire tomorrow.

Ritwik (: 33:37

So we've retired them already at Elivaas the trend that I want to it's not really a design trend, but it's what I call as rules, terms and conditions. Other than very basic illegal stuff or just being trashy with the property I just want the holiday to be without rules and as little terms and conditions as possible.

Justin Sun (: 33:56

Yeah,

giving back that control as you mentioned.

Ritwik (: 33:57

Yeah,

absolutely. I'm a big fan of allowing them to decide what, when, where, how the holiday is going to look like.

Justin Sun (: 34:05

Love

that. And what's your favorite part of the guest journey to obsess over?

Ritwik (: 34:10

we are focused every part right from inspiring them to check out, and even post-checkout, we engage in meaningful ways. We just did a very specialized, personalized Diwali greeting to all our past guests, for example. I think one thing I'm obsessed about is the group time. how do you give them a phenomenal experience?

And that is time with others. with their parents, with their kids, with their friends, so on and so forth. So how do you obsess about the time they are in the living room? the garden? a barbecue? we obsess about the most.

Justin Sun (: 34:39

the connection and providing that hospitality experiential moment, right?

Ritwik (: 34:44

And what all do they need? What accessories do they need? What service levels do they need? Everything.

Justin Sun (: 34:49

is your favorite hospitality or hotel brand beside your own?

Ritwik (: 34:54

That's that's tough one. You know, I have so friends in the for whatever it is worth, I'm a Hilton Diamond member So possibly because when I'm traveling outside India or in a city where there's no Elivaas, I just

Justin Sun (: 34:54

Hehehehe

Last question

is, what's one thing India does better than anywhere else in hospitality?

Ritwik (: 35:11

there's this interesting book. called Unreasonable Hospitality. And we are unreasonable with our hospitality. we go the whole hog and we are there for you. And that's what you'll find at an Elivaas any point in time.

Justin Sun (: 35:13

Mm-hmm. Yes.

I love that. Now, here's the curious question of the day. if Elivaas could launch a flagship villa outside India tomorrow, and it could be anywhere What would you keep exactly the same from the villas that you have and what would you change completely and why?

Ritwik (: 35:40

very tough. firstly we'll never be in Tuscany, We have a very clear mandate of the geographies we want to be in but what I would not want to do away with is our full stack absolutely guest first experience second

Justin Sun (: 35:47

Mm-hmm.

Ritwik (: 35:54

would like to change is to have a couple of flagship stunning properties on the beach. a private swimming pool luxury villa but on the beach I think that's a dream

Justin Sun (: 36:04

I'm sure it will happen very soon. Well, to end on a reflective note because your story feels like it's just getting started, And it's so deeply intentional. So for someone listening who wants to build their own boutique hospitality brand, what's your biggest piece of advice?

Ritwik (: 36:22

two things one it's not late.

The story ahead next three four decades is just phenomenal. It's perfect timing get into it Second don't get into it if you are not deeply passionate about Solving for the guest because it is a tough industry. if you're passionate about it, it's not late get in

Justin Sun (: 36:37

service mindset, a humane hospitality mindset. Ritvik this has been such a thoughtful conversation. You've helped paint a picture of what modern Indian hospitality is rooted in empathy, powered by technology, and elevated through you and your team's vision. So thank you so much for joining me on the Curious Concierge. I'll link in the show notes below your website. But before you go, would you like to let our listeners...

know where to find you

Ritwik (: 37:02

Yeah, best is on Instagram and LinkedIn handle.

Justin Sun (: 37:06

Fantastic. thank you so much, Ritvik I can't wait to see where Elivaas continues to grow

Ritwik (: 37:11

I hope to host you very soon. Thank you.

Justin Sun (: 37:12

you so much, Ritvik. Have a good one.