Masters of Luxury on Redefining Travel and Hospitality

By Prasad Ramamurthy at Robb Report

From heritage hoteliers to experience-led entrepreneurs, Masters of Luxury spotlights the names shaping the future of luxury travel and hospitality.

From left: Jamshyd Sethna says that basing his business decisions on gut instinct has held him in good stead; At Shakti Himalaya, Sethna crafts journeys for the luxury traveller, including meals prepared by a private chef.

“Trust your own judgement.” Jamshyd Sethna says that’s been his mantra since 1996, when he founded his legendary travel company Banyan Tours to create tailor-made luxury itineraries around India for international visitors. “The advice came from my father when I was just starting in the trade and every decision we’ve taken in both our companies has been made based not on some business plan, but on gut instinct.” Even Shakti Himalaya, founded in 2006 and offering luxury homestays, walking tours, and other cultural activities in Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Ladakh, was born out of a personal prompt. “I wanted Banyan’s clients to experience the Himalayas as I have, but in as comfortable a way as possible.”

Sethna took over village homes and upscaled them to a point where they allowed affluent foreigners to experience remote parts of India in luxury. He trained and employed locals and put in environmentally sensible technology, including solar power, water conservation, and waste management. Today, according to data provided by Shakti Himalaya, 45 cents of every tourist dollar is invested back in the communities Shakti operates in.

On the tours side of the business, Sethna says that the key to success has been having boots on the ground and being able to personalise experiences for each customer. “No true luxury traveller wants a cookie-cutter experience,” he declares. Sethna’s career has allowed him a vantage point from which to view the evolution of luxury travel in India. Or, as he puts it, from “the time when Biki [Prithviraj Singh] Oberoi set the ball rolling [for luxury hospitality] with his Vilas properties [in the 1990s].” Increasingly, he finds that the international luxury travel market is “heading towards smaller spaces that excel with cuisine, unobtrusive service, and thoughtful design that puts itself in a traveller’s shoes.”

And what’s his gut telling him about the future of his own companies? “I’m tired of investing my own money,” he says, only halfjokingly. “We are opening up discussions with potential investors and looking at locations for Shakti properties that are more in line with the destinations that Banyan Tours operates in.”