The Lodhi, New Delhi
Good to great: how The Lodhi grew revenue 3.5 times and RevPAR five times between 2016 and 2020.
Read →A STORIED HOUSE, REBUILT · 2020–2023
The Claridges, New Delhi
One of India's most storied hospitality brands — taken through the deepest demand destruction in the industry's history, and rebuilt from the ground up.
MANDATE LED BY VIKRAMADITYA SINGH · CHIEF EXECUTIVE, THE CLARIDGES & THE CLARIDGES COLLECTION
3 yrs
AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE — EVERY COMMERCIAL METRIC REBUILT FROM THE GROUND UP
5
NEW F&B CONCEPTS LAUNCHED — ERAWAAN, PICKWICK 2.0, JADE 2.0, AURA 2.0, LUTYENS DELI
₹1,000 cr
THE CLARIDGES REDEVELOPMENT MASTER PLAN — AUTHORED END TO END
400
KEYS ENVISIONED, MIXED USE, ALIGNED WITH THE CENTRAL VISTA REDEVELOPMENT
I · THE MANDATE
Invited in the industry's darkest winter.
In December 2020 — with the industry nine months into COVID-19's demand destruction — the ownership of The Claridges invited a new Chief Executive to run the house and its Collection. The brief was not survival; it was renewal: rebuild the commercial engine, re-author the guest-facing product, and write the next chapter of one of New Delhi's most storied addresses.
The preceding appointment — General Manager of The Leela Palace Udaipur, the world's highest-ranked hotel (Travel + Leisure, 2019), taken three weeks before the shutdown — had already proven the method under those conditions: hold the property intact, and write the repositioning thesis while the market sleeps.
II · THE WORK
Rebuild, re-author, reimagine.
The commercial engine
Every commercial metric rebuilt from the ground up through the recovery — rate, mix, distribution and the operating cadence to hold them, on the same discipline codified at The Lodhi.
Food & beverage
A full new portfolio launched — ERAWAAN, Pickwick 2.0, Jade 2.0, Aura 2.0 and the Lutyens Deli — each authored from concept and brand through kitchen, menu and financial model.
Wellness
Wellness rebuilt as a destination layer — Sumaya at The Claridges, in partnership with Sumaya Dalmia's homegrown wellness brand, and the water-led, holistic Cinqtuair Spa: Salus Per Aquam.
The Master Plan
The Claridges Redevelopment Master Plan — a ₹1,000 crore vision for the next iconic luxury hotel of New Delhi. Four hundred keys, mixed use; a 12,000 square-foot spa and wellness platform around an Ayurveda-led Immortality Spa; six signature restaurants and bars; a rooftop pool over 360-degree heritage views; aligned with the Central Vista Redevelopment Project and secured to host Heads of State.
III · THE OUTCOME
A house with its next chapter written.
The Claridges emerged from the pandemic with its commercial metrics rebuilt, a new generation of F&B and wellness concepts trading, and — most durably — a board-ready master plan for its redevelopment: the document by which ownership can now judge every capital decision for a decade.
The lesson Excelsior carries from the mandate: a storied brand is an asset only when its next chapter is written down — costed, sequenced, and aligned to the city growing around it.
“When stewardship is honest, the numbers follow.”