Discover the best wellness retreats in India with Panache World Founder-Director Loveleen Arun. Compare Prakriti Shakti, Kalari Kovalam, Kalari Rasayanam, Swaswara, Ananda in the Himalayas, Six Senses Vana, and Tulah Wellness to find the right fit for your healing journey. 

 

People ask us all the time: which is the best wellness resort in India? It is a fair question, but also the wrong one. Wellness is not one-size-fits-all, and the best retreat for you depends entirely on what you are looking for — a gentle reset, a medically guided cure, a structured detox, or a more exploratory introduction to the world of healing.

That is why Panache World Founder-Director Loveleen Arun prefers to look at wellness retreats the way a thoughtful doctor might: by diagnosis, not by decoration. Some properties are naturopathy-led, some are accredited Ayurvedic hospitals, some are beachside detox sanctuaries, and others are mountain retreats with strong wellness programming but no overwhelming rigidity. In this guide, Loveleen breaks down the best wellness retreats in India based on what they actually do well, so you can choose the one that suits your body, your mind, and the kind of break you want to have.

 

How to choose the right wellness retreat in India

The wellness space in India is broad, and that is exactly why travellers can get confused. There are resorts that focus on relaxation, others that are designed around cure and prevention, and some that balance healing with a more holiday-like atmosphere. A good wellness retreat should not only be beautiful; it should also be honest about what it offers.

At Panache, we look beyond the branding and assess the actual experience. Does the property feel medical or restorative? Is the programme intense or gentle? Are you there to address a specific concern, or simply to feel better and more balanced? Once you answer those questions, the shortlist becomes much clearer. India has some of the world’s most interesting wellness destinations, but they are not interchangeable.

 

CGH Earth Prakriti Shakti, Kerala: Nature cure in Its purest form

Prakriti Shakti is one of the strongest examples of naturopathy-led wellness in India. Set in Kerala, this CGH Earth property is designed for guests who want a nature-based approach to healing rather than a conventional spa-style stay. The focus here is on natural medicine, diet therapy, yoga, and treatments that work with the body’s own systems rather than around them.

It is the kind of place that appeals to travellers who want to step back, simplify, and reset without being surrounded by unnecessary fuss.
Loveleen sees Prakriti Shakti as ideal for people looking for a true naturopathy retreat rather than a luxury resort with wellness as an add-on. The property is especially strong for those who value clean living, quiet routines, and a structured health-led programme. It is wellness with purpose, not wellness as theatre.

Best for: A naturopathy break, preventive wellness, and a more disciplined reset.

 
Kalari Kovalam and Kalari Rasayanam: Ayurvedic hospitals in disguise

Kalari Kovalam and Kalari Rasayanam are among the most important wellness properties in India because they are not merely resorts — they are NABH-accredited Ayurvedic hospitals. That distinction matters. These are properties for people who are serious about treatment, whether that means addressing an existing ailment or pursuing preventive care through traditional Ayurveda. The experience is therefore more medical than many travellers expect, but also more precise and credible.

For Loveleen, these properties are essential to understand because they represent a form of wellness that goes beyond pampering. If you need a proper Ayurvedic protocol, this is where the structure, doctors, and treatments come together in a way that is deeply rooted in discipline. This is not the right choice if you want a partner-friendly spa holiday. It is the right choice if you want the system of Ayurveda taken seriously.

Best for: Ayurvedic treatment, preventive care, and medically guided wellness.

CGH Earth Swaswara, Gokarna: Beachside detox without the heavy hand

Swaswara occupies a very different place in the wellness landscape. Set in Gokarna, it is where the beach meets a lighter, more personal healing journey. Loveleen recommends it for travellers looking for a gentler detox or a 21-day gut cleanse, particularly those who want the discipline of Ayurveda without feeling as though they have checked into a hospital.

The setting helps enormously: sea breeze, open skies, and a quieter tempo make the process feel less austere.
This is the retreat for travellers who want the experience to feel like a holiday even while they are doing something serious for their health. Swaswara manages to combine restorative routines with a sense of ease, which is not always easy to achieve in wellness travel. It is ideal for those who want to heal without losing the pleasure of being away.

Best for: Light detoxes, gut cleanses, and wellness by the sea. 

 

Ananda in the Himalayas: The Best Entry Point Into Wellness

Ananda in the Himalayas remains one of India’s most recognisable wellness destinations for good reason. It sits in a beautiful mountain setting near Dehradun, with the old palace at its heart and rooms overlooking the valley and the Ganga beyond.

Loveleen recommends Ananda for travellers who want wellness, but not in an overly rigid or intimidating form. It is especially well suited to those travelling with a partner who may not be fully committed to a wellness retreat, or to first-timers who want to begin their journey gently.
The food, the gardens, the spa, and the treatment programmes all support a well-rounded experience that is serious without being severe. Ananda is often where people start when they want to understand wellness travel properly. It is a place that welcomes curiosity rather than demanding commitment.

Best for: First-time wellness travellers, couples, and mountain-seeking guests.

Six Senses Vana: Minimalism, alternative therapies, and deep structure

Six Senses Vana has grown steadily in popularity, and once you’ve been there, you’ll understand our enthusiasm for it. The architecture is beautiful in a quiet, minimal way, and the property creates a sense of openness and calm from the moment you arrive.

Unlike Ananda, which offers mountain views, Vana gives you forest views, and that difference matters more than people think. It changes the atmosphere from alpine retreat to woodland sanctuary.
Vana is especially strong for travellers interested in a wide range of therapies — acupuncture, hydrotherapy, Tibetan massages, yoga nidra, meditation, and food-focused workshops. It is a more structured and intellectually engaging wellness experience, and that is what makes it stand out.

For guests who like the idea of being gently guided through a programme rather than left to float, Vana is a compelling choice.

Best for: Structured wellness, alternative therapies, and immersive healing.

 

Tulah Wellness, Wayanad: Medical wellness with a modern edge

Tulah Wellness is one of the newer names in India’s wellness conversation, and it has quickly attracted curiosity.

After having been there, Loveleen places it in a category of its own because it combines holistic well-being with a more medical, test-based approach. Located in Wayanad and accessible from Calicut airport, it is designed for travellers who want measurable insight as part of their retreat — from DEXA scans to mobility and joint assessments — alongside treatments, massages, and sports-medicine-informed care.

This is not a place for couples looking to do “a little wellness” together. It is for people who are ready to engage properly with their health and want the retreat to feel both preventive and diagnostic. Tulah’s architecture, food, and doctor-led protocols make it one of the more interesting additions to India’s wellness map.

Best for: Medical wellness, diagnostic-led retreats, and preventive health.

 

The reason we write about these places with such confidence is simple: Panache has been there. We understand that wellness is private, and that many travellers prefer discretion when it comes to health. But we also understand that the right choice depends on details that matter — room size, treatment style, doctor access, the intensity of the programme, and the kind of atmosphere that will actually work for you.

That is what makes our role useful. We do not simply recommend a “best” retreat. We help you find the right one for your needs at that moment. Whether you want a gentle reset, a proper cure, or a wellness holiday that feels like a real holiday, we know how to match the experience to the traveller.

 

The post Loveleen’s guide to the best Indian wellness retreats appeared first on Panache World.

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There are experiences that find their way onto a itinerary by chance, and there are
experiences that redefine what a trip means altogether. My nocturnal wildlife tour with in the
Margaret River region was firmly, unforgettably, the latter.

Margaret River sits in the deep south-west corner of Western Australia, a region of
extraordinary geological and ecological character. Ancient karri and jarrah forests rise to
cathedral heights. The coastline is rugged and wind-carved, quite different in temperament
from the turquoise gentleness of Rottnest. The air smells of eucalyptus and damp earth and
something older, something that belongs to the land in a way that resists easy description.
This is a corner of Australia that has been shaped over tens of thousands of years, and you
feel the weight of that time pleasantly, in every direction you look.

South West Eco Discoveries, led by owner Sally White, presents what she rightly calls a
mosaic of extraordinary natural sights and wildlife. Their nocturnal tour is the jewel in that
mosaic: a rare, intimate encounter with the animals and plants of the bush after dark, set
against one of the most spectacular skies I have ever had the privilege of standing under.

“I had visited forests before. I had looked at stars before. But I had never done either quite
like this.”

The Journey to Yelverton Brook

Our evening began with the drive into the bush, the last light draining from the western sky as
we made our way to Yelverton Brook Conservation Sanctuary, the private pocket of
original bushland where the tour takes place. This is not a theme park or a managed zoo
experience. It is genuine, protected native bushland, largely unchanged from the landscape
that the Wadandi people of the Noongar nation have known and cared for across centuries.
Walking into it after dark, with torches casting low pools of amber light across the
undergrowth, you understand immediately that you are a guest in someone else’s home.

A short guided bush walk led us to the animal viewing site, our guides speaking quietly as
they pointed out the native plants lining the path. And this is where the tour revealed its
deeper dimension.

The Living Pharmacy of the Bush

The native flora of the Margaret River region is not merely beautiful. It is a living archive of
knowledge, each plant carrying centuries of practical and cultural significance for the
Noongar people who have been the custodians of this land since time immemorial. Our
guides wove this history into every step of the walk.

The Balga, or grass tree (Xanthorrhoea), one of Australia’s most ancient and iconic plants,
produces a flower spike that was used for fire-making, its resin as an adhesive, and its base
leaves as food. The Zamia palm (Macrozamia riedlei), with its prehistoric silhouette,
provided seeds that were carefully processed by Noongar women into a paste after leaching
out toxins, a culinary and chemical knowledge refined across generations. Paperbark trees (Melaleuca) provided bark for sheltering, wrapping food for cooking, and as an antibacterial
dressing for wounds. Peppermint trees (Agonis flexuosa), which release their distinctive
sharp fragrance when a leaf is crushed, were used medicinally, their leaves steeped for
respiratory ailments.

These plants are not background scenery. They are a library, written in leaf and bark and root,
by people who understood this land with an intimacy that Western science is only beginning
to properly appreciate.

Bush Billy Tea and the Animals Arrive

We settled at the viewing site and that is when Sally’s team produced something that stopped
the conversation entirely: bush billy tea, brewed from local herbs and native leaves, served
warm in the cool night air. I wrapped both hands around the cup and simply breathed it in
before drinking. It tasted of the bush: faintly citrus, faintly floral, earthy in a way that was
deeply comforting. It was, without question, the most appropriate cup of tea I have ever been
served in my life.

And then, as though they had been waiting politely for us to settle in, the animals began to
arrive.

The kangaroos came first, moving out of the tree line with that particular combination of
power and softness that makes them so endlessly fascinating to watch. They accepted food
from our hands with a gentleness that was almost formal, their large eyes catching the
torchlight as they regarded us with calm curiosity. There is something about feeding a
kangaroo in its own habitat, under the open sky, without a fence or a handler between you,
that feels like a genuine act of trust on both sides.

Then came the bandicoots, and the collective reaction of the group was instant and
unanimous delight. Small, pointed-nosed, busy with the urgent importance of their own
evening plans, they darted and foraged with comical energy, barely registering our presence.
The bandicoot has the air of a creature who has somewhere very important to be and is
running slightly late, and watching them work their way around the clearing was among the
more purely joyful things I have experienced in recent memory.

Our guides were full of stories, factual and folkloric in equal measure, about each animal,
each plant, each sound coming from the dark beyond the clearing. The possibility of night
birds added a further layer of anticipation: tawny frogmouths, those masters of stillness and
camouflage, and owls whose calls drifted in from the tree line. The bush at night is
emphatically not silent. It is busy, layered, alive with a different shift of creatures going about
their business with tremendous purpose.

The Sky Above Margaret River

And then I looked up.

I have seen night skies. I thought I knew what a night sky was. The southern hemisphere
disagreed with me, politely but comprehensively.

The sky above Yelverton Brook that night was not merely starry. It was structural. The Milky
Way did not appear as a faint suggestion, the way it does through the ambient light of most
places I have stood. It appeared as a solid, luminous river of light, arching from one horizon
to the other with the confidence of something that has been there for billions of years and has
no particular interest in being subtle about it. The Southern Cross, that most distinctly
southern constellation, hung with quiet authority. Stars I had no names for crowded every
inch of sky that I turned to face.

I spent a considerable and slightly obsessive portion of the evening attempting to photograph
it on my phone. I tried every setting, every angle, every trick I had read about or half-
remembered. I failed, thoroughly and repeatedly, and eventually put the phone away with the
particular peace that comes from accepting that some things simply refuse to be captured.
The sky above Margaret River is one of them. You must go and stand underneath it yourself.
No screen will ever do it justice, and that is precisely as it should be.

About South West Eco Discoveries

Sally White and her team have built something genuinely special in this corner of Western
Australia: tours that combine ecological knowledge, indigenous cultural context,
extraordinary wildlife encounters and exceptional local produce into experiences that stay
with you. Their nocturnal tour is family-friendly and available alongside a range of daytime
nature and wine tours showcasing Geographe Bay, wildflowers, whales in season, and the
rugged west coast.

If you are travelling through the Margaret River region, this is not optional. It is essential.
At Panache World, we travel, we experience and then we pick appropriate experiences to add
on that extra layer of authenticity into your trips to Western Australia and beyond!

The post Into the Australian night: A nocturnal wildlife tour In the Margaret River region appeared first on Panache World.

By Loveleen Multani Arun, Founder Director, Panache World A Panache World Travel Diary
· Western Australia

The Island Awaits

There are destinations that creep into your consciousness the moment you arrive, and
Rottnest Island (or “Rotto” as the locals call it with the casual affection one reserves for an
old friend) is exactly that kind of place. Lying just 18 kilometres off the coast of Fremantle in
Western Australia, this 19-square-kilometre limestone island is a world unto itself: part
paradise, part wildlife sanctuary, part sensory dream. I arrived for a single day. I left already
planning the return.

What nobody tells you before you go is that Rottnest is not one colour. It is a canvas painted
in the most audacious strokes of coral-pink, cerulean-blue, sage-green and blinding white. It
is a place where salt lakes bloom the colour of strawberry jam, and the Indian Ocean arranges
itself into bays of such impossible turquoise that you suspect someone has tampered with
reality.

“I thought I had seen beaches before. Rottnest Island gently, cheerfully proved me wrong, in
the most spectacular fashion.”

Getting There: The Crossing Is Already Part of the
Adventure

Getting to Rottnest Island is a journey that begins with the smell of sea air and the deep-
throated rumble of a ferry engine. Three departure points connect the island to the mainland:
Fremantle (the most popular, roughly 30 minutes), Perth’s Barrack Street Jetty (about 90
minutes, the scenic option), and Hillarys Boat Harbour north of Perth (around 45 minutes).
Rottnest Express and Sealink are the two main operators, running multiple daily services.

I boarded from Fremantle just as the morning light was still gold and low. The ferry carves
through open water with a confidence that sets the tone perfectly. You feel the city receding,
the mind slowing, the shoulders dropping. By the time Thomson Bay comes into view, you
are already a different, lighter version of yourself.

There are no private cars permitted on the island, a fact that seems radical until you realise it
is the island’s most inspired policy. The roads belong to cyclists, walkers, the island bus, and
adventurers on segways. The quiet is immediate, profound, and quite wonderful.

At a glance: From Fremantle ~30 min · From Perth CBD ~90 min · From Hillarys ~45 min ·
No cars on island, bikes, segways and buses only.

Who Should Go: Everyone. But Especially You.

Rottnest Island is a rare destination that genuinely has no wrong visitor. Families arrive for
the calm, snorkel-friendly bays where children can wade in water so clear it looks like liquid
glass. Couples come for the romance of cycling past sunset bays, lantern-lit dinners, and the
particular magic of sleeping somewhere that the city cannot reach. Solo travelers come for
the freedom. You can be entirely alone on a clifftop watching the Indian Ocean, or entirely
surrounded by the infectious good cheer of the settlement.

Adventure seekers find their fill in snorkeling, diving, surfing and the extraordinary
skydiving. Nature lovers wander trails through native tea-tree scrub, spotting osprey, sea
eagles and of course the famously photogenic quokka. Photography enthusiasts will need
significant storage space. And those of us who simply love the luxury of doing nothing very
elegantly will find that the island’s bays provide the world’s finest office for staring
thoughtfully at the horizon.

If you have one day, give it wholly to Rottnest. It will give back tenfold.

Things to Do: Twenty-Four Hours of Pure Wonder

The island operates on its own unhurried rhythm, and a day trip rewards those who surrender
to it. Begin at Thomson Bay Settlement, the heart of the island, where you can hire bikes,
board a segway tour, or simply walk the main strip lined with cafés, hire shops and the
cheerful chaos of visitors in holiday mode.

Snorkel the Bays: The Basin and Little Parakeet Bay are legendary for crystal-clear water
and abundant marine life. Hire gear from the settlement and wade in.

Cycle or Segway the Island: The 26-kilometre perimeter circuit is one of Australia’s great
rides. The segway tour is nothing short of extraordinary.

Oliver Hill Gun Batteries: A fascinating WWII-era gun emplacement with guided tunnels
and 360-degree views over the island.

Wadjemup Lighthouse: Climb to the top for panoramic views across the island and ocean,
the oldest lighthouse in Western Australia.

Skydive onto the beach: For the brave, one of the most unique jump zones in the world,
with a beach landing that defies description.

Spot quokkas: Simply wander. They will find you.

Sunset at Pinky Beach: Named for its faintly rose-tinted sand, this west-facing cove turns
golden at the day’s end. Do not miss it.

The Segway Journey: Gliding Through a Living Painting

I had ridden segways before, through city squares, across hotel lobbies in moments of
unexpected whimsy, but nothing prepares you for what it means to ride one around Rottnest
Island. This was not tourism. This was transport through a fever dream of natural beauty.

Our small group assembled at the hire point, helmets buckled with the cheerful incompetence
of people who are clearly thrilled to be there. Within minutes, the settlement fell behind and
we were rolling along smooth paths flanked by silver-green scrub. The Indian Ocean
appeared in flashes between dunes, that particular shade of blue that exists only in Western
Australia, a blue so saturated it seems artificially lit.

And then the lakes. Oh, the lakes.

Nothing in any travel writing I had consumed, no photograph, no filter-heavy Instagram post,
had genuinely communicated what it is to stand at the edge of the salt lakes and confront pink
water. Not pink-ish. Not blush. Pink. The colour of peonies. Of Himalayan salt. Of a sunset
pressed flat and poured into a natural bowl among the limestone. The microalgae and
halophilic bacteria that create this phenomenon are ancient, indifferent organisms with no
interest whatsoever in being spectacular, and yet spectacular is the only word. I stood on the
segway, both feet planted, mouth genuinely open.

We crested a rise and the ocean appeared again, but different now. We were looking down at
Salmon Bay, and the water had shifted register entirely: from blush-pink to the most
extraordinary aquamarine, shallow over white sand, with the sun catching its surface in a
thousand shards of light. The blue was surreal, the kind that makes you wonder if the sky and
sea have traded colours, each trying to outdo the other.

The segway tour wound through the island’s quieter heart, past wind-stunted trees, past
osprey nests mounted improbably on poles, along clifftop paths where the Southern Ocean
roared at the rocks below. We paused at lookouts. We laughed; the wind makes you laugh on
a segway, freely and without apology. We emerged at the far beaches feeling like people who
had been handed a secret.

“The pink lakes and the blue bays exist in impossible proximity, as if the island itself cannot
decide between two equally beautiful moods.”

The Pink Lakes: When Nature Chooses Rose

Rottnest Island is home to several salt lakes that turn varying shades of pink throughout the
year, the depth of colour intensifying in summer heat. The science involves Dunaliella salina
algae producing red carotenoid pigments in hypersaline conditions, combined with halobacteria working their chromatic alchemy in the brine. The result is nature operating at
its most aesthetically bold.

The lakes sit in shallow depressions across the island’s interior, surrounded by bleached
limestone and dry scrub, which makes their colour all the more arresting. There is something
quietly surreal about cycling or gliding past pink water in what feels like an otherwise
ordinary coastal landscape. It reminds you that the natural world, when left to its own
devices, has a flair for drama that no interior designer could match.

The best views come from higher ground. The segway route passes several excellent vantage
points where the pink sits in brilliant contrast against the blue of the ocean beyond. Carry a
camera. Take far more photographs than you think reasonable. You will not regret a single
one.

The Quokka: Joy in Marsupial Form

Let me tell you about the quokka. If you have not encountered one, you have been living at a
deficit of pure, unearned happiness. About the size of a domestic cat, with the round face of a
stuffed animal and an expression so permanently cheerful that scientists have actually
debated whether they are smiling or simply anatomically arranged that way, quokkas are the
soul of Rottnest Island.

They are everywhere. Or rather, they will find you. I was sitting on a low wall near the
settlement, sipping an iced tea and stealing a moment of shade from the relentless Western
Australian sun during a pause in my segway tour, when a quokka materialised approximately
four centimetres from my left knee, looked directly at me with an expression of absolute
benign interest, and simply waited. It did not beg. It did not flinch. It regarded me the way a
confident, cheerful creature regards everything, as a perfectly acceptable part of its afternoon.

The quokka population on Rottnest numbers approximately 10,000, roughly half the global
total. They are remarkably unafraid of humans, having evolved on an island with no natural
predators. They are also federally protected. You may not feed them, may not handle them,
and must not photograph them in a way that could distress them. What you absolutely should
do is crouch down at their level and take what the internet has aptly named the “quokka
selfie,” quite possibly the most joyful photograph a human being can take of themselves.

There is something about the quokka’s expression, that upturned mouth, those bright eyes,
that absolute refusal to be anything other than at ease with the world, that stays with you long
after you have boarded the ferry home. Rottnest has many gifts. The quokka may be its most
generous.

Skydiving: Falling from the Sky, Landing on Paradise

There are skydive landing zones, and then there is Rottnest Island. The experience offered
here is unique not merely in the leap (tandem skydiving from approximately 14,000 feet over the Indian Ocean) but in the landing: you touch down directly on the beach, with turquoise
water on one side and the startled, delighted faces of beachgoers on the other.

The jump arc takes you over open ocean, the island laid out below you in its full
extraordinary palette: the pinks and greens of the salt lakes, the impossible blues of the bays,
the white of the limestone cliffs, the tiny figures of cyclists on the coastal paths. At altitude,
Rottnest looks like something a landscape painter invented after a very good dream. The
wind rushes past at speeds that render thought impossible, which is perhaps the most
profound form of mental rest available to a modern human being.

The freefall lasts around 60 seconds. The parachute opens over the ocean, and then the island
comes slowly toward you in the most beautiful way: the settlement, the bays, the pale sand of
the beach warming in the sun. And then your feet touch sand, and someone nearby is almost
certainly taking a photograph of the most spectacular arrival they have ever witnessed.

Skydiving on Rottnest is not a thrill-seeker’s checkbox. It is a genuinely moving encounter
with scale, with the size of the ocean, the smallness of the island, the extraordinary luck of
being alive and airborne above all of it.

“To fall from the sky and land on a beach at the edge of the Indian Ocean is to understand,
briefly and completely, why travel exists.”

Overnight Stays: When a Day Simply Isn’t Enough

And it won’t be. I knew before the ferry had docked for the return that I would be back, and
that next time I would stay. Rottnest Island offers overnight accommodation ranging from
budget-friendly camping to genuinely comfortable lodges, all administered by the Rottnest
Island Authority, which means booking in advance is strongly recommended, particularly in
the summer high season.

Discovery Resorts Rottnest Island was a revelation I did not see coming. I had gone in to
inspect the property with mild curiosity and walked out thoroughly impressed. The glamping
tents are brand new and far more beautiful than the word “tent” has any right to suggest:
thoughtfully appointed, surprisingly spacious, and styled with a warmth that makes them feel
like a proper retreat rather than a compromise. If you had told me before my visit that a
canvas dwelling on a limestone island would make me want to cancel my return ferry, I
would not have believed you. And yet. The resort is also home to Pinky’s, a lovely eatery
that captures the island’s relaxed spirit perfectly. Named for the iconic Pinky Beach just steps
away, it is the kind of place where you linger far longer than you planned, with good food,
easy conversation, and the kind of view that makes every meal feel like a occasion.

Rottnest Island Lodge is the island’s most comfortable traditional option, situated in the
heart of Thomson Bay Settlement. Hotel-style rooms with modern amenities, a pool, and the
convenience of being steps from restaurants, hire shops and the ferry terminal, it is an ideal
base for first-time visitors who want comfort without sacrificing the island experience.

Heritage Cottages & Villas are dotted across the island, occupying buildings that date back
to the colonial era. Many are positioned near bays, offering the remarkable experience of
waking to ocean views from a building that has stood for over a century. Some sleep large
groups, making them ideal for families or friends travelling together.

Tentland Camping is for those who want the island at its most raw and intimate. Rottnest’s
campgrounds offer tent and powered sites with shared facilities. Falling asleep to the sound
of the ocean and waking before the day-trippers arrive is an experience that regular visitors
consider the island’s greatest secret. Book very early.

The great gift of staying overnight is the island after the ferries have gone. The settlement
quiets, the bays empty, the quokkas grow bolder in the dusk. The stars over Rottnest, far from
city light pollution, are a separate spectacle entirely. If you have even two days, take them.

Practical tips: Book months ahead for December through February. All accommodation is
through the Rottnest Island Authority website. Pack a torch for evening walks. The island’s
single supermarket stocks basics but not luxuries. Hire bikes on arrival; the best bays are a
short ride, not a walk.

Go. Simply Go.

Rottnest Island does not need to be oversold. It does not require elaborate itineraries or luxury
promises. It asks only that you arrive, surrender your phone to your pocket for at least part of
the day, and let the island do what it does: astonish you, slowly and completely.

The pink lakes will surprise you. The blue beaches will silence you. A quokka will make you
laugh. And the segway, that ridiculous, magnificent, wind-in-your-face segway, will carry
you through all of it with the particular joy of moving through paradise and knowing, for
once, that you are exactly where you are supposed to be.

Rottnest Island is 18 kilometers and an entire world away from the mainland. Go find out the
difference.

The post Pink lakes & Sapphire shores: One unforgettable day on Rottnest Island appeared first on Panache World.

These five hotels – The Lana Dorai Dubai, Joali Being Maldives, MO Tokyo, Raffles Doha, and Plaza Athénée Paris – are the crème de la creme of girlie getaway hotels: decadence dialed to 11, with design that dazzles and service that spoils.

The Lana Dubai – The sultana’s playground

Perched above Marasi Bay Marina, The Lana offers 225 spacious rooms and suites, the UAE’s first Dior Spa (they have the softest pillows, btw), an infinity rooftop pool with skyline views, and eight restaurants serving global and regional cuisines. 

Seamless service, curated city experiences, and wellness offerings make it girlie getaway unlike any other. Go here if you want a Dubai stay that balances city buzz with personal pampering. Think skyline selfies from sky-high terraces, shopping sprees via chauffeured Bentleys to the Dubai Mall.

JOALI BEING Maldives: The joy of living well 

Overwater bliss meets biohacking at JOALI BEING on Raa Atoll – Maldives reimagined for girl gangs craving kale smoothies and kinetic sand playlists. Custom “Being” journeys blend cryotherapy with coconut scrubs; rooftop yoga flows into private sandbank picnics. Laugh over lobster beach BBQs, then debrief life post marine biologist accompanied snorkels. It’s wellness that isn’t preachy, but leaves its mark in the form of radiant skin, stronger bonds, and turquoise horizons that make every other group chat jealous.

Read our JOALI BEING review.

Mandarin Oriental Tokyo: Neon nightlife

High above Nihonbashi, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo makes the city’s vastness feel gracious. Rooms and suites are calm, and offer views across Tokyo’s shifting skyline. Dining spans seasonal sushi to pizza (Hello, The Pizza Bar on 38th!) Steps from Ginza and minutes from museums, markets, and temples, the hotel also connects directly to the Tokyo Metro.For the ultimate girlie getaway, Mandarin Oriental Tokyo delivers one of our favorite cities electric energy in a boutique package – bold, bubbly, and brilliantly unfiltered.

Raffles Doha: Qatari Queen Vibes

In the new seaside city of Lusail, the Katara Towers rise like crossed swords, Qatar’s national emblem made real in steel and glass. Inside one crescent-shaped tower, Raffles Doha comes with spectacular design and impeccable taste, offering all-suite rooms, six signature restaurants, a rooftop bar, a holistic spa, and a fantastic library with rare first-edition books. Dramatic lobbies, curated art, and world-class service turn every corner into a discovery. Go here if you appreciate design, flawless service, and a stay that makes Doha unforgettable.

Plaza Athénée Paris: Haute Couture Hideaway

Paris’s Plaza Athénée on Avenue Montaigne is girl getaway catnip – Eiffel Tower twinkles from Dior-pink balconies, with Michelin-starred menus for endless toasts. Haute couture fittings at nearby ateliers; private Seine cruises with champagne sabering. Spa Dior pampers post-shopping hauls; afternoons dissolve into patisserie crawls and Louvre whispers. For best friends, it’s the eternal city of lights at its most indulgent – chic, champagne-drenched, and conspiratorially fabulous.

At Panache World, these are the threads in our girly getaway tapestries – bespoke, blissful, built for unbreakable bonds. Get in touch with us and let’s plot your next chapter. @Inder – link to the contact us page

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Bhutan

Bhutan’s Himalayan hush is the solo travellers holy grail…think high-altitude monasteries where monks chant at dawn and your only deadline is tea time. Stay at Six Senses Thimphu or Amankora Punakha, where private hikes to Paro Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) dissolve ego amid prayer flags. Eat buckwheat pancakes with datshi chili cheese; pray in Bumthang’s ancient temples; love the quiet luxury of feeling profoundly, happily alone. Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness is more than marketing. It’s the air you breathe, recalibrating your soul without a single group tour in sight.

An experience we love: Making prayer flags in Bhutan

Bali

Forget the Instagram yoga hordes; Bali’s real magic lies in solo sanctuaries like COMO Shambhala Estate, where personal healers craft bespoke detoxes amid Ubud’s rice terraces. Wander Seminyak’s black-sand beaches at sunrise, savoring nasi goreng with sambal; pray at Besakih Temple’s misty flanks; love the island’s effortless sensuality – a frangipani-scented reset for body and spirit. For the solo traveler, Bali whispers permission to indulge without apology, blending ancient Balinese healing with modern spa wizardry.

Ladakh

Ladakh’s lunar landscapes demand solo contemplation – stark, sacred, and staggeringly beautiful. Base at Chamba Camp Thiksey or The Grand Dragon Ladakh, then trek Nubra Valley’s sand dunes or meditate at Hemis Monastery. Eat momos steaming with thukpa broth; pray amid Thiksey’s gilded Buddha; love the raw clarity of 5,000-meter passes where perspective shifts forever. This high-desert dreamscape strips away distractions, leaving just you, ancient monasteries, and skies so clear they rewrite your inner compass.

An experience we love: Ladakhi snow leopard spotting

Japan

Japan turns solo travel into an art form – efficient, exquisite, immaculate. Ride the Shinkansen to ryokans like Hoshinoya Kyoto, slipping into onsen baths after kaiseki dinners of seasonal poetry on porcelain. Eat ramen in Tokyo’s hidden alleys; pray at Kyoto’s Fushimi Inari torii gates; love the disciplined grace of geisha districts and empty Zen gardens. From Naoshima’s art islands to Hokkaido’s lavender fields, Japan’s omotenashi hospitality makes one feel like the only guest in the world – profoundly restorative.

A hotel we love: Patina Osaka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka’s cinnamon shores beckon with wild luxury – think Galle Fort’s bougainvillea alleys and Ayurvedic retreats at Barberyn Beach Ayurveda Resort. Solo safaris in Yala reveal leopards at dusk; pray at Kandy’s Temple of the Tooth; love train rides through Ella’s mist-shrouded tea hills, sipping king coconut water. Seafood curries burst with island spice, while surf lessons at Mirissa build quiet confidence. This teardrop isle blends colonial charm, ancient ruins, and beachside healing – perfect for solo souls craving adventure with a side of serenity.

At Panache World, we craft these solo escapes with the discretion they deserve – private guides, seamless logistics, just you and the journey. No groups, no fuss, all transformation.

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8th March, for us, is less about hashtags and more about spotlighting the women reshaping what hospitality can feel like in India.  Not just in corner offices, but in forests, palaces, pilgrimage towns and high-altitude deserts where the idea of luxury is being rewritten as care – for people, place and community.

These are hoteliers who think in ecosystems, not just experiences; who are as invested in gender parity, local livelihoods and culture as they are in thread counts and tasting menus. For travel designers like Panache World, which curates travel for guests who have seen “five-star” a thousand times before, these women-led projects feel like the future: soulful, sustainable, design-forward and deeply rooted in where they are. 

Shruti Shibulal: Tamara Leisure Experiences

Shruti Shibulal has quietly built one of India’s most thoughtful hospitality portfolios in the form of Tamara Leisure Experiences, where responsible tourism isn’t a line in a manifesto, but the operating system.  As Executive Vice Chair and long-time CEO, she has led a 10x growth of the group while insisting that people, planet and profit stay in the same room. Tamara’s properties in South India and business hotels in Germany weave in green building practices, wildlife preservation and careful resource use. Under Shruti’s value-driven leadership, the brand has become synonymous with sustainability, gender parity and real job creation in local communities …the kind of back-of-house impact you can actually feel in the front-of-house warmth. For travellers, that translates into stays that are serene and well-run, but also gently consciousness-raising: pilgrim hotels that understand multigenerational families, coffee estates that respect the forest, and a brand that proves scale and soul can co-exist.

Priya Paul: The Park Hotels and Raan Bas The Palace Patiala

Long before “boutique” and “design-led” became category clichés, Priya Paul was already steering The Park Hotels into that lane and flooring the accelerator.  As Chairperson of Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, she transformed a traditional city-hotel portfolio into a collection of contemporary, art-forward spaces that speak directly to India’s new creative class. Her latest chapter is Raan Baas The Palace in Patiala, Punjab’s first true luxury palace hotel, where she’s backed a meticulous restoration in collaboration with conservation architect Abha Narain Lambah. The result: a resplendent palace that feels less like a museum piece and more like a revived royal home, with restored frescoes, revived crafts and staff drawn from surrounding communities. Together, The Park and Ranbaas tell a very Priya Paul story – one where heritage and contemporary design flirt comfortably, and where a woman at the helm keeps nudging Indian hospitality towards something braver, bolder and far more interesting than beige opulence.

Read Panache Founder Director, Loveleen Arun’s review of Raan Baas The Palace.

Husna‑Tara Prakash: Glenburn Tea Estate & Glenburn Penthouse

Husna‑Tara Prakash didn’t just enter hospitality; she more or less created the Glenburn universe from scratch. First came Glenburn Tea Estate near Darjeeling, a restored planter’s bungalow set on a working tea estate, where gracious, old-world hosting is paired with serious immersion into the rhythms of plantation life.  Think guided tea walks, picnic lunches by the river and the sense of staying in someone’s impeccably run home rather than a hotel. Then came the Glenburn Penthouse in Kolkata, conceived as a “gift to the city”: a rooftop refuge with sweeping views of the Victoria Memorial that brings the elegance of a hill-station planter’s home into an urban setting. Across both, Husna‑Tara’s touch is unmistakable. Layered décor, intuitive hospitality, and a commitment to preserving and celebrating the stories of tea, Bengal and the families woven through them. It’s a masterclass in turning personal passion into a hospitality brand that feels deeply personal, yet effortlessly world-class.

Vidyun Goel: Haveli Dharampura

In the dense, intoxicating lanes of Chandni Chowk, Haveli Dharampura is a minor miracle: a 19th-century haveli rescued from decay and reborn as a 14-room heritage hotel.  While politician and heritage enthusiast Vijay Goel led the initial charge to save the building, it is his daughter, Vidyun Goel, who has become the young, energetic face of the haveli and its cultural life.Under her stewardship, Haveli Dharampura isn’t just a pretty restoration project; it’s a stage for kathak performances, kite-flying sessions, Old Delhi food trails and terrace views that reacquaint even lifelong Delhiites with their own city. The UNESCO Asia-Pacific Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation feels well-earned here, but what we love most is how Vidyun uses the space to create opportunities for local artisans, performers and hospitality staff – many of them women – within the walled city. It’s heritage, yes, but also a very contemporary story of a young woman turning a crumbling family property into an urban sanctuary with serious cultural cred.

Antara & Jahnabi Phookan: Diphlu River Lodge, Kaziranga

On the edge of Kaziranga National Park, Diphlu River Lodge feels less like a “resort” and more like an extremely well-run secret tucked into riverine forest.  Established in 2008, it is the reincarnation of a pioneering 1970s ecotourism lodge, now led by the Phookan family – with Jahnabi and Antara Phookan shaping much of its present-day ethos and guest experience.  Thatched, bamboo-on-stilts cottages borrow their lines from Mishing tribal homes, and interiors are dressed with weaves and artefacts crafted by local women.  The lodge’s responsible tourism practices run deep: greywater recycling, low light and noise policies, a women’s weaving unit on-site, and hospitality training for young boys and girls from neighbouring villages.  Recognised by Lonely Planet and consistently ranked among the top wildlife stays in the country, Diphlu proves that conservation, community uplift and seriously comfortable beds can co-exist beautifully when there are women in the room asking the right questions.

Mrinalika & Akshita Bhansali Deo: The Belgadia Palace, Odisha

The Belgadia Palace in Mayurbhanj is a 200-year-old residence that could so easily have become a cordoned-off relic; instead, two sisters, Mrinalika and Akshita Bhanj Deo, have turned it into a living, breathing heritage stay with social impact at its heart.  Originally built as a Victorian-meets-Georgian retreat for visiting dignitaries, the palace has been restored as a tropical art deco sanctuary where visiting feels more like staying with cultured friends than checking into a hotel. The sisters still live on-site and have opened their doors with a clear agenda: to use tourism to build sustainable communities in this tribal-dominated region through cultural exchanges, workshops and local employment.  Guests wander through verandahs lined with indigenous flora, play vinyl in old drawing rooms, and eat from an organic farm, all while being gently plugged into the area’s art forms, heritage sites and wild landscapes. The Belgadia Palace is an elegant rebuke to extractive palace tourism; here, heritage is not just preserved and prettified, but leveraged to create opportunity, particularly for local women and youth.

Rigzin Lachic: Dholkar, Ladakh

In Ladakh, where the scenery tends to do all the heavy lifting, Dolkhar stands out for something rarer: a woman-led vision of hospitality that is deeply, almost fiercely, local.  Founded by Rigzin Wangmo Lachic, this sustainable boutique stay is designed to embody Ladakh’s essence – from its architecture and materials to its food philosophy and community partnerships. Recognised as Boutique Hotel of the Year at the Economic Times Travel & Tourism Conclave, Dolkhar marries crisp, contemporary design with an ethic of minimal environmental impact and maximum benefit to local farmers and artisans. Its plant-based restaurant, Tsas by Dolkhar, turns Ladakhi ingredients into quietly dazzling plates, reframing “vegetarian” as inventive and destination-worthy rather than dutiful. For first timers and travellers who have already “done” Ladakh alike, Dolkhar offers an experience that is slow, rooted, female-led and radically in tune with the land’s fragility and strength.

There are scores of women-led projects to spotlight, but we hope that these five projects have piqued your interest. We love to stitch places like Tamara, The Park, Ibnii, Belgadia Palace and Dolkhar into itineraries that feel as considered as the women who dreamed them up – always tailored, always a little unexpected. If you’d like, we can help you build a trip around one (or several) of these addresses, but for today, we’re simply inviting you to notice them, celebrate them, and maybe let them influence what “luxury” means to you next.

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Sanjar Imam shares how for today’s travellers, experience trumps over material and they can spend (big) on the former. He highlights that for the current traveller, experiential travel is luxury of a different nature. That is, of being the explorer and taking that adventure in pursuit of gaining knowledge to live a richer life, qualitatively. Read on to more.

‘Send me someplace nobody goes and give me an experience that is non-googleable’, was one of my latest challenge as a travel advisor. The request came from a HNI client who I have serviced for the past 15 years, designing his personal trips around the world as I saw his business and him grow over the years into a global multi-million dollar enterprise. A first generation dollar millionaire.

I am quite used to my clients, most of who are repeats or referrals, calling me with a destination they desire to visit, their travel dates and saying, ‘fix it’. They know that I know their past travel history, their travel preferences and (pertinently) the curve in life they are going through, both economic as well as social. I fix it. It is quite like ChatGPT. But more on that later.

I have witnessed their transformation; upgrading from economy to business to first and then to private jet travel; climbing up to top-tier room categories; seeking the latest and finest when it comes to food and beverages. That is where they are presently and unless something else revolutionary comes up, that is where they will be, since for most, it is a one way stairway.

The significant shift over the past few years has been in them wanting more authentic and immersive experiences at the destinations. In doing so, if they need to sacrifice luxury, they have now become willing. It has now become about not just becoming a genuine explorer or adventurer to explore but about authenticity and doing it on own.

For a moment, let’s go back in time now and the history of mankind as far as travellers are concerned. A Greek Explore called Pytheas ventured to the Arctic Circle as early as the 4th Century BC and recorded his observations of landscape, sea ice, polar bears and Northern Lights. Marco Polo, a venetian merchant and trader, in the thirteenth century, adventured along the silk route to China and spent twenty years there. He returned and created maps (Europeans did not know routes to Asia before that!) and went on about life, which also involved leading a Venetian Galley to a battle with rival city of Genoa. He was captured and jailed. In prison a travelogue was penned. Not by him but a romance-writer to who Polo narrated.

A couple of centuries down, ‘The Age of Exploration’, which began in the 15th century, saw the emergence of a new breed of travellers; the adventurer and explorer. These daring men and women set out on long and dangerous voyages in search of new lands, resources, and trade routes. Famous explorers of this period include Christopher Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Ferdinand Magellan, who made some of the most significant discoveries in human history.

Travel as a trend caught on and we then hear about the ‘Grand Tours’ where Europeans took to travelling by design, to self-educate by experiencing distant lands, its culture, traditions and people, personally.

Ibn Battuta was a Moroccan scholar and world explorer. His quest for knowledge lead him to various parts of the world. Two of his most famous quote sum it all up about travelling first, ‘I have indeed – praise be to God – attained my desire in this world, which was to travel through the earth, and I have attained in this respect what no other person has attained to my knowledge’. Another of his famous ones that is more relatable today; ‘Traveling leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller’. Social media today, as we know, is all about storytelling in text and imagery.

Let’s snap back to the present. It is quite apparent that the quest for adventure, knowledge and exploring it all yourself have been prevalent for a long time. Experiencing it yourself or ‘experiential travel’, if you please. The Baby Boomers had the financial means to travel and the industrial revolution was making it all possible for them to get them to travel. The hospitality industry sprung up and hasn’t stopped spoiling them to date.

Then came the future generations and along with technology.

Zoomers and the Millennials, when travelling, already care less about where they stay and concern and consume themselves more with experiencing the local and the authentic. Experience trumps over material and they can spend (big) on the former. For them it’s luxury of a different nature. That of being the explorer and taking that adventure in pursuit of gaining knowledge to live a richer life, qualitatively.

Today, we are at a cusp. The ‘information’ is all out there. I feel we are leaving the ‘information age’ and transitioning to the ‘intelligence age’. The ‘artificial’ in Artificial Intelligence (AI), may not be as artificial as we think. Think that ChatGPT, Bling and Bard were not known to us until a few months ago and today there are an acknowledged disruptor; here to stay! Plugins to these apps were not known to us until last month! Everything is getting hooked up and connected to the (not-so-artificial) intelligence. We are breathing life into the beast.

Transient we are with technology and I cannot hazard a guess where we will end up. For now I am still groping with ‘send me some place nobody goes and give me an experience that is non-googleable’… for one thing is for sure, the explorer and adventurer in us, will never die. Experiential travel is the way forward.

The author is the Founder & Director of Panache World, a travel company specialising in customised travel to over 80 countries around the world.

This is the last part of series of articles describing how there has been a shift in the way people travel today wherein we are leaving the ‘information age’ and transitioning to the ‘intelligence age’.

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Revenge Travel was anticipated once Covid concerns curbed, and the past few months have certainly seen people wanting to travel with a vengeance. However, the industry was ill-prepared to optimise the demand efficiently as capacities had been curtailed during the pandemic and ramping them up is a long-drawn process. Continuing on with his series of article on ‘Evolution of Travel’ Sanjar Imam in this article elaborates on how the travel industry is assessing and catering to some new norms and demands.

Borne out of void and vulnerability, the former imposed and the latter witnessed up-close, travel today is more purpose-propelled than ever before. It is about making the most of the sliver of time and life left.

Dilshad decided to celebrate a life event, his wife’s 39th birthday, by buying out a boutique hotel at an exotic destination for 3 nights and inviting their closest friends for an experience that included fine food, best of beverages, picnic lunches and themed evenings with performers flown in. 39th is not a landmark birthday. He summed up his rationale of celebrating it nonetheless in four words; ‘kal ho na ho’ (tomorrow may happen or not). Covid has left him (and indeed many of us) jolted and brought a renewed sense of appreciation and awareness about the fragility of life and relationships. ‘When 40th happens, we will outdo this trip’, he had quipped. Value and the gratification of the ‘now’ has clearly eclipsed unpredictability of tomorrow.

Projections into future today at max is five years; hence, not fifty. Even five seems a few too many and so the wants shorten to ‘the next’ or even ‘now’. We want to live and experience life today and we want to do so with people who matter in our lives. We want to create memories, accumulate them so that we feel a sense of accomplishment within the life we are left with and the life span that we eventually end up with.

Monetary wealth creates opportunities to spend. When spent travelling, it can buy you that first class cabin on a flight, chauffeur on standby, an apartment-like suite in a hotel, the gourmet meal at a Michelin Restaurant and the likes. When all this was new it was about the bragging rights of having done it first … now it’s about doing it for self and importantly, discreetly.

Indians have gate-crashed the global rich list. Imagine that just 30 years ago there were no Indian billionaires! The economic reforms in 1990s made Indians step out of the socialistic-leftist mould, entering the red-hot crucible of capitalism and joining the elite list of global billionaires. In 1996 three Indian (dollar) billionaires emerged. Today there are over 120. Dollar millionaires in India today? Over 800,000. This is expected to double by 2026. So (and the point being) it’s not as much about trying to compete anymore (since it’s near impossible to do so unless you are in the top 10) as much as it’s about satisfying one’s own desires and ambitions.

The urge and almost the need to travel is not just the propriety of the ones who have arrived in life. The millennials today want to explore the world; party at that festival; do that adventure; dine at that restaurant; stay at that funky hotel and then Insta share it with all or who they choose to with. For them working to make a professional career is one part of life and living life itself, to the fullest, is quite another. They are fortunate of having arrived at a connected world and hence have the know-how and ability to draw distinct work-life balance. Travelling to experience life and the world at large, is as integral to them, as is making money.

Revenge Travel was anticipated once Covid concerns curbed, and the past few months have certainly seen people wanting to travel with a vengeance. However, the industry was ill-prepared to optimise the demand efficiently as capacities had been curtailed during the pandemic and ramping them up is a long-drawn process. As a result, we are witnessing a flux between demand and supply as the travel industry tries to grapple and grope with opportunities emerging. The equilibrium will be found in time, of course, and it is then upon the sector thought leaders to perceive & project and curate & create demand for new age travel going forward.

It is apparent that post pandemic our priorities and social values have adjusted and changed. The travel industry is assessing, trying to understand and cater to some new norms that have prevailed such as need for flexibility in changing schedules with no or minimum financial loss, the advent of artificial intelligence on our mobile phones off late, the seeking of customisation and personalisation by travellers and expecting speedier turnaround time since the booking windows are now shorter, to mention a few.

By this time next year, we will likely see a nuanced travel trend emerging. Going by the resurgent demand it appears that meaningful, responsible and customised travel are tenets on which tourism will thrive.

The author is the Founder & Director of Panache World, a travel company specialising in customised travel to over 80 countries around the world.

This is the fifth part of a series of articles describing how revenge travel has evolved in the travel industry. This series of articles is aimed to give readers a glimpse of the history of travel- its evolution through the ages, showcase the current scenario in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry and discuss the future of travel.

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Today, getting a room in a hotel can be achieved within a matter of minutes using laptops or smartphones with the help of applications that directly connect us with the brands or travel agents that help in the process. But was it always a case like this? Sanjar Imam, through his piece, elaborates on how hotels came into existence, and highlights the wide distance that the industry has covered to stand where it is today. Read on to know more.

Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan is an inn of four-star standards with 35 rooms in Yamanashi prefecture of Japan. It is located at the foot of the South Japanese Alps and has all of its hot water directly sourced from hot springs. You could stay here for GBP 350 a night.

This trivia may sound ordinary. What is remarkable and distinguished though is that it opened its doors in AD 707 and is the oldest operational hotel in the world, run by the same family for forty-seven generations now! A fact certified by Guinness Book of World Records.

I earlier wrote about ‘A brief history of travel’ and ‘The evolution of tourism’. The history (just like the future) of hotels and their industry is just as intriguing. The precursor to modern-day hotels were inns that came about around the fifteenth century. These inns would provide the traveller with some place to sleep, meals as well as stabling and fodder for horses.

In time inn owners brought in professionalism such as timetable, set food menus to edge over the competition and that is when we start seeing likeness to the hotel industry. The term ‘hotel’ came up in England in about 1760. It is quite amazing that from the times the modern hotels started coming up the industry has been on steroids but for two significant depressions; the World Wars and the recent Covid Pandemic when for the first time in history we saw countries close their borders.

Les Trois Rois, at the very heart of the city of Basel, founded in 1681 as ‘an inn for gentlemen’, still operates as a hotel and may well be one of the oldest modern hotels in Europe.

However, there are several claimants to that title. In England, The Royal Clarence in Exeter in 1768 was the first to open and 1792 saw the first publicly held hotel, called City Hotel, open in New York City. The idea though really caught on with the opening of Mivart’s Hotel that opened in London in 1812, which later became Claridges.

Tremont House in Boston, USA opened a few years later in 1829 and it holds the record for many industry firsts; indoor plumbing with toilets and baths, free soap and a proper reception desk. The Savoy Hotel swung its doors open in August 1889 with Cesar Ritz being the General Manager.

Cesar Ritz had a modest beginning as a floor waiter at The Splendide in Paris, a lavish European Hotel but he was swift in rising ranks working at hotels in France and Switzerland, gaining valuable experience as he did.As a hotel manager Ritz was the first to mandate, ‘the customer is always right’. In 1888 he teamed up with Chef Auguste Escoffier to open Conservation Haus Restaurant in Baden-Baden. It was a year later that the duo was invited to London to become the General Manager and the chef of the Savoy. The outstanding success of the hotel then was the mastermind of these two.

The subtlety and delicacy of French haute cuisine were introduced to the English by Escoffier and the aristocratic women, hitherto unaccustomed to dining in public became a common sight in full regalia at Savoy dining and supper rooms. Escoffier went on to become an institution by himself bringing in discipline and a brigade system of hierarchy in the kitchen, which is still followed to date.

Ritz on the other hand was dismissed from the Savoy over alleged embezzlement. Disgruntled he went on to create his own, Hotel Ritz in Paris in 1898. He then went on to open the famous The Ritz Hotel in London in 1905 and followed it up with The Ritz Hotel Madrid in 1906. He enjoyed his partnership with Escoffier through this phase.

Around that time in USA, Ellsworth Milton Statler, built his first ‘permanent’ 300-room hotel in Buffalo, New York in 1907. The first-to-have room with ensuite bathrooms. Earlier he had experimented twice with temporary accommodation, one that was a failure and another that was a huge success. In 1901 for Pan American Exposition he had constructed a 2,048-room wooden structure that could accommodate 5,000 guests.

This failed for various reasons. However, in 1904, for Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, he put up another wooden structure of 2,257 rooms that was the largest hotel in the world then. He made handsome profits of USD 361,000 with this venture and that was invested into the making of his first permanent hotel in Buffalo, Statler’s Hotel. It’s success led to a chain of hotels in several other American Cities. The Statler in St. Louis was the first in the country to have air conditioning. The Dallas Statler was the first to have elevator music. Statler died in 1928 and eventually in 1954 his widow sold the Statler chain of hotels to Conrad Hilton’s Hilton Hotels for USD 111 million, the largest real estate transaction of those times.

The next largest and grandest hotel to open was The Stevens Hotel (later became Hilton) in Chicago in 1927 with 3,000 rooms on 28 stories and it retained the title of the world’s largest until the late 1960s. Presently the record for the largest hotel with 7351 rooms lies with First World Hotel in Pahang, Malaysia.

Having started as a root beer outlet in 1927, John Willard Marriott, in 1957, made a historic shift into the hotel business by launching a motel. Rest, they say, is history. Today Marriott has grown to become the largest hotel chain in the world with a staggering 8,100 hotels worldwide offering over 1.5 million rooms and revenue of USD 19.29 billion. Just the last year has seen an increase of 66.59 per cent year-over-year!

The hotel industry itself today is worth USD 525 billion with 18 million hotel rooms, employing 4.5 million people and is projected to grow at 4.7 per cent over the decade ahead.

How did the hotel industry end up with a bull run like no other? And there seems to be no stopping! Read on.

I feel in the era of the modern hotel industry there have been four distinct revolutions that have spurred supernormal growth. The real estate boom at the turn of the twentieth century through to the 1950s was the first. You have read through a couple of stories above of how hotels turned into chains through smart strategies, mergers & acquisitions and financing, creating vast wealth in the process.

The second was a period when the Baby Boomers and Generation X flourished. With a plenitude of disposable income, the focus panned to higher levels of service expectations and delivery. Businesses and brands such as Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton and St. Regis emerged, taking service levels to pampering levels. It was all about luxury and superlative service.

The inventive and ingenious innovators could not be left behind and amongst the crowd they created a niche for themselves, coming up with boutique hotels, some of which, in their own orbit went on to become chains.

These hoteliers targetted a distinct segment of guests and attracted them with offerings to their appeal. In the early days Holiday Inn of IHG Group targeted families, offering kids-stay-free and free ice cream. Off late, founded in 1988, the ultra-luxury Aman hotels are known for having hotels at breathtaking locations, locally inspired architecture, abundant space and ultimate privacy.

Over the years they have managed to create loyalists who are known as Aman Junkies. There are several such hotels and hotel chains that have made successes (space here does not permit mentioning them). Be it overwater villas, lodges in the wilderness, igloo accommodations or tree-top rooms to sleeping pods, all imaginable and doable have been created and are there for the offing.

The latest revolution has been brought about by technology in travel at the turn of the new millennium. I traced its history in my article ‘The Tech in Travel’. The onset of the internet, its explosion and e-commerce have transformed and propelled the hotel industry to unbelievable realities and opportunities.

The room inventories managed by Booking Holdings and Expedia Group is mind-boggling. A unique business model saw the launch of Airbnb, the creator of who thrives and profits from room inventories that are not owned by them. They turned over USD 2.1 billion in revenue, which was a 58 per cent growth year-on-year!

The world wide web today also makes customer reviews of hotels accessible through sites like TripAdvisor. The guests can rate their stay and either warn other travellers or persuade them to go to a certain location. It is now easy for them to find the hotel they like, in the perfect location, and even make the booking on their smartphone on the go.

Mobile applications have made the user experience flickable and clickable. Contactless check-ins are a reality already. The day is not far when the functions in your hotel room will be personalised to be operating through your paired phone or even by your voice command.

Data will be the main driver in the decade ahead. If you are an avid traveller, there is information about you and your preferences available and it will be increasingly so. Be prepared to be sought after by hotels rather than you searching for them.

The author is the Founder & Director of Panache World, a travel company specialising in customised travel around the world.

This is the fourth part of a series of articles describing how hotels came into being. These articles will give a glimpse of the history of travel- its evolution through the ages, showcase the current scenario in the travel, tourism and hospitality industry and discuss the future of travel.

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