Why India's Rich Are Choosing Villas Over Hotels | Ritwik Khare & Karan Miglani, Elivaas

They went from three villas to 600 in just over two years — by betting that India’s next major travel brand would look less like a hotel and more like someone’s dream home.Ritwik Khare and Karan Miglani, co-founders of ELIVAAS, had worked together in travel before building a company at the intersection of hospitality and real estate. They saw a growing market of second-home owners who needed help maintaining, monitoring and monetising their properties — and travellers who wanted the privacy of a villa without sacrificing hotel-level service. ELIVAAS has since grown from three villas to around 600 properties.In this conversation with Rahul, Ritwik and Karan explain why India’s luxury villa market is larger than it appears, how group travel makes premium stays more affordable, and why customers increasingly choose the property before the destination. They also break down the technology and operational systems required to manage scattered homes consistently, the advantage of building dense micro-markets, and their ambition to make ELIVAAS the Marriott of villas and apartments.IN THIS EPISODE00:00 | Teaser00:45 | Introduction: From Airbnb Host to ELIVAAS Founder01:29 | Why Focus on Luxury Villas and Apartments?02:50 | The Genesis: A Personal Problem to Solve04:00 | Market Size and Growth Potential05:40 | Changing Travel Behavior: More Frequent Luxury Getaways07:33 | The 3M Promise: Maintain, Monitor, Monetize08:35 | Customer Personas: Homeowners and Travelers10:52 | ELIVAAS vs. Alaya Stays: Two Brand Segments11:41 | Cross-Sell Services and Enhanced Experiences13:25 | Evolving Consumer Behavior and Sustainability15:18 | Surprising Consumer Insights17:43 | Technology and Operations: The Execution Engine19:34 | The Power of Micro-Markets21:18 | Why Choose ELIVAAS Over Airbnb?22:13 | Competitive Landscape and Early-Mover Advantage22:47 | International Expansion Strategy24:40 | Vision for 2035 and Key Risks About Ritwik KhareRitwik Khare is the Founder and CEO of ELIVAAS, a technology-led luxury villa and apartment management company. His experience as a second-home owner helped shape ELIVAAS’ core promise: to maintain, monitor and monetise properties while delivering a consistent luxury experience for travellers.Ritwik on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritwikk/About Karan MiglaniKaran Miglani is the Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer of ELIVAAS. He leads the company’s technology and product systems across homeowners, travellers and on-ground hospitality teams, helping ELIVAAS manage distributed luxury properties at scale.Karan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karanmiglani/Rahul ThayyalamkandyDirector of Comms & Community, Vertex Ventures SEA & IndiaRahul Thayyalamkandy joined the SEA/India team as the Director of Communication & Community in 2024 and is based in Singapore.Before joining Vertex, Rahul served as a Product Manager at BLOCK71, an incubator and joint venture of NUS Enterprise and Singtel Innov8, where he developed scalable services for portfolio startups and designed mentorship programs. He also gained experience as a Summer Associate at Cocoon Capital, working with the Managing Partner on investment deals.https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulthayyalamkandy/—-Vertex Ventures Southeast Asia & India is a pioneer in investing in tech start-ups in this region and has helped to build a number of unicorns. In this podcast, we seek to share and uncover the Hard Truth - raw, unfiltered insights and venture capital knowledge from across Southeast Asia and India. Tune in to learn from leading founders, innovators, venture capitalists, and industry experts in the region and gain industry insights from those in the know.If you like what you hear, please follow or subscribe to the show so you don’t miss out on any of our upcoming discussions.—Follow us to get notified whenever new episodes are shared.—For more information, please visit: https://www.vertexventures.sg