For the weekend royalty
As hustle culture gives way to the rich Indian traveller seeking ultra luxury without minding the splurge, 56-bhog silver thalis, truffles on grills, and elusive eats from antiquity show up on menus that will have you believe you are a royal gourmand — even if for just the weekend!
By Anoothi Vishal
It’s on the flight back from Udaipur that I realise how much — and how well — India’s “global travel generation” as it is dubbed is travelling.
Pinky Gupta and her husband are seated in the front row, next to me. It’s a turbulent flight through a dark monsoon sky. As co-travellers sometimes do even in this day and age, we strike up a conversation and that’s how I become privy to their plans. Pinky’s upcoming 40th birthday is to be celebrated in Nasik. With a friends-only group of 40 ladies— at least half born in the same year as her! “Some of them have never been allowed to go on girls’ trips before this”, she confides, but plans have all fallen in place, and the group of 40 is set to travel to Nasik to ring in the birthday. They’ll stay at Sula’s Beyond resort for two nights; 8 special meals have been planned to rival a mini wedding, including a “sip and paint” experience at Sula where the ladies will do a wine tasting as they paint a portrait selected by Pinki— of a French woman with a glass of wine. Buses and cars have been arranged. Flights booked by the Guptas, and at Ahmedabad via which they transit, with around a three-four hour wait, Pinky has even identified a saree vendor selling Pattan Patolas to come to the airport for the ladies to shop!
“She has never celebrated her birthday”, says her husband, a businessman from Punjabi Bagh, Delhi, “so I told her, this year, she must go all out.” I find the couple fascinating. They tell me about how they come every month to pray at Nathdwara, near Udaipur, and also how they are disciplined about their life goals. “But we also like to travel,” they say, and then we talk of hotels, food and unique travel experiences that they have sought out of late.
The Guptas are not alone. All over India, well-to-do couples, friends, families and colleagues are travelling like never before, seeking experiences to maximise life post Covid in a way that previous generations of Indians never thought to do. There are countless studies and surveys which have been pointing out how luxury travel by HNI Indians is at a high, with ultra luxury global hospitality brands too pivoting to enter the domestic market and cater to this segment that no longer hesitates to spend on personal indulgences, gourmet dining, unique getaways, adventure, culture and wellness.
A recent FINN Partners report, for instance, will tell you how rich Indian travellers in the metros as well as Tier II and III cities are prizing unique experiences over luxury buys in its “The Future of Travel 2025: From Dreamers to Doers – India’s Global Travel Generation,” which finds 81 per cent of its respondents even prizing luxe travel over lavish weddings, 74 per cent over designer buys and more than half saying it seeks hotel upgrades. Meanwhile, World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) predicts that India will become the world’s fastest-growing major economy in the travel and tourism sector, growing at 7.5 per cent annually between 2021 and 2031. Luxury travel is a key to this growth—with eye-popping budgets now being reserved not just for annual breaks but mini occasions, long weekends and even travelling at a whim, such as catching that flight to Vietnam, Thailand or Sri Lanka last minute, just because!
Domestic bliss
While popular destinations such as Goa have been seeing stiff competition from destinations in south and south east Asia and thus a dip in numbers, less crowded or unusual domestic destinations have been seeing rich domestic travellers not just from the metros but smaller towns check in to some of the ultra luxury hotels commanding higher per night tariffs than ever before. This upends the conventional dynamic of India’s best resorts, palaces and hotels seeking out foreign white travellers, as many sought to do pre Covid!
In a neat reversal, all major global hotel brands have been making a beeline for the country, since global hospitality movers and shakers realised how much of luxury travel consumption globally is being driven by India—and China—conventionally overlooked, but where wealth is growing faster than anywhere else in the world. Hotel room rates have gone up 30 per cent in India’s top 12 markets, according to JLL data.
For the luxury seeker, the kind of experiences and frills being offered by top hotel brands in India are not just at par with the best internationally but out do hospitality in any other country—thanks to the cultural depth that layers experiences as also the innate warmth and hospitality of young talent that is being groomed for guest services and relations.
With better highways and better connectivity, splurgy domestic travel can become more the norm than the exception, as seekers of unique travel and food experience are encouraged to spend their rupee in India—with per person spends running up to Rs 1-1.5 lakh plus for a weekend, anecdotally. This phenomenon is hardly isolationist. All over the world, even during the era of cheap flights, we have examples of areas within countries and continents benefitting tremendously from internal travel—whether it be the road trippers in the south of France, in Basque countryside, or even in the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, or the European mature travellers through the small towns of Puglia, Umbria and Lombardy fuelling wine and local gastronomy trends more solidly than Insta influencers who may not quite put their money on the tables they promote.
The new palace in Udaipur
In the stunning city of lakes and mystique, monsoon clouds fill up the sky and the valley, as we drive past Pichola and the palace, up the Aravalli, and enter Udaipur’s newest palace hotel. The Fairmont Udaipur Palace is a stunning property. Built from scratch on the slope of a hill, there are graded expanses, lavish pools, terraces, starlit bars, courtyards, 327 rooms and suites, and a unique cannot-miss spa that makes this quite the modern-day palace in what is one of the oldest continuously inhabited royal cities of the Subcontinent.
Udaipur has been the romanticisied seat of the Sisodia solar dynasty of Mewar known for its chivalry and valour—as also gourmet antecedents—all through its history. Films like the James Bond adventure Octopussy that were filmed here back in the Roger Moore days have added to its legendary appeal. Till 2020, it was also the destination that was primarily driven by foreign FITs (free international traveller) and high-end weddings— though it is only now with the Fairmont Udaipur Palace opening up that capacity has been added; the hotel has the largest banqueting space and the maximum number of rooms in the city.
Now, the waters have turned. The rich Indian traveller is dominating the city—with the highest room rates in India. I land up at the Fairmont here that opened in July or so, on a two day break, to escape Delhi and an incessantly busy schedule. This is a solo trip, and all I am expecting is a bit of sleep in sylvan surroundings!
The suite opens up to a gorgeous terrace with a pergola and two gently swaying chair-jhoolas. You can snooze, or stare at the misty valley right in front, or read a book and you won’t know where your time has run away. But when I enter one of the several restaurants for lunch, I realise how on-point the seeming idyll can become to meet the demands of any modern day vacationing prince or princess wanting to be a gourmand. There are shavings of truffle on the grills, perfectly cooked salmon filets, pumpkin ravioli, healthy salad, millet canapes with pulled laal maans (a recipe, whose most famous iteration was by the legendary maharaja Arvind Singh Mewar, or Sriji of Udaipur) and more. Even the welcome drink has been snazzy. While checking in, tall glasses of coolers are handed out with the option of adding a dash of gin to it.
Gourmet trails and Spa sojourn
The next day, I will have a very on-point, ghee and podi laced thatte idli, currently an influencer darling, whose cult has spread far beyond Karnataka with sambaar-with-Udupiesque nuance. Till even two years ago, I would not have expected to come across such globalisation of the palate in fine detail even in upscale tourist outposts such as Udaipur. But gastronomy is on an upswing, and hotel kitchens are going all out to indulge gen Z or late millennial gourmands. A south Indian chef overseas the section to create authenticity. The rest of the team under Amitesh Virdi, director of culinary, and the general manager Vishrut Gupta, himself an F&B veteran, are leading the charge when it comes to pulling up the level of all that is on offer; from sourcing to presentations. Because that is what the Indian traveller seeking distinct experiences now looks out for.
Amongst the latter, is a spectacular “56 bhog” inspired thali—the largest anywhere in the country, beating the sadhyas, currently fashionable, in a good way. I eat an abridged version (because that feast is obviously meant to be shared) but am struck not just by the safed maans and the junglee maans, which along with lal maans make up the holy troika of Rajput meat-ghee-spice laced stews, at least the most popular, or even by the daal-baati-churma that is a must for any traveller to Rajasthan, but by simpler, more elusive vegetarian dishes.
Matera-hari pyaaz is a Marwari watermelon preparation, cooked from the less sweet, greener, local variety. A version of it exists in the larger Rajasthani Kayasth repertoire of my community’s cooking too. But it is nice to find it on a hotel menu. Then, there is the chakki ki subzi—all gluten, made by painstakingly washing off the starch from wheat dough. The resulting nuggets have a meaty texture and this was a mock meat dish of great antiquity. That Fairmont Udaipur Palace is able to pull this off with exactitude is a testimony to the seriousness of its kitchen.
For the weekend royal, top notch gourmet delights must also be matched by a spa; a space that is getting increasingly competitive. But this one is unmissable, with a unique programme created by spa director Charu Lal, using natural products customised by her. I check in for an infinitely relaxing and therapeutic potli massage, though you could also opt for the likes of heated bamboo sticks rolled on your fascia to relieve deep tissue stress and others. I have asked my butler (assigned to suites only) to ensure that I am out in time to catch my flight back and she does, whisking me away in my cloud of perfumed relaxation.
On the flight back, I’ll meet the Guptas and learn about how much such luxury getaways are being sought out—even by those who must hustle for a living. But then, the hustle culture seems to be over. As a new traveller seeks self care—and pampering—as a measure of success, India and its all-frills hotels may be just your vibe.
