Location

Born in Delhi, India, Kapil Chopra always thought he’d follow in his father’s footsteps and become a doctor. However, when it came time to take the medical school entrance exams, Chopra couldn’t pass. He therefore committed himself to study hotel management in Delhi instead, and a few years later was running Oberoi Hotels.

Chopra never stopped wanting to improve public health standards in India. This led him to found Charity Beds, an organization that created a technology infrastructure for hospitals to relay information about open beds to India’s poor without delay. This system was vital in the fight against Covid-19, as was Chopra’s inventive use of social media to post Covid updates for his community.

Remarkable Investments

In 2018, when Chopra started his own chain of hotels, The Postcard Hotels and Resorts, he set out with a vision to disrupt the luxury hotel industry. He famously takes issue with set check-in times, subpar standards, and cheap tourist experiences. To combat these antiquated institutions, Chopra has created what he calls “transformative hotels,” which seek to combine privacy, luxury, and local excursions into one memorable experience.

The brand operates a number of hotels within India and has begun expanding internationally into Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Even though Chopra’s hotels run at almost a 50% markup to many competitors, the properties have continued to turn a profit. Despite the four-month shutdown for Covid-19, in 2020 the company was able to achieve a 51% growth in revenue over pre-pandemic numbers.

One of the factors behind this success is Chopra’s strategy to have the Postcard Hotels and Resorts operate three different business models.

The first is a standard management model where the company operates the hotel for an owner. The second business model allows Postcard to buy plots of land and build their own properties, either by investing their own capital or working with a global real estate investment trust. The third model is a revenue-sharing plan with existing hotels where Postcard takes over daily operations.

Kapil Chopra in the News

The Hindustan Times published an article in early 2021 in which Kapil Chopra was given The Hindustan Times Trailblazer Award for 2021. In this article, Chopra discusses his ongoing efforts to improve standards of health in India. In June of 2019, Chopra sat with a reporter from Forbes India to talk about The Postcard Hotels early success. Chopra also explains what he feels is paramount in the luxury hotel service sector and why he feels that his company will be able to disrupt the hotel space.