In recent years, boutique hotels have risen in popularity among travelers desiring distinctive and customized experiences. These hotels prioritize guest comfort and satisfaction, providing top-notch amenities, comfortable accommodations, and attentive service. Many boutique hotels specialize in niche interests like wellness retreats, art-focused experiences, or eco-friendly practices, appealing to travelers seeking more than just a place to stay. Outlook India caught up with Mr. Akaal Singh Manchanda, Founder and Director of Zuper Hotels & Resorts.

?Please tell us about your entrepreneurial journey, how everything started – the idea behind Zuper and what triggered you to enter this segment?

During the course of pursuing my hotel management degree, I realized that independent hotels and resorts are being overshadowed by monotonous international and domestic brands and their passion to serve guests with individualistic hospitality, which was being undervalued.

Hence, when we thought we had an opportunity to make a stand for this aim, we decided to launch Zuper, which caters to providing the independent hotels the worth they duly deserve.

? What is your vision and mission for your Zuper Hotels and what stand apart from its competition?

Our aim is to provide standalone resorts and hotels, both existing and those in development a value to their brand name instead of being overshadowed by any other international or domestic hotel chain. We achieve this by offering experiential hospitality and an Indian touch of service to our guests. We have paved the way for boutique hotels, where our properties are generating 4x ARR's (Average Room Rates) compared to the average market rate. In most of our markets we are faring higher than established peers. Our mission is to double the targets and brand value of the resorts in the years to come.

? How many cities do you have presence in?

We have resorts at travel destinations like lonavala, panchgani, karjat , Igatpuri etc. Currently we have our footprints at 9 destinations.We are entering wildlife tourism in Pench along with a vibrant city resort in Bhopal.

?What are the main challenges one faces in hotel management? How do you go about resolving any customer dissatisfaction issues?

Challenges are a pathway of growth and innovation. In hotel management, we encounter various opportunities and challenges for growth, from managing operations efficiently to exceeding guest expectations with exceptional services.

It’s absolutely an art to maintain a parity between managing the costs, paving up the standards, being intact with the technologies, adapting the market trends in its accurate speed and at the end making sure that our guests leave our resorts as our ambassadors.

Addressing challenges is the work of patient and tactful management, which our team of pious hoteliers, holding decades of hospitality experience, aims to deliver in the finest manner possible.

?What is the product roadmap in the years to come? What are your expansion plans?

From our productive years of inception, our primary focus has been on partnering with hotels and resorts within Maharashtra. However, in the current fiscal year 2024-2025, we are delighted to announce our expansion in Madhya Pradesh, where we are introducing two experiential resorts:

• Saj In The Forest, nestled in Pench, home to India’s Dark Sky Observatory renowned for its Wildlife Safari.

• The Empire, located in Bhopal – an elegant vibrant resort perfect for weddings, events, and leisure.

?Feel free to add about your partnership or any interesting insights.

Our upcoming resorts are surely going to steal the limelight. Most awaited is the Stone Water Resort & Spa, Karjat featuring 126 Rooms, which include 30 rooms with private pools, a two tier swimming pool overlooking the river spanning 120ft, a 12000 square feet banquet and a lot more.

On the table we have an upcoming resort which features a lazy river another one overlooking the Sayadri range featuring only 12 rooms in 4 acres of land - this is where we would be setting different standards of hospitality.