Savour the Experience

With the well-heeled looking for a complete experience rather than a holiday, luxury boutique hotel association Relais & Châteaux is looking to expand its presence in India

- SMITA TRIPATHI

“LUXURY IS NOT just about big rooms, marble floors or three swimming pools. It has to come from the location where the property is—the ability of the owner to provide to the guest, the best of the culture of the place where the hotel is located,” says Laurent Gardinier in his French drawl.

The newly appointed President of Relais & Châteaux was in Sri Lanka recently where over two days he met 20 Indian, Sri Lankan and Thai hotel managers, chefs and owners—just some of the representatives of the 580 luxury hotels and restaurants that are members of the France-based global non-profit association.

The luxury hotel business has returned in full force after three years of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to an EY report, in the US, revenue per available room (RevPAR) was up 8.1 per cent in 2022 from 2019, and Europe was up 6.1 per cent for the same period. In India, the RevPAR in June 2023 was 25-27 per cent higher than June 2019, per the Hotels and Hospitality Overview by HVS Anarock, an international hospitality consultancy.

With both international and domestic tourists being back—and not just in India but across the globe—Gardinier says 2022 was a record year for most association members. “There has been a change in the way people in the luxury category are travelling. They are travelling in smaller groups, with just friends or family and are looking for smaller properties and unique experiences, away from bustling crowds,” says Gardinier, in effect describing a typical Relais & Châteaux property, such as Cape Weligama on the southern coast of Sri Lanka, which offers 39 suites and villas up on a cliff.