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On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline sits down with Anuraag Bhatnagar, CEO of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, and explores his hospitality “calling,” hiring for values, and delivering luxury through deep human connection and anticipatory …
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Katie Cline
October 1st, 2026 at 3:00 AM EDT
Decision Intelligence
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On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline sits down with Anuraag Bhatnagar, CEO of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, and explores his hospitality “calling,” hiring for values, and delivering luxury through deep human connection and anticipatory service rather than transactions.
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On this episode of Suite Success, host Katie Cline sits down with Anuraag Bhatnagar, CEO of The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, and explores his hospitality “calling,” hiring for values, and delivering luxury through deep human connection and anticipatory service rather than transactional SOPs.
Bhatnagar shares lessons from Oberoi (commitment to excellence and detail), Starwood (distinct brand DNA), and Marriott (operational rigor), then explains Leela’s post-acquisition “Leela 2.0” strategy: preserve authentic true Indian luxury while adding global best practices, technology, and commercial discipline.
He highlights initiatives like the nightly cultural ceremonial ritual, the Leela Palace Service with eight personalized touchpoints to remove friction, innovative food-and-beverage programming (about 40% of business), and Ojasya wellness evolving into longevity-focused integrated wellness.
He also outlines growth from 8 to 15 operating hotels with 10 more in development and previews Leela’s first international project, a Palm Jumeirah Dubai resort planned for 2028.
This episode is brought to you by Lodgify & Bilt Suite Success listeners can enjoy 20% off all MONTHLY Lodgify plans for 1 year after redemption with code SUITESUCCESS20, valid from September 14 through October 16. Offer applies to Yearly and Bi-Yearly plans.
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Transcript of This Conversation
This transcript is generated by artificial intelligence.
I am Anuraag Bhatnagar, and you’re listening to Suite Success.
You’ve just checked in to Suite Success. Join me, Katie Cline, for exclusive conversations with hotel executives, hospitality leaders, and industry innovators.
Together, we’ll uncover the strategies and techniques these masters of hospitality relentlessly refine. Whether you’re already in the industry or just starting out, tune in every week to unlock the secret to your Suite Success.
0:37
Meet Anuraag Bhatnagar
Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Suite Success. I’m your host, Katie Cline, and today I’m thrilled to welcome Anuraag Bhatnagar to the show.
Anuraag is the Chief Executive Officer of the Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, India’s leading luxury hospitality company, known for its exceptional service, immersive experiences, and deep connection to Indian culture.
With more than three decades of experience in luxury hospitality, Anuraag has led some of the world’s most prestigious Indian and international hotel brands consistently positioning them at the forefront of the market.
Prior to his role, he’s held senior leadership positions with the Oberoi Group, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, and Marriott International, where he gained extensive experience across luxury hotel operations, brand strategy and hospitality innovation.
Since taking the helm at The Leela, he’s helped guide the brand through a period of significant growth, preserving the traditions and cultural authenticity that make the company unique while embracing innovation, evolving traveler expectations, and
the future of luxury hospitality. Anuraag, thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you, Cathy. Great to be here.
1:50
Hospitality as a Calling
You have had such an impressive career.
And I love when I get to speak with people like yourself, because I want to know, take us back to that first ever job. What was it that attracted you to the hospitality industry in the first place?
You know, when I go back in time, the first thing that kind of attracted me to the hospitality business was that there were some amazing things happening, events were happening, global events were happening.
I walked in like as a student, I was doing hotel management. I mean, I had not even opted to do my hotel management at that point in time. And I saw the glamour.
But then I also saw the very smart boys and girls and young people working and serving, and they had access to all these global personalities and events and celebrities. So this seems to be a good business.
At that point in time, I did not probably realize fully the grind and the grit that goes behind the glamour. That was a later awakening.
But I can tell you, once I was into it and once I realized that there is a true calling way above and beyond just a job. And that’s something that really struck me even in my earlier days.
The excitement, the creativity, the passion, the kind of energy that you require to get into this business and stay in this business.
The positive vibes from you, that is something that grew within me and into me very early on in the days and here I am.
3:18
Service Mindset
Yeah, I want to dig into that word calling that you just used, because I think if you didn’t work in hospitality, you could maybe dismiss that and be like, oh, come on.
But it really is for a lot of us who have worked here and you said something in that first answer about service. So much of hospitality is about service to our guests, to our owners, to whomever it may be, right?
So how has that shown up in your life? How do you feel that calling every single day?
I think it’s very internal.
I mean, if you get joy in serving people, if you really enjoy your interaction, when you make a significant difference, create a memory, create an experience, it literally creates a very happy zone around you and takes you to a different place.
I’ve worked many long hours and I know everybody in hospitality, they put in the grind. I mean, hospitality can be a demanding business because you start early mornings and your days are long, you work through weekends, you work through holidays.
So if you really enjoy what you’re doing, if you have this inner calling where you realize that you have made a difference to someone’s life, someone’s experience, someone’s anniversary or a birthday or any occasion and they actually acknowledge you
or they recognize you, it makes a big difference. So I think it’s a bit of something inside you and the act of service is almost like, if that gives you joy and hospitality is the right kind of business for you and the right industry for you and to
sustain and last and do well in this business, it is something that has to be you. Otherwise, there will be pressure. So it’s like you need to get that energy back.
You need to be the best version of yourself every day, bring your best game to the game every day. So this, hence I say, is a calling.
It is, and it’s a 24-7 business. I mean, if we think about how we have people in our hotels living their full 24 hours of a day in crises, we’ve seen every crisis that has happened in a human life, has happened in a hotel as well.
It is a really 24-7 nature. So I don’t think it’s hyperbole to talk about that grind. I’m curious, though, especially we’re going to dig into the Leela and really bringing that Indian culture and that Indian service through.
5:39
Hiring for Values
But do you think certain cultures or type of people are more suited to hospitality and delivering that level of service? Or do you think it just really is down to an individual person-by-person level?
I think you do have a persona and a certain personality, the type, that would do very well in this business of hospitality, especially at the experiential, deeply emotional connect level that luxury hospitality offers, where it is not transactional,
where it is not just about a process or taking a check-in or a departure, where it’s about developing deep human connections. That’s where you need, especially when even today at The Leela, when we are recruiting, when we are hiring, we spend a lot
of time in terms of beyond just the experience, in terms of who is the person that we are looking at, what are the kind of behaviors and attributes and competencies, and more of it like a value system that you bring, which is so suited and resonates
with the luxury hospitality service that we promote and we offer. So it is a certain type of an individual. I can tell you from my own experience, and I’ve seen so many individuals do exceedingly well, not just in The Leela, but in my past lives and
my past jobs as well. They have a certain type. They like talking to people. They are able to manage.
They are resilient. They have a very happy kind of an attitude about life. They can manage the pressure.
They kind of live it. And they have this innate positivity about themselves, that they can be in their trenches, having done a 14-hour shift probably the previous night, and walking sharp and shiny the next day in the morning for breakfast service.
So, it is truly a certain personality. And I have so much respect and regard for these young folks out there who are literally running all the brands and serving the guests.
It is really unique to our industry when you phrase it like that, because if you think about a doctor or a software engineer, there is certain training that is required that if they don’t have that training, they cannot be qualified to do it.
But I agree with you, that was my own personal experience. I had started in PR and communications in the fashion industry. And I remember realizing that my calling, if you will, was actually to be in the travel and hospitality space.
And so I started applying for roles in PR in the travel and hospitality space. And a lot of the more traditional companies couldn’t understand. They were like, but you don’t come from hotels.
And I would tell them all the reasons why that was actually a strength and an asset and here’s why I should be considered and it didn’t go anywhere until Starwood.
And I remember when I was interviewing for Starwood, I tried to proactively offer that information and the hiring manager kind of dismissed me and said, no, we love hiring people from all different backgrounds because you’re going to bring something
new to the table. And it really goes back to what you were talking about of hiring for values first and then training later.
8:45
Lessons from Top Brands
So when you think about your time at Starwood, your time at Marriott, at Oberoi, all these amazing companies that you’ve worked for, what were those lessons that you took from each of them?
And what were things that maybe you thought, I’m going to do it differently now that I’m in the top seat at The Leela?
I think it’s been a great journey in my three decades. Like when I started off in my Oberoi hotels, I learned about commitment to excellence, the attention to detail. I had the good fortune of observing the owner, the founder, Mr.
PRS. Oberoi very closely in many interactions. I was not in the zone of consideration in those days.
But then observing his innate passion, where he would be a mile high in terms of quality and standards, that’s something that has stayed with me, that how important it is to be committed to excellence in everything that you deliver, especially for
service, product quality, food and beverage. Starwood, as you and I both know, the brand passion, the unique thinkiveness of brand, the passion and the identity of each brand.
Each brand of Starwood was so distinct, not just because it was a promotion or a program, the way it could be executed. So I was in operations. As an operating general manager of several Starwood hotels in my days, I could easily tell what a St.
Regis delivery and execution would be versus a Westin versus a W Hotel. Because the D&D brand was late and that’s something again, which is very unique.
And of course, in my journey in Marriott, where I was heading luxury for India, again, Marriott has got amazing operational rigor.
The rigor, the balance scorecard approach, what they bring to the table, the commercial thinking, that’s again very, very important.
I think every company in my life has been like a chapter, which has really supplemented me and allowed me to bring, hopefully, the best of it together, blend it into my experience at Leela.
Because when I came into the Leela like six, six and a half years back, almost seven years now, Leela was entering a new phase. It had been just recently acquired by Brookfield, but from the family and was 100 percent owned by them.
And this is what I would like to experience as a Leela 2.0.
When we really wanted to preserve the DNA of the brand, the brand language, the brand ethos, we’re double-click on the commitment to excellence, the warmth and graciousness of Leela service, wise create brand extensions and brand adjacencies, and
ensure that we brought in the best of technology, the best of commercial thinking and asset management approach to create value for all stakeholders. Without compromising or getting any adulteration into a service offering or true Indian luxury
offering. So, all of these are well for me. I think so, even the challenging situation, the lessons, I’m sure all of us go through in life. But they always kind of taught me, that these are some of the things one should not probably do.
You also kind of make a list of some things that you can live without and grow without. So, how to be more mindful, how to be more deliberate about growth, and how to be ensure that growth is value-accurate and is brand-accurate.
That’s the lesson that I learned.
Then, of course, all the good lessons in terms of how to be really focused on what the customers and what the guests are looking out for, how to ensure the service is more anticipatory and ritualistic and not just like an SOP-led service.
Yeah.
Where you have enough room for innovation and creativity, and more of a deeper emotional connect, rather than somebody who’s just reciting an SOP and speaking the five sentences that you expected to speak. So, it’s been a great blend.
12:48
Leela Strategy 2.0
There’s so much for us to unpack in what you just said.
I think let’s start with taking the helm at The Leela six, seven years ago. That’s a really big moment for the company. As you said, there’s a lot of internal change going on.
There’s an ownership change going on. You want to preserve what makes the brand so, so special and unique, but you also want to grow and innovate and take it into what modern travelers are looking for today. How do you do that?
Where do you start?
The first thing is first, I think I was very privileged and very fortunate to be a part of a very, you know, when Leela was acquired by Brookfield, we had access to capital, we had access to global technology and global distribution, and we also were
allowed and we had access to some of the best talent. So, building a team was a first step first, and the strategy was very clear, that we preserve the DNA and nurture the DNA of Leela that was sowed 40 years back. What was the Founder’s vision?
To create one of the world’s finest luxury ecosystem, that is something entrenched upon every associate of Leela.
And most importantly, this extended beyond the beautiful palaces, extended beyond the beautiful chandeliers and marble and crystal and all the trappings of amazing, beautiful, the acid quality.
We wanted to grow very, very deliberately only in iconic locations. But the most important thing that we wanted to nurture and we have been able to nurture has been the warmth and graciousness of true Indian luxury.
Now, to talk on to that, what we probably brought in to the table was access to global best practices, a balanced core card and a commercial approach, access to technology and global distribution.
So it was a blend of retaining and nurturing and preserving what was done extremely mindfully with the great taste and amazing aesthetics and ensuring that the Leela culture of service excellence was retained.
The walk and graciousness, the focus on greenscaping, the focus on building palaces, having the best hotels and the best locations was created, preserved and topped on with the best of global practices and a balanced core card approach and an
operational rigor. So today our Net Promoter Score, Sid said 86, which as you would know is amongst the highest, for sure the highest amongst in the Asia Pacific and amongst the highest in the world. We have been voted in the last five years.
We have been voted amongst the world’s top brands, the best brands for travel and leisure. And this year we’ve been voted as the second best brand in the world.
15:38
Guests and Rituals
And what really was required from our side is to do looking at the evolving India, the evolving luxury landscape and the ecosystem in India. I give you a certain detail.
Prior to COVID, and let’s say the first Leela, the average guest age would be in early 50s, maybe 50s to 51. And today, for the last three years, we have seen the median age of a traveler in Leela to be between 38 to 39 years.
Wow.
There’s been a big shift. So our guests are, in a sense, almost a decade and a half younger, extremely well-traveled. Global travelers have access to the best in the world.
They are experienced seekers. They understand food and beverage. FND has become such a big part of our business today.
Nearly 40% of our business is food and beverage. And creativity, innovation, FND programming is very, very important for us and very, very important for our guests.
Wellness, now wellness is going beyond just traditional Indian wellness, but weaving in integrated wellness with longevity, with future forward wellness programs that we can deliver across our hotels. That’s become a part of our culture today.
So these and many other service rituals that we introduce, like the ceremonial ritual, this is something we do in every Leela hotel, every evening 6.30 to 7 at the time of sunset.
We bring the best of local music, culture, cuisine, some of the local dishes, local artists. So all our guests, our international guests, can experience the culture of their geography without necessarily having to step out.
In case you’re there for a corporate visit or a business meeting, you don’t necessarily have to go out of the hotel. You can get the best of Bangalore or Chennai or New Delhi in your hotel itself.
The Leela Palace Service that we introduce, this creates a very high level of intimate touch points. It is attentive and intuitive without being obtrusive.
This literally gives, it’s like our Butler program, it gives you eight touch points in your journey as a guest, as a part of your experience bubble. This is one of our biggest memory creator, a highly empowered team of Leela Palace Associates.
This and many more initiatives, of course, on the commercial side with revenue management and asset management, helped us take Leela from where it was 40 years back, when it was just eight hotels, when we acquired the portfolio to today to 15 hotels,
which are operating in 10 hotels under various stages of development.
And it’s interesting, I’m hearing potentially some inspiration from your time with St.
Regis, with the Sabraj Ritual and the Butler program. But what I’m hearing is you did it in a very Indian way, a very Leela way, and you also managed to infuse the local in. Like, sabering in St.
Regis every night is super fun and enjoyable, but that’s not exactly immersing you into the local culture, whereas what you’re doing is almost bringing the outside in for your guests, which is really cool.
18:55
True Indian Luxury
Yeah, so everything about Leela has to be true Indian luxury, as we say.
True because it has to be authentic, it has to be specially curated, whether it’s our fragrances or our music or our cuisine, which is the Ojasya brand of cuisine, or even the incense and everything that we create in Leela has been specifically made
and curated and very bespoke Leela. It has to be Indian because taking Indian hospitality at a global level, nearly 50 percent of our guests are international.
So, they experience literally one-to-one mix between our Indian local guests as well as international travelers. So, it’s very, very important for us that the true Indian luxury that Leela represents is experienced by even our international guests.
Hence, the rituals that we created, that we launched including the Leela Palace Services was totally the way a modern Maharaja would be treated in his own palace. This was the ethos behind it. The idea was, Katie, to remove friction from services.
So, I think when we talk about anticipatory services, it’s like, what are the five, actually eight touch points that you can do that can remove the stress or the decision-making literally from our guests and travelers?
It’s like in a corporate hotel, whether it’s packing or unpacking or bags, or is it ironing some of your shirts on your wardrobe, or your customized amenities in the evening, and your good night amenities, or the selection of tea or coffee that you
will like, basis of your guest history, and ensuring that you were done an in-room or an in-villa check-in. You didn’t have to spend any time at the reception, either during check-in or check-out, ensuring that you experience the Leela ceremony or
ritual, ensuring that there was a memorable moment created for you at least once during your stay, if you’re traveling with kids, some cute amenities personalized for the kids, and ensuring that our Palace Service Associates created a local small
takeaway or a gift for you when you were leaving as a guest. So, many of these touch points were created as a part of our service DNA. And I can tell you, our Palace Service Associates have become some of the biggest ambassadors.
I mean, our repeat guests, they reach out to them. They bypass your system. They say, hey, I’m coming on so and so day, why don’t you get me a room?
Because they are connected to them on WhatsApp. Because we offer that number. So, they remain one point of contact with the guests during your stay.
So, that’s really become a big calling card for Leela, and it’s far more expanded than what you alluded to at the St. Regis, you know.
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22:47
Generations of Guests
It’s so true when I think back on the most special travel experiences for me, there is a person I can name by name. When I went on Safari, it was the guide. So what you’re doing is giving that really personalized interaction.
And I don’t mean personalized to the guest in terms of like, we’re going to write your name on things, but you’re really giving one-on-one interaction. And that goes really well with what you were talking about the average age of your guest.
Why do you think it has shifted so much? Is it all of the work that you’re doing around positioning globally?
Was that just a shift after COVID that all of a sudden we’re seeing younger generations potentially traveling further and traveling at a higher price point? Why do you think that’s shifted?
So I think it’s a combination of many factors. India as a country is very young. A median age of the country is 29 years.
The affluent Indians are growing in high double digits year on year. I mean, the affluent Indians, the HNIs and the ultra HNIs are growing by 14 to 16% year on year.
There are from some recent survey, there are more, there used to be during pre-COVID, there were 70 million households in India that could have consumed luxury based on a certain income every year, household income.
Now it’s expected that by 2030, there will be more than 200 million households that can consume luxury. We see post-COVID, this explosive travel. People are traveling for experiences, exploring the destination, driving to destinations.
We see a lot of multi-generational traveler happening. People are traveling more. They are taking larger villas.
They are taking villas with a swimming pool. The suite consumption in our hotels has increased. So these shifts are happening in India as an economy and as a part of a larger growth economy.
We see that happening. Of course, we see overall it’s impacting our average age and brought it down.
Plus, we have also been able to attract through our food and beverage programming and the venues and innovations that we have done in F&B, a whole new set of, I would say, luxury customers.
They enter the world of Leela through food and beverage and end up visiting one of our hotels or resorts and staying there.
That combined with this India’s population and growth of the luxury consumers and rising influence and the programming that we do, that’s the combination makes our average age of the guests much lower.
Yeah.
25:32
Food and Beverage
You mentioned 40 percent of your business coming from food and beverage, which is really impressive. What is your approach to that strategy? Obviously, the brand in general is really focused on that Indian luxury.
Are you only serving Indian food? How do you think about the chefs that you work with, the restaurant design? I’d love just your thoughts on that.
In every Leela Hotel, we have a very special, at the minimum, one Indian restaurant, which like our brand Jamawar, and plus you will find lots of Indian offerings.
Of course, more South Indian offerings in our South India Hotels and North India Hotels. But every Leela Hotel, you will find the best of Indian cuisine and all. But we also want to be the best address for our international guests.
So you will find in Leela Hotels, The Cirque. You will find the Meghu Restaurant in Leela. You will find the best of Asian and Pan Asian cuisine in all hotels.
Because we want to have the best of food and beverage offering without being restricted. Because our length of stay is minimum three to four nights.
So people who stay at Leela, we want them to experience not just the best of Indian cuisine, but also get the best global cuisine as well. Our philosophy on bars is more vibrant, more eclectic, more beverage forward.
We recently, like two years back, we launched India’s first and the finest Speak Easy Bar. When I say finest, it’s not me saying because I’m biased, which I am.
But it’s been always voted as Asia’s top 20, Asia’s top 10, is the Leela Palace, Bangalore with the ZLB, which you enter through a kitchen. So you feel you’re entering a kitchen and you wonder why I’m being taken there.
Then you enter a service, you get up, then you enter the back area of a restaurant. Suddenly, you’re in this amazing place with music and a band. So it’s one of the finest, most awarded Speak Easy bars in the country and Asia Pacific.
So we have been really looking at our food and beverage offerings. In Jaipur, we recently opened, last five months back, a rooftop restaurant, the Amber Terrace, which is on the backdrop of Aravli Hills.
So imagine an evening in Jaipur, it’s nice and breezy, there are hills around you and you have some great music and great offerings of food. So we have been very innovative in our FNB offerings.
That again, because almost 50 to 65% of our business comes from even non-residents. For many people who are young, innovative, they want to experience food and beverage, FNB becomes their portal to enter the world of Leela.
Yeah, it’s such a good point and obvious, but also requires some time being spent on it too, because, of course, when we can’t afford a stay, yet what we can typically afford is maybe a meal, maybe even a cup of coffee or a glass of wine or
something. So it is, it’s kind of that gateway into the world.
And then as potentially their wealth grows, then they start to say, I’m going to stay for a business trip, and then I’m going to stay for a leisure trip, and then it’s the only place I’m going to stay.
And it’s such a delicate balance, what you’re talking about too, because you mentioned 50% of your guests are international. So I’m thinking, if I’m coming from New York and I’m staying at Leela, of course I want to eat Indian food.
But at the same time, we know what makes a really powerful hotel, restaurant or bar is getting locals in too. So they want that variety.
And it sounds like you’re really being that lens of curation, of just bringing in the best of whatever is happening in global dining.
And we have been, yeah, absolutely, Katie. We have been investing in our chefs’ training, sending them, some of our chefs for global exposure, working and training the best of restaurants, getting exchange programs.
We do a lot of master classes and pop-up events. We have Massima Bhature coming to India again for the third time, only for The Leela. He comes with troops.
So we are some of the best and finest chefs who come and do cook-offs and pop-ups in our hotels in India, because F&B gets a lot of talking points, is noticed, and most many people also judge how good the hotel is based on your local F&B reputation.
And F&B is also, again, beyond being a business driver, is a strong reputation driver.
And even on the talent side, we are committed to ensuring that our people get the best of training, experience and skills to be able to deliver at this kind of a global stage.
30:18
Wellness
I’m interested too in what you talked about with wellness and not just being that kind of plug-and-play wellness solution, but really taking a slant on longevity.
Can you talk a bit about that?
So a few years back, I’ll take a big step, we launched something called the Ojasya by The Leela. Ojasya is a Sanskrit word which means, Vigor of Life.
So the concept itself was Holistic Wellness, that how you bring vitality or well-being into your system. So phase one, we focused on nutrition, which was key.
Now phase two, we have gone into more of Therapeutic Wellness, which is how do we bring that vigor of life through various spa treatments and movement and exercise and sleep. And now phase three, we are intervening this with Longitivity.
So to give you specifics in Leela Palace, Bangalore, we are opening 18,000 square foot of the top-notch wellness zone, which will have elements of not just traditional Ayurveda, but also zones where we are focusing on Longitivity and the modern
integrated wellness equipment and treatments that a global traveler would expect, or even, you know, affluent Indians, when they travel internationally, they would expect that, right in their home turf in Leela Palace, Bangalore. We recently acquired
a beautiful hotel in Kurg, which is again in South India, like five hours driving distance, four and a half hours from Bangalore, which has got 27,000 square feet of wellness zone, you know, and all the spas in our hotel are evolving into integrated
wellness. The one in Jaipur has already been done. And the new spas that we are launching, the two that I mentioned and the third one, in a beautiful desert resort in Jaisalmer in Rajasthan, that’s also going to have almost 200,000 square feet of
integrated wellness. So wellness, the components of it, whether it’s nutrition or more movement through various calisthenics and aerobics and yoga, or it is treatment, we developed this Ayurvedic ritual for Ojasya.
And I tell you, it starts with the chanting of a mantra, which is a Sanskrit mantra, which is again for like everything Leela, it has to be Indian, you know.
Connects you with a higher divinity and appeases to your spiritual self, that for your well-being, it’s literally a prayer for your well-being. And it ends with applying the little bit of holy ash on your forehead.
And giving you a bead for your wellness, for protecting your energies. So rituals like this, and they have been thought through, and they have been rolled out, and they create such a massive impact on our case.
Because we are taking again the experience of a typical spa experience, beyond what can really expect in terms of just therapy and treatment. Connecting the spirituality to it.
33:21
Authentic Spa Touches
So that’s all about Ojasya, and this is something that we are working on across all our hotels.
It’s also a spa treatment that makes sense in India at The Leela. Like you are bringing again that local in, which is what travelers are craving in every aspect, whether it be the hotel design, the food and beverage.
But again, in the spa as well, you are taking it out of just the typical spa menu that could exist in any hotel in any part of the world, and you are making it really specific.
Absolutely. We give every guest as a part of the spa departure experience a bead that they wear. It’s literally a holy bead which is, protects their energies and cleanses their aura, and they can take it with them, they can carry it with them.
So everything is true Indian, and it’s authentic, and the idea is that you add on something so that a guest when they come to a spa, they’re going back different and better than what they came in.
And even just how you said that, their departure experience, what that shows me is you’ve really thought about the entire journey. It’s not just like, how can we sell treatments?
And once we’ve collected payment, like we’ll do a good job because we want them to come back. But you’ve really thought through that every part of this is how can we surprise and delight you.
34:42
Mastering the Departure Experience
Katie, if there is one thing I’m good at, I’m very good in departure experiences.
I could probably write a few chapters in a book because I tell you, having been in this business, I have seen so many good and great hotels lose it beyond checkout. I mean, this to me really hurts.
You know, someone who’s probably spent, I don’t know, $30,000 in your hotel over the last five nights, you know, and you know, once you swipe the credit.
So for me, the departure experience literally ends with a fond farewell at the airport when you drop the guest. That’s when you own the experience literally from the airport, when you receive the guest till the time when you drop the guest back.
So whether it’s your chauffeur who’s driving the guest or the guest relations manager, or the palace service associate who’s seating you in the car, along with departure amenities, like in Kurg, to give you an example, our latest property.
35:36
Farewell Surprises
We, you know, most people, they drive in their own vehicles, right? They come with families, kids. It’s a forest sanctuary.
It’s beautiful, 70 acres. There’s a waterfall. There’s a lake.
It’s a coffee plantation. There are these Asian mongoose and some little bit of, it’s also on the elephant corridor. So it’s a beautiful forest sanctuary and all villas.
But most people, they drive down to Kurg, right? It’s closer to Bangalore and Bangalore. So we make sure, as a surprise and delight, or at least it was a surprise in the beginning.
Now it’s kind of become everybody knows about it. We give them a very nice return picnic hamper and a local departure gift. So when they walk into the car, because they got a four-hour journey ahead of them.
Plus what we have also done, we have created two bungalows, small bungalows, which are Leela curated. Think of a mini Leela with just two rooms and a fresh rooms where people can take bio-breaks. They can get some amenities.
They can get a back massage quickly. They can stretch their legs. They can get certain amenities so that break the journey.
So hours away from the hotel you’ve created.
That’s right.
Hours away from the hotel. Because it’s a four-and-a-half to five-hour journey.
So we’ve bought that you would need a nice, comfortable place where you can break your journey up to two, three hours, stretch your legs, have a nice cup of coffee or some.
Then because it’s a coffee plantation, so we serve Leela snacks, we serve Leela coffee. That’s really working well for us.
So I think the departure and the whole managing the entire experience from the arrival to departure, and even later, our people are expected, our palace service associates are expected to check in on the guests even once they’ve reached their house.
For example, Katie, I hope you reach safely, all is well. It was lovely having you. We want them to do it with their hearts.
It’s not just, like I mentioned, an SOP or something, just clinical, that, hey, I did call all the guests back. And that goes through our training and mentoring and ensuring they are motivated enough to do that.
I’m obsessed with this. I haven’t heard anyone think about it this way before.
And when you and I were both at Starwood, I was working on the brand Lumeridian, and we did a study at that time, which was all about how the first 10 minutes of a guest’s stay sets the tone for the entire experience.
And it’s something I still talk about a lot, I still think about a lot. But you’re right, like the departure is equally important too.
You had mentioned something about how you’ve seen so many examples, I’m sure not at The Leela, of people or hotels losing it at the checkout or after the checkout. Can you give some examples of that too?
Of like, you just gave some examples of how to make sure you get it right. But how have you seen hotels get it wrong?
38:38
When Hotels Get It Wrong
I’ve seen, I mean, without basically naming any, and I’m talking about some very good international brands, and I’m talking about brands like, and who are known for their service culture and a great reputation and all of that, that where these points
of friction and points of inflection can change the entire experience. It could be small things, but just imagine, I’ll give you an example.
We arrived in a hotel at, we had taken a late night flight and we had flown in from India, me and a couple of my colleagues, we arrived into a hotel, the rooms were booked the previous night, because obviously we arrived early morning, and we had
just an hour basically between us and the next meeting. Let’s say we arrived close to 8 a.m. in the morning, and we had to step out of the hotel at like 9.15, and the latest to be somewhere at 9.30 in Singapore. I’ll give you an example.
Now, three times we emphasized to the gentleman in the desk, we are really rushed. But just because, so he went to the entire process of check-in, the credit cards and this and that, so 8 into n, and we waited in a queue and all of that stuff.
So it took away nearly 20 minutes after the total 60 minutes. We had to freshen up, we had to shave, we had to change our clothes, do all of that. So basically, all we could do is grab a coffee, and skip our breakfast, and get on for the meeting.
Now, that was a good hotel, and he was doing his job. It’s just that nobody trained this gentleman on sensitivity, on intuitiveness, and they had organized our pick-up, and we had paid for the room from the previous night.
So they knew that we were on a flight from whatever midnight to 6 a.m. or whatever.
We reached the hotel at 8 a.m., probably traveled through the night, jet-lacked, minorly, but then, and they also knew that we had a meeting because they had organized the next car as well.
But this is what I talk about, different fragmentation in service, and different functions not speaking to each other.
Now, what we try to train and ensure, we try to get it mostly all the time, is that talk to each other so that the same guest, you pick them up from the airport, he has got only one hour, and you already have the current car details and everything
else. Just make sure that you give them that one hour, the time that they’re required.
Wow. That’s an excellent, excellent example.
41:12
Why Leela Chose Dubai
I’m curious because of course, I’ve read that the brand is making its first international debut with The Leela Dubai, scheduled to open, I believe, by 2028, a beachfront resort on the iconic Palm Jumeirah, featuring 546 keys, including a 361 key
hotel, 182 private residences, and three exclusive villas. So I imagine moving the brand internationally, expanding the brand internationally, was not a decision that was taken lightly. So why was this the perfect opportunity to start?
And is this the beginning of more international properties from The Leela brand?
I think this is a great time for us to grow internationally.
It was in many ways the perfect opportunity, as you mentioned, both in terms of acquisition, it’s very value-accurate, but more importantly, for brands’ presence, The Leela brand’s presence in a very global competitive market, because we believe now
the brand has got developed enough ecosystem in India, has got the bandwidth, has got the capabilities and the skills to be able to take on an international destination. Why Dubai? It’s a global market.
It’s almost for India, it’s one of the largest outbound markets, so Dubai would have a very strong brand recall for us, and for us as well, Dubai is a great transient international market for us.
So in all the ways, it ticked all the boxes, and the asset qualities on the beach is 23 acres of land. It’s beautiful. All the villas will have a sea view.
It’s got beautiful service residences, 10 amazing F&B venues.
There is a lot of programming and design development that is happening right now to ensure that it’s being the first foray of Leela in an international market where you have the top 30 brands in the world of luxury already present out there.
Leela makes an impact and carries forward the language and the positioning that we have in India to Dubai as well.
I’m there next week along with my team and very excited about ensuring that the design language, whilst it’s uniquely Indian and Leela, also appeals to the global traveler.
And for that, like I said, we have enough of whom experience dollars 50 percent of our visitors being international.
So with that experience that we already have, over four decades of Leela being with us as a brand, and then we want to take that same experience to Dubai.
Of course, we will be very, very mindful of the local culture, the local talent dynamics, and the local positioning and overindex on food and beverage and experiences and wellness.
But that provides an amazing platform for us to do, take the Leela story to international shores.
Very exciting.
44:12
Growth Pipeline
I mean, I think there’s so much going on, and I think at the right stage, we look at the other opportunities as well.
But right now, this is going on in India. We, like I mentioned to you earlier, we have 10 hotels including Dubai and the various stages of development. We have three hotels on the wildlife.
We are opening three amazing wildlife centuries. We have one hotel opening in Jaisalmer, which is a desert, 30 acres of desert area where we are coming up this hotel, end of this year, early next year.
We are coming up with our first product, which is the Leela branded residences opening in Mumbai. The most beautiful hotel that, in my opinion, is going to be in Srinagar, on the Dal Lake, 13 acres of beautiful greenery in a place like Srinagar.
And then of course, we are coming in Agra, less than a kilometer away from the Taj Mahal. And we are in Ayodhya, which is the spiritual capital of India today. And so all these exotic destinations, we are coming up with.
45:17
Picking a Favorite Property
Well, with all of those openings, and with all of the properties that you already have, I need to ask you probably the most difficult question of this interview.
If you had to pick a favorite, which would it be?
It is indeed a most difficult question. So let me just do it in place. So look, if I’m traveling for work, and actually in my own hotels, even if I think that I travel for leisure, it ends up being work.
Let me erase that. I’m always traveling for work, even though I sometimes tell my GMs, look, I’m not coming for work. They assume I’m going for work, and unfortunately, I also can’t help not being.
It’s the calling.
We said it earlier.
The calling is the calling.
So maybe in city hotels, if I was to rank them, I would say the Leela Palace, Bangalore, followed by Leela Palace, Delhi, because they have an amazing, they get it and they are just right for like a, if I have a day meeting and all that, they have
refined the experience to a very fine art. Of course, look, I am slightly privileged in that sense because I happen to work for the brand. But I tell you, because they’re very sophisticated in terms of what they offer.
But I would say my latest calling, in that sense, my favorite is the, and only because probably it’s the newest baby, is the property in Kurg.
Because we just acquired this beautiful resort, new build, it’s all villas, has got a seven acres lake, has got a waterfall, a coffee plantation, 75 or 80 acres of that. So it will be the Leela Kurg Forest Century.
Very, very nice.
So that really takes you, and you actually allow stillness to find you. It’s quite luxury. It’s almost an all-inclusive, seamless experience.
It’s almost like being on a cruise.
And almost 70% of our guests, they opt for this all-inclusive experience, frictionless service, where right from your, when you leave your house in Bangalore or Mysore or anywhere else, or from the airport, every aspect of your experience is taken
care of. So it’s my, and I feel that since it’s a youngest addition to the Leela family, it requires more attention, more tender care from us to ensure that it’s like, and it’s already has started off very well.
And definitely if you’re in India next time, I’d like to invite you to visit the property and then you can figure out why it’s my current favorite.
Yeah, you had me at coffee plantation and then you used the word stillness. And as a mom of two young kids, that sounds very, very nice and very appealing.
48:05
Best and Worst Experiences
Anuraag, I want to ask you the last three questions that I ask every guest. And the first is, what was the best hospitality experience that you have ever had?
Oh, wow. Okay, best, I can only talk about recency. I mean, I’ve been in many of these because there’s so many great hospitality experiences across the globe.
Recently, I was on a cruise. And I can tell you, and this was the second time I’ve been on a cruise, but this particular one, they aced it.
When you talk about anticipatory service and execution excellence, they aced it, and the smiles on people’s faces, the spontaneity of the reactions, nothing was staged.
Even if it was staged, it was so seamlessly staged, it looked like a well-orchestrated orchestra. I was very impressed.
And because this is something that is playing on our mind, that in our hospitality world, in the luxury world, we still have those points of friction. We really need to get rid of them, especially at the ultra-luxury end, and we need to do that.
So that’s left an impact on me, and I keep talking about it to many of my teammates, how great they were. So yeah, that’s been one of my most recent favorite experiences.
That’s going to just prompt a quick side question. Would we ever see the Leela brand expand into cruising?
Not at the moment, but never say never. Right now, there’s so much going on. We have so much more exotic work to do in India and outside, but maybe sometime, but nothing at the moment right now.
All right.
Well, on the opposite side of that amazing cruise experience, what was the worst hospitality experience you’ve ever had?
I’ve got some funny ones and fun ones, mostly in this restaurant space, I would say. Restaurants and even some amazing hotels and stand-alone restaurants where they would rattle off the menu, and you can’t really make a choice.
Then even after you deliberate on the choice for like maybe 11 minutes, after they keep selling you everything, and then they get it wrong. Then they get it wrong. It is far more frequent.
They get the drinks wrong, and especially if you are on a table of four or five people. I can kind of laugh about it, but it also depends when you rush for time and people don’t get.
Hotels, of course, some hotels I feel can get so transactional and clinical, and people don’t look up, there’s no eye contact, there’s no smile. It’s like they’re always looking into the screens.
There are some hotels that I walk in, and people are always on the mobile phone. God knows who they’re talking to, but they always seem to be on a mobile phone.
In front of the guest, and the phones ring loud, so seeing some things that which are like a bit, I’m too old now, some of these things, they become like peeves for me, you know, red flags. These are some of the things.
And I can remind you, that all these stuff which I spoke to you about were not in non-descript. These are all reputed brands and all that. And of course, I have shared my feedback and trust with my colleagues and my peers.
And of course, I look at my own hotels, with more of an, I would say, penetrative eye. And I hope we are not missing the Leela. Because these small things make such a big difference.
Luxury doesn’t scream. Luxury has to whisper. So, loud voices, loud phones, people talking to each other, pointing to a direction, not escorting the guest to the destination.
These small things are very big things.
Yeah.
51:46
What Hospitality Means
Final question for you. What does hospitality mean to you? And is there anyone, it could be a person in your life, a brand that you think has truly mastered it?
Oh, I’m thinking that how much time do I have to answer this question?
The hospitality for me has literally means my life to me. Because this is all I have done. This is all I have studied and more than studied, this is all I have practiced.
I have not known any other job or vocation or anything else. It was a calling 30 years back and it has remained such. I have enjoyed every day of my career and every experience and everything that I have lived and learned.
It’s brought me to in touch with so many amazing people, so many perspectives, it’s given access, it’s given credibility, it’s given privileges, and of course, brought in an element of gratefulness and gratitude to have been able to experience all of
this. Hospitality means the world. My wife is also from hospitality and my son has grown up in hotels, so hospitality and everything that I know about the business means the world to me. It’s my answer of hospitality.
Some of the brands I think who have aced it and have a lot of respect and they’re quite a few, but I think the brand I really look up to is the Amman, the way they get it.
Again, quite luxury, limited marketing, extremely specific about how they do service, they focus on culture, that’s amazing. Capella, of late, what they have been doing for the last few years, Four Seasons in a Row, one of the world’s finest brands.
Again, very similar to what we are trying to do at The Leela, giving up brand of hotels, so I resonate a lot with them.
Of course, I’ve experienced certain brands, and our memories with some of the finest hotels during when I was training, when I was doing.
Incidentally, when you mentioned the Meridian conversion, I was a part of the Global GM Hospitality Board when Eva Ziegler was there, if you remember. I was representing India at that point in time.
I was a rookie GM in my first job when we were asked to be a part of this advisory board, and I was in a room full of all these big daddies of hospitality, very senior veteran GMs who beat their dad that.
So I have some great fond memories from that experience. But yeah, these are some of the brands that I really look up to.
Yeah, what a beautiful way to end, Anuraag. Thank you so much for your time today.
Thank you, Katie. It’s been really nice talking to you and looking forward to welcome you to Coorg. And I remember the coffee plantation and the stillness.
Let the stillness find you.
Yes, absolutely. I’m sold. All right, everyone, it’s time for today’s Suite Summary, where I break down the key insights and actionable takeaways from today’s conversation.
54:42
Suite Summary
When I asked Anuraag about beginning of his career, he said something that stuck with me. I walked in like a student. And while he probably meant that quite literally, it also felt like a through line of his career.
True luxury, he said, isn’t transactional. It’s not about following a checklist or perfecting a process. It’s about creating a genuine human connection.
But how do we build a genuine connection with someone? Well, we pay attention to them. We connect the dots.
We see them, their day, their family, their journey, holistically. In short, we study them. And no, not in a creepy way.
Because only after we’ve paid attention, can we truly remove the friction. If the hotel Anuraag was staying at for that business trip had noticed that they were arriving at 9 a.m.
only to leave again at 10 30 a.m., they would have known that standing in a check-in line to hand over an ID and a credit card would be far more disruptive to them than it would be for someone who was staying several nights.
Context changes everything. So Anuraag’s team pays attention. They noticed that guests leaving by car from one of their properties will probably get hungry along the way.
So they provide a snack box. That a four or five hour drive likely means they’ll need a restroom. So they built a rest stop exclusive for Leela guests.
Then they go one step further, having a member of the team reach out simply to make sure they made it home okay. Who else does that in our lives? Maybe our parents and only if we’re lucky.
So by doing that, by showing that level of care after a guest has checked out, after they’ve already paid, it’s memorable. Bear with me on a quick tangent. When my dog of 10 years passed away, I was devastated.
In the middle of my grief, I emailed two companies. The first was a retailer where I’d bought him a Christmas bandana that I sadly wasn’t going to need anymore.
I asked if I could return it and received a cold response quoting the company’s no return policy. The second email was to cancel his recurring food delivery.
They replied with a heartfelt note, expressing their condolences, refunded my most recent shipment without me asking, canceled my subscription, and a few days later, sent me a handwritten sympathy card referencing both me and my dog by name.
One company lost my business forever. One gained my loyalty for life. This is exactly what I heard in my conversation with Anuraag.
The experiences we remember, the brands we’ll happily pay more for, the ones we proactively and enthusiastically recommend to others, are the ones that make us feel seen as people, not make us feel like we’re a transaction.
That concludes another episode of Suite Success. If you enjoyed today’s conversation, please subscribe, rate, and review the show. We all know how important those five-star reviews are.
I also want to say a massive thank you to each and every one of you for tuning in. It means the absolute world to me. I’d love to hear from you.
If you have ideas for future guests, new topics to cover, or even just want to say hi, don’t be shy. Message me through our website, suitesuccesspodcast.com, or on social media, at suitesuccesspodcast.com. That’s sweet like Hotel Suite.
Once again, I’m your host Katie Cline, and I’m super excited to see you all next week.
Katie Cline
Tags: hospitality, hotels, katie cline, leela hotels, marriott, skift podcast, starwood