The Leela Palace Udaipur

Reputation ahead of revenue.

In 2019, Travel + Leisure named The Leela Palace Udaipur the best hotel in the world. In the same year its RGI stood at 0.70 — the market's most celebrated palace was earning barely two-thirds of its fair share of revenue. Reputation and performance had come apart, and the gap was structural: an under-utilised spa split across two areas, a two-restaurant F&B programme against the comp set's richer offering, suites sold under commodity names, and a plant carrying deferred maintenance.

Then COVID-19 emptied the palace — and made the diagnosis possible. The stillness was used for a full audit of the asset: fire-life-safety, electro-mechanical, lifts, STP, licences, ergonomics. The findings were tabled without cosmetics: 95 of 246 FLS points non-compliant, 42 of 211 electro-mechanical, the pool unheated, storage blocking fire exits. A thesis that begins by counting its own faults can be believed when it counts its opportunities.

The audit, tabled without cosmetics.

The response was cadence, not panic: gaps closed on a war footing; a daily FLS tracking group on tanks, pumps, exits, alarms and PA systems — with photographs; a work-permit system for hot work and work at heights; new post-COVID hygiene SOPs and a re-opening critical path; and the property's regularisation — OC and CC — moved to the top of the file, overseen by the GM personally. Safety and compliance were placed at the core of the business before a rupee was asked for the guest experience.

The Haveli Spa Complex

The spa, split across two areas with doubled resources, consolidated into the ready-and-licensed Haveli as a destination spa with spa dining, detox programmes with a renowned nutritionist, and day packages for local HNIs. Cost: a few air-conditioners.

Three Pool-Villa Suites on the Lake

The vacated spa tents — two directly on Lake Pichola — retrofitted within their own footprint into the most sought-after suites in Udaipur. ₹35–40 lakh per unit, at least two guaranteed incremental rooms per day, keys re-listed 80 to 83. Suites should not go empty.

The Haveli Terrace Restobar

The missing third dining option — a high-energy, open-air, Lake Como-inspired restobar on the existing Haveli roof, kitchen shell already in place. Sundowners over the old city, non-resident business consolidated, spa cuisine produced alongside.

From ₹12,700 to ₹20,000 per occupied room.

F&B spend per occupied room had been flat for three years. The plan: grow the capture ratio from 6.5 to 8 covers, and give guests reasons to spend — venue by venue.

One department around the guest.

Front office, butlers, concierge, in-room dining and operators combined into a single Aide-de-Camp service — the differentiator no comp-set property could copy.

Efficiency as quiet capital.

Solar power purchase at ₹2 per unit saved — ₹60 lakh a year off the energy bill. Chillers replaced with VFD-equipped efficient units, the hot-water generator moved to heat pumps, the STP rebuilt, gas detection interlocked with the fire alarm, and the pool heat pump restored for the winter season the palace lives on.

And the lake itself protected: the leaking gym-lawn sewage tank rebuilt, and the boat fleet moved toward solar and electric — larger, safer, cleaner. A palace on Lake Pichola holds its licence to operate from the lake first.

Conceived in full, implemented in part.

The PIP was implemented in parts before the mandate at The Claridges called in December 2020; the thesis stands on the record as written — targets, audits, projects, paybacks and all. That candour is deliberate: a strategy is not less true for being handed on, and an owner deserves to know which value remains on the table.

What the mandate proved is now Excelsior doctrine. The hold period is never dead time; a closed hotel is an open drawing board. Audit before you ask. Build from what the asset already owns. Price on value, never on cost. And write the plan so precisely that whoever inherits it cannot help but see the same palace you saw.