Pleasure, relaxation, stress buster…or just Ananda. That was exactly the idea behind luxury spa resort Ananda when Ashok Khanna launched it in 2000. It was the decade of the IT boom and stressed out professionals and executives. Khanna realised the need for a destination spa, and quit his job with luxury hotel group Oberois to start IHHR Hospitality.
But the story did not end with Ananda. ?The first two years for Ananda were bad, with 9/11, Gujarat riots, earthquake and other incidents looming large over the tourism industry. While leisure tourism was hit, business travel was not affected much. So I decided to venture into business hotels,? says Khanna. That?s when he founded the Ista brand of five-star business hotels, and opened the first property in Bangalore in 2006.
The company, which now has an Ista hotel each in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Amritsar, Ananda in the Himalayas and also a spa institute in Hyderabad, plans to add a hotel to its kitty every year. In a couple of weeks, it will be opening doors of the Ista in Pune and will consequently have hotels in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Navi Mumbai. Besides, it will open another destination spa in Jaipur, which will be ready in about three years. ?We are considering western India and Orissa to start destination spas,? he outlines the company’s plans. As far as investment is concerned, the group is looking at Rs 150 crore equity infusion and a debt of another Rs 150 crore in the next three years. When asked if the group, privately held (and with other promoters as well), has any plans of bringing in private equity investment or going for an IPO, Khanna says they intend to go public, but the timeline has yet to be finalised. Though all the properties are owned by the company, he says they are open to management contracts in case a good project comes his way.
Khanna, well rooted in the luxury space, finds hospitality industry’s growth story in India exciting, but points out that with so many foreign hotel companies, which possess the brand might, now thronging the country, it’s an arduous task for entrepreneurs who intend to foray into the hotel sector now. ?The scenario has changed from what it used to be say ten years back. Not only that, land prices have also gone up by leaps and bounds,? he expresses. But how easy was it for Khanna to start a novel concept like Ananda in India back then? ?It was difficult in the beginning, but once the company gained momentum, it was not that difficult to expand.? Besides his experience at the Oberois helped immensely, he agrees.
‘Standing out’ is Khanna’s mantra. While with Ananda he introduced the concept of a destination spa and holistic holiday in India, for Ista, his emphasis is on design that involves landscaping and greenery. Lot of earthy elements, be it fire or water, have been used while designing Ista properties. And for Khanna, ‘standing out’ has worked. ?We have a good percentage of repeat clients. We must be doing something right,? he says. The beginning might have been difficult, but with a set growth trajectory, Khanna is in a state of ananda right now.