Manav Thadani

Serial entrepreneur trusted advisor and a passionate hotelier — that is how the LinkedIn profile of Manav Thadani reads. Thadani set up Hotelivate two years ago; he is also the co-founder of SAMHI. He terms his entrepreneurial journey, particularly in the field of consultancy, as an exciting one. Hotelivate was conceptualised as a full-service hospitality consulting service provider that would go beyond just feasibilities and valuations. “We wanted to explore new markets, new services and customise our offering for our newage customer. Our goal was to be the ‘go-to’ advisors of our clients at every step of the way during their hospitality lifecycle.”

Over the past two decades, he has led, managed/ performed numerous feasibility studies, economic valuations and market studies for diverse hospitality assets and conducted several operator search and management contract negotiations, representing the owners. As co-founder of SAMHI, Thadani forayed into the world of hotel ownership on behalf of foreign institutional capital a few years ago.

But the venture he is most excited about is Hotelivate. “We have become much more social-media-savvy. We also tweaked and, hopefully, improved HICSA and HOSI as our platforms. We have launched our Hotelivate Revenue Management Services and believe this will be a large part of our business going forward. Another
area of focus has been our investment advisory services.

The strategic advisory business has been focussing on operator search and brand contract negotiations as well as brand valuations with far more zeal.” Hotelivate is expanding its footprint internationally with its office in Jakarta, after Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore. 

To be a great manager you also need to be a great leader, believes Thadani. Though no stranger to success, he considers himself to be a life-long learner. “I read and keep an open mind when it comes to the changes happening around me. The best advice I can offer is to surround yourself with good and smart people.”