Aveteran of Indian hospitality, Kapil Chopra who had resigned as the Oberoi Group’s president exactly a year back to start an entrepreneurial journey, recently launched a new ex experiential luxury brand “The Postcard Hotel”. Chopra told Travel Span that first three properties under this brand opened recently across Goa. “We will have 50 hotels in five years. In the next 12 to 18 months. The Postcard Hotel will be present in seven more destinations across the country,”he said.
The three hotels are spread across unique neighborhoods in Goa. The Postcard Moira, nestled in one of the four heritage villages of Goa, The Postcard Velha, surrounded by 300 acres of virgin coconut plantations in old Goa; and further south, in keeping with its proposition of taking travelers back in time, The Postcard Cuelim, that houses a 350 year old chapel.
“A UAE-based fund, Small Ventures, has invested in us. We have arranged for $100 million for capital expenditure,: Chopra said. Aimed at leisure travellers, Chopra’s branded properties will be by the sea, mountains and jungles. “We are going to deliver an unparalleled experience. People say watch sunrise from the beach We ;will take guests ina boat to the Indian Ocean and they will watch sunrise from the sea,”Chopra said.
Transformative experiences and local community are at the heart of The Postcard Hotel’s offering. Each hotel will offer unique experiences that are true to its surroundings, giving guests a sense of the neighborhood and the destination in a way never seen before. The experience within the hotel, too, is in keeping with the times of conventional luxury hotels. This means no set breakfast hours, no buffets, and definitely no sugary welcome drinks. In its place, will be authentic local experiences, from food, to design, to artisanal welcome cocktails, to defining your own check in and check out hours and immersions with the local community.
“What I wanted to do with The Postcard Hotel, is make luxury hotels for the modern audience but bring back the romance and charm of sun kissed holidays. We wanted it to be rich in its experience but also wanted it to be simple. We believe guests want to stay in a place where the hotel does the thinking for them, where they get the simple things right, yet offer fantastic spaces for them to relax, meet like-minded people and experience local culture. This is why, we handpick our locations and our hotels, so that guests have a different experience whether they are in Goa or overlooking the snow clad Himalayas,” said Kapil Chopra.
The brand is committed to building and operating 50 hotels in the next 5 years. In the next 12 to 18 months, The Postcard Hotel will be present in seven more destinations across the country:
The Postcard, Uttarakhand
The Postcard on the Arabian Sea, Karnataka
The Postcard, Dhauladhar Mountain Range
The Postcard Ravangla, Sikkim
The Postcard, Darjeeling
The Postcard, Sundarbans
The Postcard, Kanha
As it starts its operations, the hotel company has INR 600 crores of assets under management, led by a group of carefully chosen hospitality talent that has experience in the best hospitality names in India and the world.
The trusted partners too are helping build the right narrative for the brand. Ambuja Neotia group and The Postcard Hotel will jointly deliver three hotels in Eastern and North Eastern India. Led by Harsh Neotia, the Ambuja Neotia group’s vision on architecture, art and design is appreciated globally. Architect, Akshat Bhatt of Architecture Discipline, an award winning and internationally acclaimed studio was tasked with creating the spaces with sustainability at its core. Jas Arora, actor and designer, brings his unique eye to the uniforms by giving traditional Goan motifs a modern touch. The interiors of all The Postcard Hotels in Goa will also have new photographs taken by full time courtier and photographer JJ Valaya.
Wellness plays a crucial role in The Postcard experience, which is why the hotel went south in search of the right Ayurveda partner. Coimbatore based Purnarnava Ayurveda will create an “optimum healing environment” in the quietude of Goa, offering on site Ayurvedic consultation and treatments for guests across all hotels in Goa ranging from 7 to 21 days. Forest Essentials, meanwhile, offer amenities from their exclusive range of Nargis, the Kashmiri daffodil. Developing the brand, its identity and story is the new multi-disciplinary creative agency Propaganda, led by Mohamed Rizwan.
