Breakfast ends at 10.30 am. Check-out is at noon. The spa needs to be booked in advance. Dinner has its own timings. For years, we booked a hotel and quietly rearranged our holiday around its schedule. Too bad. Got back late after sightseeing? Hope room service is still open. That relationship is changing. The Indian traveller increasingly wants the hotel to fit into the trip, not the trip to fit around the hotel. And frankly, isn’t that a rather sensible definition of a good holiday?
Because you slept in, missed breakfast.
At Athiva, the group’s premium lifestyle brand, the group introduced the concept of Anytime Breakfast instead of asking guests to stick to a strict morning meal window. One simple example is breakfast. The thinking is simple: rigid breakfast timings on a getaway can work against the very idea of relaxation. Singh also points to wellness becoming part of the stay itself, rather than something limited to the occasional spa appointment. That desire for control is not restricted to expensive holidays either. • A comfortable night’s sleep and a clean room • Good food and experiences that feel worth paying for The same person might want one kind of hotel experience for a family holiday and something completely different for a business trip, wellness break or milestone celebration. That means personalisation is less about piling on choices and more about understanding why somebody is travelling in the first place. Kapadia also points to time as a form of luxury. Privacy, access, exceptional food, individualised service and experiences that are difficult to recreate elsewhere are areas travellers may choose to spend on. Convenience, when done well, becomes part of that equation too. Candice D’Cruz, Vice President, Luxury Brands, Asia Pacific, Hilton, makes a similar point from the luxury end of the market. Travellers may spend considerably more on a private guide, access to a hard-to-reach location or an exceptional dining experience if it makes limited holiday time count. So perhaps the hotel of the future does not need to give every traveller more. It needs to get much better at knowing when to give them something, when to make life easier and, occasionally, when to simply leave them alone. Here’s what to know about the Grand Train Tour
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Gaurav Singh, Chief Operating Officer at Chalet Hotels, says travellers increasingly value time, flexibility and personal wellbeing over traditional displays of luxury.
