The Future of Indian Hospitality
Yash Malhotra

Words Vidula Kotian

Set in the rolling wine country near Pune, Hotel Irada is the first expression of a new boutique hospitality brand that blends art, design, wellness, and food into a single, living experience.

At its helm is founder Yash Malhotra, whose path runs from a childhood spent in his family’s restaurant in Kanpur to Cornell University and the creative corridors of New York, where exposure to independent hotels and cross-disciplinary design shaped a clear point of view on what modern hospitality could be.

With Irada, Yash returns to India with a singular ambition: to create places that don’t just host guests, but gather people, ideas, and culture in one frame. Built on a historic winery estate, the property becomes both canvas and character—layered with detail, intention, and a strong sense of authorship, yet deeply collaborative in its making.

In this conversation, he reflects on building a hotel brand from the ground up, the evolution of Indian hospitality, and the quiet power of detail in shaping memory.

You launched Hotel Irada and opened its flagship at just 30. What drew you to hospitality, and how did your journey lead you to create your own brand?

In some ways, the flagship opened five years too late (just kidding). I moved back to India in late 2019 knowing I wanted to build it from day one.

Hospitality was always around me. I grew up in my family’s restaurant—the buzz, the chaos, the constant movement. From a young age, I was already dreaming of hotels. In grade 3 or 4, I remember drawing one beside the Eiffel Tower, calling it “Tycoon” after our restaurant in Kanpur.

Over time, that fascination evolved into something deeper. I began to understand how powerful a hotel can be. My time in New York was pivotal—it exposed me to independent hotels, creative businesses, and the cross-pollination between them. I was seeing that energy globally, and it felt like India hadn’t quite turned that page yet. Irada came from that shift.

In your early interviews you spoke about a true Indian hotel brand being overdue. How does Hotel Irada reflect your idea of an authentic, creative Indian hospitality expression?

India has seen a creative renaissance across food, art, media, and fashion—but hotels, in my view, haven’t fully caught up. We have some incredible properties, but many still look backward, celebrating what India was rather than what it has become.

Irada is an attempt to shift that. The idea was to bring together some of the most exciting voices across wellness, art, design, and food, and give them a platform to express themselves freely.

It’s not an inward-looking brand, but one shaped by the people and collaborators behind it—and that openness is what makes it feel like a more authentic, contemporary expression of the country today.

What was the moment you knew this site was the right starting point for Irada?

The first time you encounter the estate, it feels like its own world—expansive, self-contained, and quietly ambitious.

Irada carries a similar ambition. It has a strong point of view and a certain presence—something that doesn’t ask for attention but naturally holds it. The estate had that quality from the start; it was always built to impress, the kind of place your eyes linger on. That kind of character is rare in India, which is why it felt like the right place for it to begin.

Any favorite design details or stories from the process that you’re particularly proud of?

The barley-twisted oak columns at the bar. They look effortless now, but took a small village to bring to life.

Irada’s programming includes wellness, vineyard tours, forest walks, and more—how do you see the relationship between nature, wellbeing, and hospitality evolving at Irada?

For us, it all comes down to attention to detail. It’s the note waiting for you before a treatment at Nyasa, the playful scorecard before a game of padel, or the little bathrobes and Irada coloring books for children as they check in.

These are the things that make an experience linger. For us, it’s less about adding more, and more about refining the details that make each moment truly memorable.

If you could invite three people — living or dead — to dinner, who would they be and why?

My grandfather, Steve Jobs, and Howard Roark (from The Fountainhead, if fictional characters are allowed). To understand my roots, to learn how uncompromising clarity and taste can shape the world, and to explore that fine line where conviction borders on madness.

What would you cook for that dinner—and what wine from your estate would you pair it with?

There would be pasta or butter chicken. Pinot Blanc (not from our estate) is an untraditional favorite.

When you travel for pleasure, what kind of destination do you gravitate toward—wine country, urban culture, mountains, or beaches?

This one is easy—whichever has the most interesting hotel.

What’s one travel ritual you never skip when you’re on the road?

I’m always searching for details. Whenever I travel, I’m drawn to the small, often overlooked things—peeling plaster on an old wall, or a discarded chair outside a government building that somehow feels back in fashion. Those quiet, accidental moments stay with me far longer than the obvious highlights.

If you weren’t a hotelier, what would you see yourself doing instead?

I would be an architect. I get moved by buildings as much as people.

When and where were you happiest?

The little moments with family, my fiancée, close friends, or on a clay tennis court.

What is your most marked characteristic?

Decisiveness—quick to be right or wrong.