Most hoteliers at the peak of their careers don’t walk away. Kapil Chopra did. In 2018, after five years as president of Oberoi Hotels and Resorts – a tenure that saw the group claim World’s Leading Luxury Hotel Brand – Chopra resigned at 40 to launch The Postcard Hotel. The gamble: intimate boutique properties that eliminated buffets, ditched set check-in times and charged triple the industry’s standard management fees. Six years later, the brand secured twin honours at the December 2024 World Travel Awards: World’s Leading Emerging Boutique Hotel Brand and World’s Leading Boutique Beach Hotel. Assets under management have surged from Rs 1,563 crore to Rs 2,672 crore in 2024 alone, according to Business India’s May 2025 reporting.
The departure raised eyebrows across India’s hospitality establishment. Chopra’s credentials were impeccable: two decades at Oberoi, rising from management trainee in 1994 to the presidency by 2013. According to Hospitalitynet’s September 2022 profile, his operational oversight delivered consecutive World’s Leading Luxury Hotel titles for The Oberoi Gurgaon in 2011 and 2012. Yet Chopra told CPP-Luxury he observed a critical market gap – whilst global brands like Six Senses and Aman Resorts were redefining hospitality through authenticity and transformative experiences, Indian luxury hotels remained focused on extravagance often disconnected from local context.
The thesis was tested immediately. In December 2018, The Postcard Hotel launched three properties simultaneously in Goa – an unprecedented move that defied conventional staged rollouts. According to Hotelier India’s November 2021 Power List coverage, the timing proved prescient: whilst most hotel companies globally saw revenues plummet 70 per cent in 2020, The Postcard Hotel’s revenue grew 51 per cent despite four months of closure. Properties filled immediately upon reopening until the second wave hit.
The rule-breaking playbook
The Postcard Hotel’s positioning deliberately breaks hospitality conventions. Properties eliminate set breakfast hours, buffets and welcome drinks, replacing them with anytime check-in, flexible dining and artisanal cocktails tailored to destinations. According to Hotelier India’s November 2024 leadership profile, Chopra describes the brand’s mission as creating “hotel stays that stay with you long after you have checked out”.
The economics underpin the boldness. According to Hotelier India’s December 2024 coverage, Chopra’s brand operates on fee structures three times higher than typical hotel operators. Yet the premium positioning generates returns that justify the rates. The Postcard Hotel achieved a 9.6 guest review score on Booking.com – the platform’s highest globally – according to Business India’s May 2025 reporting.
The physical product reinforces differentiation. Room sizes range from 800 to 1,950 square feet – significantly larger than the industry standard 400 to 500 square feet, per CPP-Luxury’s September 2024 interview. Urban properties under development will feature 800-square-foot suites, nearly double conventional city hotel dimensions. Bathrooms span 250 to 300 square feet with abundant natural light.
Technology infrastructure supports the model. According to Hotelier India’s 2021 coverage, The Postcard Hotel operates the only proprietary property management system amongst luxury hotel companies in India, enabling advanced data management without outsourced systems. Distribution strategy extends beyond traditional channels – sales teams, travel agents, online travel agencies – to reach customers directly through owned platforms.
Expansion mechanics and financial architecture
The Postcard Hotel’s growth employs three distinct structures, according to Investor’s Globe’s January 2024 analysis. The first follows standard management contracts. The second involves acquiring land and building properties through either company capital or partnerships with global real estate investment trusts. The third uses revenue-sharing arrangements with existing hotels where Postcard assumes daily operations.
According to Tracxn’s September 2025 data, the company has raised $2.15 million across four funding rounds since July 2019, with seed investors including VSS Investco, MHO Capital and Durrington Investment. The current valuation stands at $99.1 million. The brand launched with Rs 600 crore in assets under management, per BW Hotelier’s December 2018 coverage.
The expansion pipeline accelerated sharply in 2024. According to Business India’s May 2025 reporting, the brand targets seven new properties in 2025, bringing total count to 18 luxury hotels across South Asia by year-end. Construction has commenced on the first urban property in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, marking strategic expansion beyond the resort-focused portfolio into metropolitan markets including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai.
TravelBiz Monitor’s June 2025 coverage noted the brand’s average daily rate of Rs 33,000 firmly positions it in the high-end segment. The upcoming Ranthambore property – designed by Luxury Frontiers CEO Luca Franco – will feature 1,950-square-foot rooms with private heated pools, opening at Rs 1.95 lakh per night excluding taxes, according to Construction World reporting.
Geographic strategy and destination selection
The brand’s location focus targets five themes: beaches and coastal towns, mountains, tea and coffee estates, wildlife reserves, and acclaimed historic buildings. According to CPP-Luxury’s September interview, the strategy deliberately enters high-risk destinations with untapped potential rather than competing in established luxury markets.
The Postcard on the Arabian Sea exemplifies this approach. Located on Maravanthe Beach – an area previously lacking luxury accommodation despite being widely regarded as one of India’s most stunning coastal locations – the property won World’s Leading Boutique Beach Hotel in both 2023 and 2024 at the World Travel Awards. The success validates Chopra’s thesis about hidden destinations.
Current portfolio spans 11 operational properties across India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka. According to December 2024 press releases, recent additions include The Postcard in the Durrung Tea Estate in Assam – North East India’s only luxury hotel, spread across 1,440 acres near Kaziranga National Park. The Postcard Mandalay Hall in Kochi operates as an art hotel where each room functions as a gallery curated by renowned artists.
Chopra works with world-renowned architectural firms to execute the vision, including Luxury Frontiers globally and Indian architects Tony Joseph, Akshat Bhat, Ashwin Alva, Rahul Kadri and Anutosh Kanoria, according to CPP-Luxury’s September 2024 interview.
Industry recognition and proof points
The December 2024 World Travel Awards represented the brand’s fourth consecutive year of major global recognition. According to World Travel Awards records, The Postcard Hotel secured Asia’s Leading Boutique Hotel Brand in 2022, 2023 and 2024, whilst also claiming World’s Leading Emerging Boutique Hotel Brand in 2023 and 2024. Individual properties garnered separate honours: The Postcard Gir Wildlife Sanctuary received Asia’s Leading Wildlife Resort in 2023.
Industry recognition extended beyond hospitality awards. Chopra received a Hall of Fame Award from Hotelier India in December 2024, acknowledging contributions across hospitality entrepreneurship, technology platforms and healthcare reform. He previously received Hotelier of the Year from Hindustan Times in 2012 and served as Chairman of World Travel and Tourism Council’s India Initiative.
The brand’s leadership team includes co-founders Akanksha Lamba (senior vice president), Anirudh Kandpal and Raman Bansal (CFO), according to Tracxn data. Board members include Brij Raj Singh, Arun Kapur and George William Shehadeh Ibrahim.
Beyond hotels: parallel ventures
Chopra’s entrepreneurial portfolio extends beyond The Postcard Hotel. He serves as chairman of the board for EazyDiner, India’s largest instant restaurant reservations platform. According to Entrepreneur India profiles, the platform powers over 100,000 restaurants across 300 cities, serving three million diners monthly. The company’s Series B funding in 2018 raised over $5.8 million, per Investor’s Globe reporting.
He also mentors Charity Beds, a public health initiative facilitating hospital admissions for economically challenged populations. The work earned him the Hindustan Times Trailblazer Award in 2021, according to Hotelier India coverage. Additional interests include contemporary Indian art collecting and founding The Wall, described as the country’s first e-magazine on art.
Forward trajectory
According to Business India’s May 2025 reporting, Chopra aims to launch one hotel quarterly beyond 2027. The stated ambition: achieving $1 billion in assets under management within three years, which would position The Postcard Hotel as what Chopra describes as “the first and fastest luxury hotel company globally” to reach that milestone from a standing start.
The expansion includes ground-up construction of 20 hotels at various development stages. The Ken’s August 2025 podcast noted Chopra’s observation about market constraints: of the 10 million foreign tourists visiting India annually, roughly one million qualify as luxury travellers. “We’ve kind of made entire Rajasthan and Kerala as two big sectors for one million tourists,” he noted.
The urban expansion represents a calculated diversification. According to TravelBiz Monitor’s June 2025 coverage, city properties will maintain the brand’s signature elements – generous suite sizes, flexible service, local cultural integration – whilst addressing metropolitan demand for privacy and space. The approach suggests Chopra believes his rule-breaking model works regardless of geography.
Whether the aggressive expansion timeline can maintain quality standards, guest satisfaction metrics and financial returns remains the operational test ahead. For now, the trajectory from Oberoi’s corner office to global awards in six years suggests the rules Chopra broke were worth breaking.
