THE GRAMMAR OF INDULGENCE

From gamified stays to purpose-led hospitality, indulgence is being redefined in India's luxury landscape.

- Rishika Singh

AT DAWN IN KAZIRANGA, the fog unfurls like silk across the wetlands. A guest at the luxury boutique stay of Kathoni steps barefoot onto cool earth as the scent of rain-soaked bamboo rises in the air, while somewhere in the distance, a bar-headed goose calls. Not a marble lobby or maître d’ in sight, they're surrounded by the rhythm of life continuing, as it has for generations.

A few thousand miles away, in Chennai, a robot named Carnie glides soundlessly across the floor of Carnaby, the all-day dining restaurant at The Residency Towers, Chennai. Its trays clink gently with used glassware as it whirs toward the kitchen, allowing its human counterparts to pause, smile, and pour another cup of coffee with care. In Goa, Chef Divyanshi Patel of Deck 88 at The Astor Goa begins her morning with stories: a guest recalls her grandmother's curry, and by evening, the chef reimagines it with Goan spice and coastal memories. At Ilora Retreats in the Masai Mara, a traveller kneels in the red earth to plant a sapling, their name etched into a small wooden tag-a promise to return, and to give back more than they took.

These moments, scattered across continents yet connected by intent, tell the story of a fast-moving revolution in luxury travel. And, in this revolution, India is emerging as a landscape for transformation.

The Great Shift

"Luxury is getting a facelift-from being about 'having more' to 'feeling more'," says K.B. Kachru, President of the Hotel Association of India and Chairman, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.

"Travellers today want stories they can live, not just services they can buy."