A personal experience of fragmented service in the luxury villa segment led Ritwik Khare, Founder and CEO, ELIVAAS, to build a platform focused on trust, consistency and scale. In this interaction, he reflects on the brand’s evolution and the broader shifts driving demand in India’s villa hospitality market.
What inspired you to enter the luxury villa rental space, and what gap did you identify in the market?
My journey began with my own experience as both a traveller and a second-home owner. While I had invested in a villa with the expectation of using it as a personal retreat as well as a rental asset, I found a clear lack of professional operators who could manage monetisation, maintenance, and guest experience effectively.
From a traveller’s perspective, I also felt there was no offering that combined the privacy of a villa with the service standards of a hotel. That gap became the foundation for ELIVAAS. I realised India already had exceptional homes in prime destinations, but the experience was inconsistent, with a lack of trust and professional management in the villa rental space. At the same time, India has over a million second homes and many more under development, showing that the opportunity lies not in supply creation but in bringing consistency, trust, and professionally managed experiences to a growing market.
At ELIVAAS, we set out to combine private luxury villas with hospitality-level service and professional asset management. From day one, the vision was to offer guests an exclusive space with a seamless, reliable experience. For homeowners, we act as a full-service partner managing operations, maintenance, service standards, positioning, and revenue optimisation.
ELIVAAS has scaled to over 600 villas. How do you ensure consistency across locations?
Scaling while maintaining consistency comes down to strong processes and disciplined execution. We are highly selective about the properties we onboard, evaluating not just aesthetics but also operational readiness and the ability to deliver a consistent guest experience.
Once onboarded, we implement structured SOPs across housekeeping, maintenance and guest services, supported by regional oversight teams.
Technology plays a central role. Our platform integrates homeowner systems with on-ground staff applications, ensuring real-time coordination and transparency. At the same time, we respect that every villa is unique, and we do not try to make them identical. What we standardise is the service mindset, being responsive, detail-oriented, and ensuring every guest feels cared for, no matter which ELIVAAS villa they choose.
What shifts are you seeing in Indian traveller behaviour driving demand for villas?
Domestic travel has seen a significant shift. What was once one or two annual trips has evolved into multiple, experience-driven journeys throughout the year, ranging from family getaways and celebrations to wellness retreats and spontaneous road trips. This shift is driven by a growing preference for privacy, curated experiences, and a deeper appreciation for unique homes and architecture. Many travellers today are choosing high-quality domestic experiences over international travel, spending more on a single well-planned trip within India focused on comfort, personalisation, and exclusivity.
Privacy is a major factor. Villas allow families and groups to stay together in a more personal and relaxed environment, which is often not possible in traditional hotel settings.
Planning windows have shortened, with people making quicker travel decisions. Another key shift is the rise of experience-driven travel, where travellers seek wellness retreats, adventure getaways, and curated stays beyond accommodation. Villas naturally support these experiences, from private yoga retreats to celebrations and immersive nature escapes.
Road trips are also gaining popularity. With rising flight costs, travellers are exploring destinations closer to cities, benefiting markets like Goa, Alibaug, Lonavala, and several hill stations across India.
What challenges do you face while onboarding homeowners, and how do you build trust?
Every homeowner and every property is different, so onboarding is never a one-size-fits-all process. One of the biggest challenges is finding homes that meet our standards. At ELIVAAS, our aim is to deliver a five-star stay experience, which means the property must offer the right amenities, layout, and guest readiness from the start. Not every beautiful home is suitable for hospitality. We carefully evaluate whether a villa can support the level of service, comfort, and experience our guests expect. Finding homes that align with these standards takes time, but it is essential to ensuring consistency and maintaining the quality of the ELIVAAS experience.
Through our three-brand structure: ELIVAAS, Alaya Stays by ELIVAAS, and ELIVAAS Prive, we cater to a wide spectrum of high-quality homes. This allows us to work closely with homeowners and provide full-stack support, helping refine the property, enhance the experience, and make each home launch-ready while maintaining clear positioning across luxury tiers.
Trust is equally important. These are high-value assets, and owners want clarity on performance. We ensure they receive regular updates on bookings, revenue, and guest feedback. Over time, this approach has helped us build strong relationships, with many new properties now coming through referrals.
How does technology support both homeowners and guests across the journey?
Technology is central to how we scale ELIVAAS while maintaining consistency and service quality. For homeowners, AI and integrated systems power the entire lifecycle, from guest discovery and booking to pricing, demand mapping, and post-stay insights. This enables better revenue management, improved occupancy planning, and complete visibility into property performance and operations, helping owners manage and monetise their homes more efficiently.
For guests, technology creates a seamless and intuitive experience. AI-led search and conversational tools help them discover the right villa faster, while personalised recommendations make the booking journey smoother. Once the stay begins, our unified platform connects all touchpoints: concierge support, guest preferences, housekeeping, maintenance, and service requests, into one system. This ensures real-time coordination across on-ground teams, adherence to SOPs, and timely service delivery.
We also continuously capture guest feedback and operational insights across properties, helping us refine processes, strengthen service standards, and improve the overall experience across the ELIVAAS portfolio.
What will define ELIVAAS’ next phase of growth?
Our focus is not just on expanding inventory but on deepening the experience layer. We aim to make every stay more personalised and effortless, whether for leisure or business travel.
Alongside curated celebrations, wellness retreats, and special occasions, we are also launching business stays in key cities, catering to the growing demand for private, well-managed accommodations for corporate travellers, leadership off-sites, and extended work trips. We will continue expanding into new destinations while strengthening existing markets. For us, growth is not just about adding supply but about improving consistency, service standards, and the overall guest experience across our portfolio.
The larger vision is to build ELIVAAS into a complete luxury hospitality brand, known not only for premium villas but also for the quality, reliability, and experience across every stay. In the long term, we also see potential to expand beyond India, taking this model to international markets. At the core, our focus remains unchanged: giving people private, well-managed, and truly memorable stay experiences.
