Kapil Chopra unveils new luxury hotel brand, launches 3 properties in Goa

Hospitality industry veteran Kapil Chopra Tuesday unveiled a new luxury hotel brand, The Postcard Hotel, and launched three new properties in Goa under the label.

Chopra, who has earlier served as the president of Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, said seven more luxury hotels under the brand would come up at different locations like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh over the next 12-18 months.

"Work has already started on few of these seven properties. We are looking to have around 50 hotels in the next five years," Chopra, 

CEO and founder of The Postcard Hotel told PTI.

Three hotels, part of the proposed seven new properties, would come up in eastern and north eastern parts of the country in partnership with Ambuja Neotia group, he added.

Elaborating on future plans, Chopra said he would first like to establish the brand in India and then venture out into international locations.

"We plan to build a luxury hospitality company out of India. People are ready to pay but there are no properties which could offer intimate and personalised luxury experience. The entire segment needed a disruption," he added.

The new brand would focus on hotels with 8-50 rooms so that the guests could have a personalised experience, Chopra said.

"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..as a strategy, we will either go to mountains, sea and wildlife sanctuaries," he noted.

The properties under the new brand would not have a check in or check out time, no mini bar or breakfast hours, Chopra said.

"We want travel to be experiential and transformative. 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," he added.

On opening properties abroad, Chopra said the first hotels could come in countries like Sri Lanka and Bhutan.

Chopra, who is also the chairman of the board of restaurant reservation application EazyDiner, said the company has received funding from Small Ventures, a venture capital firm based out of UAE.

He added that the brand would prefer combination of strategic buy outs and long term leases for its upcoming properties.

Headquarted in Delhi, The Postcard Hotel already has 300 employees on its rolls.

New luxury ‘Made in India’ brand, The Postcard Hotel, opens its doors

Former Oberoi President and veteran hotelier, Kapil Chopra, flags off latest hospitality venture

NEW DELHI, DEC 18

A spanking new ‘Made in India’ luxury hospitality brand – The Postcard Hotel – announced its launch in the Capital today. Set up by Kapil Chopra, former President of the Oberoi group, The Postcard Hotel, which has funding from the UAE-based Small Ventures, aims to offer “transformative” and “differentiated” experiences in travel and hospitality.

Chopra, who quit the Oberoi group exactly a year ago, said his hotel chain would create intimate properties that bring the romance and charm of leisurely holidays. Set up after considerable research and understanding of consumer pain points, his hotels will have flexible check-in and check-out timings, no set breakfast hours, no sugary welcome drinks – but would offer authentic local experiences.

The go-getting hotelier flagged off the launch of The Postcard Hotel in characteristic flamboyant style, announcing the opening of three hotels in Goa - The Postcard Moira, the Postcard Velha and The Postcard Cuelim. All three properties are located in unique neighbourhoods of Goa, with the Postcard Cuelim even housing a 350-year-old chapel on its premises.

The company is starting operations with Rs 600 crore worth of assets under management. Chopra said since most of the properties would be 15-20 room intimate hotels, the model would be to go for long-term lease or strategic buy-outs.

In the next 12-18 months, he said, seven more hotels would launch in offbeat destinations such as Uttarakhand, the Dhauladhar Mountain Range, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Sundarbans, Kanha and Mangalore in Karnataka. He said Postcard had entered into a partnership with the Ambuja Neotia realty group to deliver three hotels in East and North-East India.

Chopra said the brand is targeting 50 hotels in the next five years, and even looking at international destinations. He emphasised that The Postcard Hotel is looking to create new destinations and would not like to be present in saturated markets

Source: https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/companies/new-luxury-made-in-india-brand-the-postcard-hotel-opens-its-doors/article25773943.ece

Hospitality industry veteran Kapil Chopra launches The Postcard Hotel

The Postcard Hotel has announced the opening of three luxury hotels on the opening day, ready to receive guests, spread across Goa.

Imagine a hotel where there's no specific check-in or check-out time, no welcome drinks and no set breakfast hours. Kapil Chopra, a veteran in the Indian hospitality sector, offers all this and more at his new luxury hospitality brand The Postcard.

The Postcard Hotel group is expected to start 50 luxury hotels in the next five years across the country.

The Postcard Hotel has announced the opening of three luxury hotels in Goa. The Postcard Moira, nestled in one of the four heritage villages of Goa, The Postcard Velha, surrounded by 300 acres of coconut plantations in old Goa; and further south, The Postcard Cuelim, that also houses a 350-year-old chapel in the premises.

To keep the experience intimate and personal, none of the upcoming or existing hotels would have more than 50 rooms. Most of the hotels would be an eight to fifty room property with room rentals in the range of Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000.

"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 likeminded 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 Chopra.

To explain the bespoke experiences better, Chopra said he had handpicked the chef at one of his Goa hotels from 50 home cooks in the area. A guest gets to go shopping with the chef, come back to the hotel and cook it with the chef and also take the recipe back with them.

"We want everyone to take a piece of the hotel back with them," Chopra said.

In the next 12 to 18 months, The Postcard Hotel will be present in Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Dhauladhar Mountain Range, Ravangla Sikkim, Darjeeling, Sunderbands and Kanha.

Some of these hotels would be in partnership with strategic brands. For instance, in eastern India, The Postcard Hotel will jointly deliver the three hotels in Sikkim, Darjeeling and Sundarban with Harsh Neotia's Ambuja Group.

Among other strategic partners who have pitched in to put together the brand are Akshat Bhatt of Architecture Discipline and designer Jas Arora. Coimbatore-based Purnarnava Ayurveda has been brought to run Ayurvedic healing programmes ranging between 7 to 21 days in all the Goa properties. Forest Essentials has been roped in for some amenities.

As it starts its operations, the hotel company, funded by UAE-headquartered Small Ventures has Rs 600 crore of assets under management. The brand has set up a REIT (real estate investment trust) for strategic buyouts.

Source: https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/real-estate/analysis-builders-bruised-by-dubais-real-estate-market-woes-3306601.html

The Postcard Hotel: India’s all new experiential luxury hospitality brand

The Postcard, Cuelim

The Postcard Hotel is a brand of intimate luxury hotels, which is aimed at the bold and the ambitious with destinations by the sea, the mountains or jungles rich in wildlife. According to its founder, veteran hotelier Kapil Chopra, transformative experiences and local community are at the heart of the new brand.

Each hotel will offer experiences inspired by its surroundings, giving guests a sense of the neighbourhood and the destination. Highlights will be authentic local experiences— from food, to design, to artisanal cocktails, to defining the guest’s own check in and check out hours and immersions with the local community.

“The hotel does the thinking for them”

Chopra commented: “What I wanted to do with The Postcard Hotel, is to make luxury hotels for the modern audience while bringing 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.”

Kapil Chopra, founder of The Postcard Hotel

Three to fifty

The Postcard Hotel has announced the opening of three luxury hotels spread across neighbourhoods 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 travellers back in time, The Postcard Cuelim (top photo), that houses a 350-year-old chapel.

The brand is committed to building and operating 50 hotels in the next 5 years. Furthermore, in the next 12 to 18 months, The Postcard Hotel will be present in seven more destinations across the country.

Source: https://www.traveldailymedia.com/the-postcard-hotel-launch/

Ex Oberoi president Kapil Chopra launches new luxury brand The Postcard Hotel

NEW DELHI: Former president of the Oberoi Group, Kapil Chopra announced the launch of The Postcard Hotel, a new experiential luxury hospitality brand on Tuesday.

The Postcard Hotel is starting with three operational hotels in Goa and has plans of 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 including locations in Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Sikkim, Darjeeling, Sundarbans and Kanha Tiger Reserve.

Chopra said the funding in the operating company was led by UAE based Small Ventures and a $ 100 million REIT is being set up for strategic acquisitions and buyouts. The hotels are aimed at the leisure seeking audience and will have customised check-in check out hours, no set breakfast hours, and no buffets.

The Ambuja Neotia group and The Postcard Hotel will jointly deliver three hotels in Eastern and North Eastern India.

‘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," said Chopra.

Chopra said he saw a big gap in the luxury hospitality space which led to the launch of the new hospitality brand. "This is an intimate experiential luxury hotel brand which could vary from 8-50 rooms and will focus a lot on experiences even outside the hotel. Tariffs will range from Rs 15,000-35000," he added.

The Postcard Moira, located in one of the four heritage villages of
Goa, The Postcard Velha, surrounded by 300 acres of virgin coconut plantations in old Goa and The Postcard Cuelim, that houses a 350 year old chapel will be the first three properties of the company.

Source: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/hotels-/-restaurants/ex-oberoi-president-kapil-chopra-launches-new-luxury-brand-the-postcard-hotel/articleshow/67145894.cms