Sep 9, 2026 · 3h 21m · wtf
Why A 25-Year-Old Should Build A Hotel, Not An App | MakeMyTrip x Taj | WTF is Travel?
Rajesh Magow · 57m spoken Puneet Chhatwal · 49m spoken Nikhil Kamath · 23m spoken Siddharth Gupta · 12m spoken Bhavika Bakshi · 9m spoken Amit Damani · 8m spoken Sandhya Chandrasekharaya · 7m spoken
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gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Host Nikhil Kamath convenes hospitality leaders Rajesh Magow (MakeMyTrip) and Puneet Chhatwal (IHCL) alongside emerging startup founders to explore India's travel economy, debating the merits of building real-world hospitality brands versus software apps. The wide-ranging discussion assesses supply bottlenecks, policy reforms, AI disruption, and the rapid expansion of experiential and spiritual tourism across the country.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nikhil holds 14.9% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nikhil as informed peer 4.7 Guest teaching 4.7 Guest disagreement 1.6 Nikhil pushing back 2.8
speaking balance: gold is Nikhil, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 53:35 Puneet rejects hotel robotics in India
Puneet Chhatwal forcefully shuts down Nikhil's suggestion that Indian hotels should replace human staff with robots, calling it socially irresponsible given India's young demographic.
Hardest push from Nikhil ▶ 1:10:35 Puneet rejects AI focus for real-world hotel buildingPuneet directly repudiates Nikhil's tech and AI framing, telling young entrepreneurs to stay away from crowded AI software and build clean budget or boutique hotels instead.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:29:28 Puneet corrects Nikhil on Goa's tourist demographic shiftPuneet dismantles Nikhil's assumption that Goa tourism declined due to local cultural hostility, explaining that affluent domestic travelers displaced low-spending foreign charter groups.
Nikhil holds their own ▶ 1:14:05 Nikhil challenges India's low GDP contribution and tourist numbersNikhil demonstrates clear industry expertise by contrasting India's modest 10 million inbound foreign visitors with France and the UAE, drilling down on why compounding will take too long.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nikhil as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nikhil pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Setting the Stage: Casual Banter and Episode Premise | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Nikhil introduces his investment in Earth Hotels and questions how boutique concepts can scale without losing their character. Puneet and Rajesh explain how brands like Citizen M and 25hours succeeded through selective locations and tech-led operations. | |
| OTA Dynamics: Partnerships, Discounting, and Inventory Commitments | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Nikhil presses Rajesh on whether aggregators buy blocks of inventory upfront and challenges him on rate parity and direct booking dynamics. Rajesh clarifies the difference between upfront inventory risk and soft allocations while Puneet points out rate parity practices. | |
| Rajesh Magow's Background and Philanthropy in Higher Education | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | Nikhil inquires into Rajesh's connection with Plaksha University and his new role on InfoEdge's board before turning to Puneet's European career. The tone is respectful and conversational with minimal contention. | |
| Founder Origin Stories: Treebo, StayVista, Bokero, and India Hikes | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | A founder spotlight segment where Siddharth Gupta, Amit Damani, Bhavika Bakshi, and Sandhya Chandrasekharaya describe the founding journeys of Treebo, StayVista, Bokero, and Indiahikes. The host merely sets the prompt and listens to their monologues. | |
| Financial Scale and Efficiency: MakeMyTrip vs IHCL | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Nikhil asks for revenue and profitability numbers, noting that MakeMyTrip and IHCL have similar top-line revenue, prompting Puneet to push back that IHCL is significantly more profitable. Nikhil also questions Rajesh on LLM data scraping risks. | |
| Robotics and AI in Hotel Operations: Luxury vs Budget | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | Nikhil asks whether hotels should deploy robotics and automated cooking kitchens like those seen in China. Puneet strongly rejects replacing human staff in Indian hospitality, arguing that demographic advantages and service from the heart should not be mechanized. | |
| Eliminating Operational Friction in Budget Hospitality | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Siddharth Gupta explains how budget hospitality must focus on eliminating friction rather than sentimentalizing human touch. Rajesh details MMT's shift toward conversational AI interfaces like Myra to reach tier-3 and tier-4 users. | |
| Where Should a 25-Year-Old Build? AI vs Real-World Hospitality | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | Nikhil asks where a 25-year-old should build in travel tech and whether direct booking apps can cut out aggregators. Puneet firmly counters the host's tech-centric thesis, telling young entrepreneurs to avoid overcrowded AI spaces and instead launch clean budget or boutique hotels. | |
| India's Tourism Supply Bottleneck and Inbound Deficit | 6 | 5 | 2 | 5 | Nikhil challenges the growth rate of tourism, noting that tourism represents only 6% of GDP and inbound foreign tourists account for only 10 million. Puneet and Rajesh educate him on unorganized tourism capture, seasonal weather peaks, and severe branded room supply deficits. | |
| Policy Reforms for 100 Million Tourists: Infra Status, Taxes, and Branding | 6 | 5 | 1 | 3 | Nikhil asks both guests what three policy changes they would make as Prime Minister to reach 100 million inbound tourists. Puneet advocates for infrastructure status, rationalized GST, and global marketing, while Rajesh highlights on-ground site upkeep and visa openness. | |
| The Evolution of Goa and Overcrowded Destinations | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | Nikhil argues that Goa has declined due to unwelcoming locals and cultural friction. Puneet firmly corrects this framing, explaining that foreign mass charters were priced out by wealthier domestic Indian travelers, and stresses the need to develop alternative destinations to relieve pressure on overcrowded hubs. | |
| Luxury Trains, State-Level Bottlenecks, and Public-Private Partnerships | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Puneet proposes super-luxury experiential trains modeled on the Orient Express, which Nikhil skeptically challenges citing heavy rail capex and lack of profitability in high-speed rail. Rajesh explains the core roadblock: tourism remains a state subject, causing execution friction with central initiatives. | |
| Forex Generation, Coastal Cruises, and Digitizing Experiences | 5 | 5 | 1 | 3 | Nikhil highlights India's urgent need for foreign exchange inflows and Puneet outlines a Bombay-to-Kerala coastal cruise circuit. Rajesh argues that foreign tourists struggle because supply-side experiences and monuments remain completely undigitized. | |
| Aviation Economics, Highway Infrastructure, and Alibaug's Rise | 6 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Rajesh discusses aviation economics and the case for low-cost functional airports, while Nikhil shares his personal experiences traveling over the Atal Setu bridge to Alibaug. Puneet dismisses notions of Alibaug becoming the next Goa due to severe internal road constraints. | |
| The Economics of Homestays and Changing Gen Z Consumer Habits | 5 | 5 | 2 | 4 | Nikhil challenges the villa/homestay model by pointing out Airbnb's regulatory and operational struggles in the West. Puneet clarifies that IHCL's Ama brand succeeds by tethering villas to full-service hotels, while Bhavika explains Gen Z's willingness to fund aspirational trips via EMIs. | |
| Celebration Tourism, Iconic Heritage Palaces, and the Wedding Economy | 5 | 4 | 1 | 3 | The conversation covers celebration tourism and why villas have boomed for private events. Puneet reflects on Rambagh Palace as the world's best hotel, while Rajesh explains IRCTC's dominant 80% share of rail bookings as a user-acquisition funnel for OTAs. | |
| Building Boutique Chains: OYO, Safety Standards, and Operational Accountability | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | Nikhil questions the viability of standardizing unbranded hotels via aggregators. Puneet and Rajesh emphasize that neglect of fire life safety and regulatory compliance can destroy a hospitality brand overnight, backed by Siddharth Gupta's operational commentary on safety costs. | |
| Niche Experiences for Gen Z and Generational Career Choices | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Rajesh suggests curating Gen Z niche experiences while Puneet outlines opportunities in the Northeast circuit. Both guests share lighthearted anecdotes about their children pursuing sports and consulting rather than following them into hospitality. | |
| Entrepreneurial Pathways for Young Hoteliers in India | 5 | 5 | 2 | 3 | Nikhil asks if hotel chains will become purely asset-light brand licensing engines like modern real estate companies. Puneet explains that in India, having an asset-heavy base provides the credibility and revenue backbone needed to win prime concessions. | |
| Private Membership Clubs and the Rise of Wellness Hospitality | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | Nikhil asks whether exclusive membership clubs or wellness hotels represent the bigger opportunity. Both guests strongly endorse wellness hospitality, pointing out the long-term trend toward health, saunas, and spiritual rejuvenation. | |
| Indiahikes on the Booming Trekking Sector and Equipment Deficits | 4 | 6 | 1 | 2 | Sandhya Chandrasekharaya outlines Indiahikes' explosive growth and the acute shortage of technical trekking equipment in India. Rajesh enthusiastically offers to back and fund young entrepreneurs building experiential travel businesses on MakeMyTrip's platform. | |
| Global Promotion, Hostels, and Infrastructure Modernization | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Puneet suggests creating an indigenous travel tech education platform and organizing an India Travel Market to consolidate marketing. Rajesh highlights modernizing SME roadside accommodations and pilgrimage hostels. | |
| AI in Travel Planning vs. the Irreplaceable Human Touch | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Bhavika Bakshi and Rajesh explain that while AI automates itineraries and bookings, travelers are paying for shared community experiences and event-driven travel such as concerts, sporting events, and wildlife circuits. | |
| Avoiding 'Me-Too' Startups and Concluding the Discussion | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | Rajesh advises founders to avoid copycat startups in crowded spaces and focus on unserved niches. Puneet and Rajesh conclude with a discussion on global consumer branding and warning Indian industry against competing head-on with China. |
Statements from this episode (97)
Magow: OYO's business pivot appears to be working based on numbers
“Pivot is working. At least on the face of it, when you look at the numbers, it is working.”
Magow: 95% of MakeMyTrip's bookings come from Indian travelers
“So in bookings, the Indians booking on our platform, 95%. So the main market is India only.”
Kamath discloses investment in boutique hotel brand Earth Hotels
“We just invested in a boutique hotel brand which is opening in Portugal, Dubai, Saudi. It's called Earth Hotels.”
Rajesh Magow: Non-hoteliers are better equipped to build out-of-the-box hospitality concepts
“I just wanted to build on this, that it is better built by non-oteliers. So sometimes, if you have to do out-of-box thing, you don't have to get the same person from the industry.”
Magow: Keyur Joshi was the only MakeMyTrip founder with travel experience
“I remember even in Make My Trip, when we were setting it up, none of us knew travel. Not even one person except one co-founder who had some travel background. Starting with Deep, me, Sachin, Kayur. Kayur was the only one who had some background and our leaders…”
Chhatwal: IHCL has not done special campaigns with Booking.com
“We have not done any special campaign with booking.”
Rajesh Magow: Scaled travel platforms secure inventory via soft blocks without prepaying
“And especially when you have reached a scale and size, if you get soft blocks, as we call it, which means that I will have that commitment, but I don't have to write a hundred percent upfront check because I have delivered historically.”
Magow: MakeMyTrip holds about 30% share of Indian domestic flights
“Like for our total market share for domestic air segments will be about 30%. And they might be single digit, high single digit.”
Chhatwal: The best hotel deals are available directly on hotel websites
“Usually there is rate parity. It's not that we have cheaper, but you know, the best deals are available on the hotel website.”
Magow: 75 to 80 percent of travel bookings happen in mobile apps
“So right now, volume wise, overwhelming, 75, 80% of the bookings will happen in the app.”
Magow: HDFC SmartBuy point redemptions are powered by online travel agencies
“And you know, yes, today you can go to smart buy and you have the Infinia card and on HDFC you can buy, you leveraging your points. But guess what, that also is being powered by one of us.”
Chhatwal: IHCL had nearly ten years of losses before his tenure
“Yeah, we almost had 10 years of losses. And, ah.”
Chhatwal: Calling IHCL "Taj Group" prevented other brands from thriving
“So what in my experience it does is it does not allow other brands to stand on their feet. You're always like a second child or a stepchild or a.”
Chhatwal: IHCL's homestay business has scaled to nearly 400 properties
“So lots of brands of our in homestay business, which is now scaled up almost to 400.”
Magow: MakeMyTrip reported $11B in gross booking value last year
“Well, Nikmatrip, let's say gross booking value, last year, fully, full last year reported, it's about eleven billion dollars.”
Chhatwal: IHCL reported nearly 10,000 crore revenue and 2,000+ crore PAT
“IHCL reported its results for the last financial year as almost 10,000 crore in revenue, and 2000 crore plus as profit after tax.”
Chhatwal: IHCL is more efficient and profitable than MakeMyTrip
“No, no, but we are more efficient, more profitable.”
Rajesh Magow admits MakeMyTrip gets little traffic from its ChatGPT feature
“We actually have, and they have a feature called that, make my trip. You can bring in your brand and you can have your own native experience. We are not getting too much traffic coming in from there.”
MakeMyTrip uses frontier LLMs grounded on proprietary user data
“So early days, because these frontier models were very, very strong. So you end up using multiple frontier models, right?... Like Gemini, the Claude, the Cursor, the GPT. But the grounding of that. Will happen with our proprietary data. That data doesn't go an…”
Rajesh Magow: Deep transaction businesses cannot be easily replicated by AI
“You know, I'll tell you the reason why I don't think that replication is so easy. In a deep transaction business versus a, you know, generic search business. Think about Google, for example. So Google historically has always been perceived as potential competi…”
Amit Damani: Experiential holiday travel is AI-proof
“AI is more an enabler than a disruptor of our business because AI will help us streamline a lot of our operations. I also look at our business as something which is AI proof because With the amount of interaction with digital media as well as AI and technology…”
Chhatwal: IHCL is approaching 700 hotels and over 500 contracts
“For example, today we have 700, getting close to 700 hotels, which means at least 500 plus contracts, assuming that some of the contracts are for multi-use properties.”
Chhatwal: Replacing Indian hospitality workers with robots is socially irresponsible
“Actually, should we be doing it? My answer would be no. It's not very socially responsible. We have a young demographic population, ah, to our advantage. So either we get the robots to help people find jobs, or we should not replace human beings with robots. W…”
Chhatwal: TajSATS flight kitchens cook hundreds of tons with two people
“See, we have our flight kitchen business, which is that Sats. Sats is the one that runs a Singapore airport also. We have the capability of doing, I don't know, hundreds of tons of basmati rice cooked differently with just two people. Everything else is done b…”
Chhatwal: Robots will automate budget hotels, but never luxury hospitality
“It is happening. As we speak, it's happening, but definitely not upscale, upper upscale in Lakshmi. How, see, if you go to a wedding, you'll have only robots serving you. That's not going to happen.”
Siddharth Gupta: Autonomous hotel delivery robots will eventually be fully rolled out
“There is this visual of course, a robot delivering stuff in a hotel and moving around a hotel, which no doubt has Caught everyone's, you know, fancy over the last many years, and it is still yet to be fully rolled out, and I'm sure it will happen.”
Siddharth Gupta: Hotel guests prefer removing friction over preserving human touch
“I would certainly bet in favor of eliminating friction and not leaning on the human touch to keep it. I don't think any customer would welcome that.”
Magow: MakeMyTrip handles 80,000 to 90,000 daily AI conversations
“So I'll tell you about 80, 90,000 daily conversations happening today.”
Magow: India has over 900M internet users but only 250M-300M online buyers
“Internet penetration is nine hundred million plus, you know, maybe a billion already, and the online buying is about 253 hundred million, depending upon which, all, all told also by and large.”
Rajesh Magow: MakeMyTrip gets 75% of its user traffic directly, bypassing Google
“Like today also, we have 75% of the traffic coming directly on us, and that comes in with the trust built over a period of time on the brand.”
Chhatwal: 25-year-olds should build budget hotels instead of AI platforms
“I would tell the 25 year old there's enough platforms, there are enough people working on AI, there's a lot of competitor overcrowding, don't go there, start a boutique hotel business, or start very nice, clean, budget hotel business, and you will have a lot o…”
Magow: India possesses only 1.5 to 1.67 million hotel rooms
“Like we have, whichever report that you see it, anywhere between 1.5 to 1.67 million rooms.”
Chhatwal: Dubai and Singapore combined equal India's branded hotel room supply
“Dubai and Singapore together have the same branded number of rooms as all of India.”
Chhatwal: Taj Hotels cleans all Goa beaches where it operates
“So all the beaches you see in Goa, where, where there is a Taj, they're cleaned by us.”
Chhatwal: Thailand's consumption taxes are far lower than India's GST
“So, specific to Thailand, they are far lower in, you know, in the GST equivalent of their country.”
Magow: India's tourism product is below average against global benchmarks
“My product is, is below average right now, you know, world benchmark, like some of the places would be world class. But if I look at it, pan India, I, it is average.”
Chhatwal: IHCL is developing resorts on two Lakshadweep islands
“We are building two islands and we are already running one. Bangaram we are running and Suheli Kathmat we are building. So it'll come. Give it two, three years, they'll be done.”
Chhatwal: Foreign charter tourism to Goa has largely stopped due to conflicts
“The quality of the tourists coming was lower. Their spending power was lower, but we got a lot of charters. Which, because of the Russia, Ukraine, because of the Middle East, has stopped to a great extent.”
Chhatwal: India's top 15 tourism destinations will collapse without new alternatives
“So in India, the entire tourism activity is concentrated in those 12 to 15 destinations. Absolutely. And I think we need to build the next 1520, 30, because the current destinations will collapse as the demand will far exceed the infrastructure as well as the …”
Chhatwal: The 50 tourism destinations announced by the Finance Minister remain unidentified
“We had this announcement by the Honorable Finance Minister on 50 new destinations. To be developed on a mission mode. But we still haven't identified which are those 50.”
Bakshi predicts Hampi will experience a major tourism boom
“I think one still destination is Hampi. I think that will boom for sure. Like the architecture, the culture is amazing also because the Gen Z's are getting so much into cultural tourism, right? Hampi would blow up for sure.”
Damani: No five-star hotels exist in the Bhimtal and Mukteshwar belt
“Ah, if you look at the entire Bheemtal belt and Mukteswar, you will not find any five-star hotel in that area.”
Chhatwal: Premiumizing luxury trains could fast-forward India's inbound tourism
“I think one more interesting aspect could be, in order to fast forward some of the tourism activity and getting inbound is really the premiumization of our luxury trains.”
Kamath: China's government has failed to break even on high-speed rail
“But those are not profitable ventures. Like even the Chinese government till date has not been able to break even on that. It requires a lot of capex.”
Magow: Indian tourism execution lags because travel is a state subject
“Is the biggest bottleneck is that travel happens to be state subject. And there is a gap between the central vision And the execution when it comes to at the state level.”
Siddharth Gupta: Civic sense, not infrastructure, limits Indian tourism
“I think the contrast lies not in the travel infrastructure and travel services that exist or not, I think it is a lot more about just who we are as people. It is about our civic sense.”
Gupta: Jugaad is both India's biggest strength and biggest weakness
“I think our jugaad is our biggest strength and our biggest weakness, because the same jugaad translates into a lot of this unpredictability for someone who's not familiar with that jugaad, right?”
Gupta: India needs stricter enforcement to develop public civic sense
“I do feel that we as a population need to be dealt with most strictly for us to, you know, develop the civic sense, which would otherwise be common”
Chhatwal: Tourism Generates 3.25x Gross Economic Value Multiplier
“The, all the studies show that for every one rupee spent in this sector, the gross economic value that gets added is 3.25.”
Magow: Supply-Side Undigitization Prevents Foreigners Booking Indian Experiences
“Because of the lack of digitization on the supply side, including all the experiences and the activities that you could potentially do, you just cannot discover anything, and you cannot just seamlessly book anything.”
Chhatwal: India is Lufthansa's second-highest intercontinental market
“Lufthansa's second highest intercontinental market is India.”
Chhatwal: India's 10-year infra progress equals preceding 30 to 50 years
“I think the progress India has made on infra front in the last 10 years is equal to the preceding 50 years put together. I don't know whether it's 30 is the right number or 50.”
Chhatwal: Alibaug is not the next Goa
“Because Alibag is not the next Goa. I know Mumbaikers get upset when I say that.”
Damani: Vacation villas swing from negative to positive 2-3 lakhs monthly P&L
“So at the end of the day, you have a negative PNL of roughly one to two lakhs per month. That becomes a positive PNL of two to three lakhs per month.”
Damani: Onboarding a villa costs 8-12 lakhs and is recovered in 4-5 months
“All of that accumulated will be an expense of anything between eight to 12 lakhs. That amount is recovered within four to five months by the homeowner.”
Bakshi: Gen Z finances travel with credit and EMIs, unlike millennials
“Because millennials, they saved, and then they spent on the travel. Gen Z's are like, give me AMI options. Give me like, tell me if I can pay via credit cards. They don't care about money. They feel it's an investment.”
Chhatwal: Hotels should leave wedding planning to specialized professionals
“We don't need many things outsourced or better that there are wedding planners because they are professionals at that. Our job is very good when it comes to catering the food, the service, the, you know, everything else. It's like we as a sector got out of doi…”
Magow: Indian rail bookings have reached approximately 87 percent online penetration
“So today if you look at market share of the, ah, or starting with let's say the online penetration of rail bookings, it is the highest, 87 odd percent, right?”
Magow: IRCTC commands 80 percent of Indian online rail bookings
“And if you break that into then IRCTC versus all the other OTAs, including Make My Trip Go, Ibibo, Redbus, others, Zig Ziggo, and the others, all of us put together will be 15, 20%. 80% is IRCTC.”
Magow: MakeMyTrip uses train bookings strictly for user acquisition
“So I'll tell you the, you know, all of us, what we are trying to do, you know, okay, maybe I can speak for myself, is more the customer acquisition. This is a new customer acquisition channel for us. Because the economics don't really work, right?”
Chhatwal: India's biggest hospitality opportunity is small experiential boutique hotels
“So in India, I would say the opportunity going forward is, ah, strong in experiential boutique, small size properties.”
Chhatwal: Indian luxury hotels cost 20,000+ rupees while budget averages 4,000-5,000
“Because your luxury sits at 20 plus. And your budget and mid-scale sits around four, 5000.”
Siddharth Gupta: Indian budget hotel developers routinely cut corners on life safety
“And they just tend to see the very low probability of that event and therefore tend to kind of ignore cut corners. You know, obviously all of these are measures which are under the hood, which a customer wouldn't immediately notice the absence of unless, unles…”
Magow sees opportunity in India for a GetYourGuide or Klook model
“I think there's an opportunity in India, like, ah, think like, get your guide or a clue kind of a model. It's a tours and attractions.”
Chhatwal: Curating Northeast India hotel inventory could be a runaway success
“But if somebody comes as a 25 year old, disrupts it, takes the inventory for five, six, eight, 10 hotels in just the northeast, you know, those seven sisters. I think that could be a runaway success.”
Magow: Asset classes in India have barely achieved basic digitization
“Because the asset classes are not tokenized at all. I mean, forget about tokenized. It's hardly any digitization.”
Chhatwal: Pure asset-light hotel model is not India's future
“Not really. Not in India. So we are talking about India, right? India is still a very promoter driven country and In order to qualify for prime piece of, ah, any kind of real estate and to be able to participate in those RFPs, need to find the model, and even …”
Chhatwal: IHCL lowered asset-heavy portfolio share to 30%
“We were 70, more than 70% asset heavy. Today, because we increased our footprint so much, and we had exponential growth, our asset heavy component is 30%.”
Chhatwal: 88% of IHCL revenues come from asset-heavy properties
“88% of the revenues come from the asset heavy because you need a lot of management contracts or a lot of royalty fees or a lot of income in form of other forms of branding fees to come to the level of one owned asset, let's say in Mumbai.”
Chhatwal: Taj Mahal Palace is approaching ₹1,000 crore revenue
“Taj Mahal Palace is marching ahead towards 1000.”
Chhatwal: Entrepreneurs can launch hotels by remodeling rented spaces on revenue-share
“So many spaces which could be remodeled and converted into boutique assets or budget assets. And has to just calculate what kind of revenue share he's going to give from his total revenue.”
Chhatwal: IHCL would back young hotel entrepreneurs with collateral support
“Even we would help if there is a really aspiring youngster coming on board, we would help him become a hotelier, entrepreneur, and, ah, you know, support that collateral so that we are not running that. Place directly.”
Magow: Launching hotel brands purely on content is very hard
“But if a youngster has to do it, then young, it'll be really hard for a youngster to build this kind of a thing without completely staying high or low touch on the back of the content, right? It's very hard, right? Because you don't have a brand.”
Gupta: Treebo audits hotels weekly, unlike upscale franchisors auditing biannually
“And what they do, for example, is that their people would audit the hotel twice a year. Our teams audit the hotel every week.”
Gupta: Light-touch franchising does not work in hospitality
“I agree, light touch franchising doesn't work.”
Kamath: Widening wealth inequality drives private membership club demand
“I think in society, the difference between the have and the have not has become so wide, that the haves and have nots do not want to cross paths, in a way.”
Magow: Indian wellness hospitality is a huge 10-to-20-year opportunity
“And if you start to think long term, like, 1020 years down, it's a huge opportunity.”
Chhatwal: Religious tourism in India is crisis-resistant and performing well
“It's crisis resistant. It's doing very well.”
Magow: 50% of Ayodhya visitors also visited Varanasi on the same trip
“Actually, 50% of that population went to Varanasi also. In the, on the same trip.”
Magow: Indian pilgrimage travel has evolved beyond religion into cultural tourism
“Earlier pilgrimage used to be a very, Religious purpose trip that, you know, one has to go to the mindset is that I am just going to do Darshan, right? That's the only. That has changed, and the demographic has changed. That has changed to saying it's not nece…”
Bakshi: Gen Z is embracing spiritual travel while older generations seek leisure
“You would expect a Gen Z to come and say that, okay, I want to go to Goa and do all that. Of course, Gen Z's would come and say that, but they are also interested in spiritual travel. Wherein, The parents, they're done with it. They've been doing it all their …”
Decathlon supply problems caused trekking shoe shortages in India
“In the last few years, we ran into huge trouble just getting trekking shoes for our country because Decathlon ran into a problem. There is no other place that we go to get trekking shoes.”
Bakshi: Any random offline community event idea will attract attendees today
“So like anything is working, anything and everything is working, right? So I'll just say that the most random idea that you're getting right now would work. Do like a pajama party, right? People would come. So anybody who's young and who wants to build somethi…”
Chhatwal: India will eventually teach global hospitality methods just like IT
“I think the time is going to come where we are going to teach how it is to be done. Like in the IT happened. So we need a complete Revitalization of our hospitality, travel, tourism, education.”
Kamath argues Indian government has dead, unutilized stadium and auditorium inventory
“The government has a lot of dead inventory like that stadiums, auditoriums, which are not utilized, nor are they fixed. Somebody needs to prioritize that as well.”
Chandrasekharaya: Indians prioritize outbound travel over domestic destinations once affluent
“The moment Indians get some money, they, the next destination they think of is Vietnam or Thailand or somewhere else. It's always outside India, and we question saying, why is it not within India?”
Magow: Modernizing Indian SME lodging is a huge, hands-on brick-and-mortar opportunity
“I think huge opportunity, but then you have to dirty your hands. Because that is brick and mortar stuff, right? That is, I mean, you of course can use technology or whatever, but it is, lot of it is brick and mortar stuff that you have to do it.”
Chhatwal: Every hospitality job creates 8 to 10 indirect jobs
“Every job created in this sector creates eight to 10 jobs indirectly.”
Chhatwal: Goa and Shimla infrastructure cannot handle more short-term tourism load
“Say like Goa. I mean, there is, it can increase by only 10% or so. So there is no point trying to now increase tourism in Goa. There's a very healthy level of tourism happening. Uttarakhand. Simla in Himachal. I think they've already, this infrastructure canno…”
Bakshi: Community-Based Travel With Human Touch Will Boom Over Next 5-6 Years
“So anything that is community-based that involves human touch would boom. So tech is there, AI is there, but for human connections, such communities are coming into picture and you would see so many of them coming right now. And the next six years or maybe fiv…”
Chhatwal: Wildlife lodges are hard to make viable due to six-month shutdowns
“There is, but that is the one which is more difficult to be a good financial value, because those are small lodges, 12, 1418, 20 rooms. They get a good rate, but they also shut down four, five, six months in a year sometimes. So you have to make all that busin…”
Kamath: Airport handling and landing charges in Mumbai increased 200%
“In Bombay it's gone up 200%.”
Magow: Founders should avoid copycat travel tech models in crowded markets
“Anyone who's thinking about travel tech, anyone who's thinking about out of box niche area, I don't think the advice should be, To start another similar me to kind of a model in a crowded space already, because that era is gone, to be honest, because the inter…”