A Gilt Trip For the Rich and Famous

Helicopter landings, custom pillows, hidden suites, and no paparazzi allowed — welcome to the world of hyper-personalised celebrity travel, where discretion is the real luxury

- By Ananya Shankar Illustration by Sameer Pawar

Chartered flights, helicopter landings, customised itineraries, signature pillows and elaborate entourages — this is travel for India’s A-list. It’s hyper-personalised, discreet and rarely left to conventional booking agents. Instead, luxury travel today is the domain of expert curators and five-star hospitality teams who tailor every trip to their clients’ tiniest whims.

“[Singer] Diljit Dosanjh is a regular guest of ours,” reveals Rathijit Dutta, general manager of The Oberoi Sukhvilas. “He stayed with us while he was on his India tour [in December 2024]. We have a helipad and can provide guests with helicopters that directly land inside the hotel. So, when Diljit’s show was in Ludhiana, he used that [service] because it was easier.”

But not every celebrity wants an over-the-top African safari or a Maldivian sea-facing villa. Sometimes, all they seek is peace. Yogi Shah of The Villa Escape, whose Mumbai-based consultancy has quietly engineered some of the most indulgent and intimate getaways for Bollywood stars, business magnates and athletes, says, “We planned a holiday for a very big celebrity, and she went to the Dolomites. All she did was cycle.”

Travel needs and preferences vary quite a bit, adds Harshvardhan Tanwar, cofounder of No Footprints, a boutique experience company that curated a private Mumbai tour for actors Tom Holland and Zendaya during their visit two years ago. “We designed something we called the ‘strange stories of the sea’—a luxury yacht tour to get a glimpse of the city, but away from the crowd. They got to hear the stories of the city from the sea’s perspective.”