Samar Vijay Singh, Director, Hotel Udai Kothi recently joined NewsX for a special conversation as part of NewsX India A-List. Recognised for excellence in the hospitality industry, Udai Kothi is a stunningly modern hotel with all of the amenities and luxuries that a 21st-century traveller might dream of. Though Udai Kothi is modern at heart, the concept has gone to great lengths to provide all of the architectural and decorative features that make living in Udaipur so enjoyable.
Samar spoke about the concept behind the Udai Kothi and said, “So it’s an old property and the land was given to my great grandfather, but it was from 1928. So that time, it was all in ruins, nothing was there. So my father shifted to Udaipur from Chittorgarh in 2000. When he came over with an idea that we should start a boutique hotel, so he made everything from a scratch”.
When asked about the USP which made Udai Kothi different from others, Samar said, “ I think Udai Kothi offers a very futuristic view of all the major attractions, for example, city Palace, Lake palace, Sajangarh even Bagore ki haveli. You can see all from the rooftops and especially Udai Kothi’s main USP was rooftop swimming pools. So we were the first one to start the rooftop swimming pool concept in Udaipur, so that was the main USP. We got featured on in Conde Nast and the New York Times”.
Speaking about the Baromasi, which is already gaining a lot of popularity among the youngsters, he describes, “so basically Baromasi means 12 months in Rajasthani. The name Baromasi name was given by my mother. It’s a concept about star signs. We made a bar, and then I and my dad had a crazy idea that we could make a see-through glass floor with a pool. So that’s how it became a nice good selling point. It’s the only place which is open till around 2 am, the only pub in Udaipur city that is open till this late. So, that is the reason we see a huge footfall of the youngsters.”
When asked about his journey in the hospitality industry, he expressed, “Earlier, I was never interested in Hospitality. My family was into politics, so they always wanted me to be inclined towards politics. But my father always had a passion for hospitality. And I’m interested in event management and stuff”.
He added, “2020 has been the toughest year like you see, nobody imagined how it would be, especially for the tourism sector. Udai Kothi was always popular with foreign nationals, especially French clients. So 2020 happened and things drastically changed. Fortunately, we had Baromasi which has the youngsters buzzing about it. Wedding used to happen, but the good thing is Udai Kothi being a 60 room property, we were fortunate enough to have thought of it as a wedding venue or sangeet.”
On a parting note, he talked about his inspirations and said, “I have always been a being big comic book fan. So I think I look up to Batman being my role model. Also, my father, of course, you see, I owe everything to him. I am inspired by the great ruler great Maharana Kumbha. Everyone knows about Maharana Pratap but people don’t know how great Maharana Kumbha was. So I see these three people as my inspirational figures”