The advisory gap

Hospitality advisory in the region has historically been delivered in fragments. Consulting firms typically handled feasibility and strategy, while brokerage firms managed transactions. Global real estate platforms maintained hospitality desks, but often lacked the depth of sector knowledge increasingly demanded by owners and investors.

The result was an ecosystem of specialists—excellent within their lanes but rarely positioned to accompany a client across the full arc of an asset’s life, from land acquisition and concept strategy to operator selection, capital structuring, transaction and long-term asset management.
 

It is precisely this gap that Hotelivate was founded to address. Established in 2017 by Manav Thadani, Megha Tuli and Achin Khanna, the firm began with a clear conviction: hospitality advisory in South Asia required a platform built entirely around sector depth, relationships and a genuine understanding of how hotels function both as businesses and as assets.

A strategic coming together

Eight years later, that conviction has been validated in the most tangible way. Savills, one of the world’s leading international property consultants, has acquired a significant stake in Hotelivate, forming Hotelivate-Savills, a scaled institutional hospitality advisory platform with offices across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok, Dubai and Jakarta, and access to Savills’ network spanning more than 70 countries.
 

For Manav Thadani, Founder-Chairman, Hotelivate-Savills, the logic is straightforward. “Savills is a 170-year-old company and one of the world’s largest real estate advisory firms, with a presence across markets where we did not previously have reach. Hotelivate has built leadership in South Asia. The goal is to join hands and service clients not just in India, but across the wider region, bringing together complementary strengths.”
 

The partnership reflects a structural shift in the market itself. As Anurag Mathur, CEO, Savills India, observes, “The industry is becoming more sophisticated. It demands higher-quality advisory across transactions, capital flows an user experience. Clients increasingly require advisors who can operate with depth across multiple dimensions of the asset lifecycle.”

Timing the cycle

The timing is far from incidental. Savills has spent the past decade building its India platform to a scale that makes selective, strategic investment in specialist capabilities both possible and necessary. Hospitality, given the sector’s trajectory across South Asia and the Middle East, was a natural focus. The question was not whether to move, but who to move with.
 

For Mathur, the alignment was clear: “This marks an important step in the evolution of Savills in India. Eight years into our journey, we have reached the scale and organisational maturity to invest selectively in specialist capabilities aligned with where the market is heading. Hotelivate stood out not just for the quality of its advisory work, but for what the firm represents—deep sector expertise, strong relationships and the trust it has built across the industry.”
 

The broader ambition extends beyond India. Martin Fidden, CEO, Asia Pacific (ex Greater China), Savills, describes the move as part of a wider regional strategy: “India remains a key growth market for Savills, and this investment reflects our commitment to expanding both capability and scale on the ground. Hotelivate strengthens our existing hotels and hospitality advisory platform across the region, while its multi-market exposure supports our continued expansion in the sector.”

Bridging real estate and hospitality expertise

Crucially, the collaboration also bridges capability gaps between real estate and hospitality advisory. Transaction expertise, capital advisory and project management capabilities complement Hotelivate’s strength in feasibility, operator search and asset strategy. As Thadani notes, “Savills has a strong edge in transactions across asset classes, while Hotelivate brings sector-specific strategic advisory. Together, the opportunity extends well beyond India into markets where institutional capital is increasingly active.”
 

The platform Hotelivate built
To understand what Hotelivate-Savills represents, it is important to understand what Hotelivate built in the eight years preceding this moment. The firm’s advisory work spans the full hospitality lifecycle—strategy, feasibility, operator selection, asset management, transaction advisory and executive search. Its client base includes some of the region’s most significant owners, developers and institutional investors. But perhaps more than any individual mandate, what defined Hotelivate’s standing was its role as a convener.
 

HICSA, the Hotel Investment Conference South Asia, has become the most influential gathering of hospitality capital in the region. THINC, its counterpart across Dubai, Bali and Sri Lanka, has extended that community across the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Together, these platforms gave Hotelivate something no advisory firm could manufacture: a position at the centre of the industry’s conversation.

Capital becomes more global

This vantage point has also shaped the firm’s perspective on ownership structures and capital participation. As Thadani notes, the investor landscape has expanded significantly in recent years: “We have seen a wave of IPOs in India alongside increasing participation from sovereign wealth funds, family offices and private equity. The market is becoming far more sophisticated, and the coming together of Savills and Hotelivate reflects the professionalism now expected from advisory firms serving institutional capital.”
 

Mathur echoes this sentiment, highlighting the increasingly global nature of capital flows: “Cross-border capital is fluid. It moves wherever opportunity exists. Advisors must be able to operate at the same level of sophistication as the investors they serve. Partnerships such as this allow us to mirror global capital movement with advisory capability that is equally international in perspective.”

For Thadani, scale does not come at the expense of independence. “Hotelivate’s partners and team will continue to operate with the same independence of thought and rigour that clients value. What changes is the breadth of the lifecycle we can support—from branded residences to project management services—through Savills’ complementary capabilities.”

Continuity across the asset lifecycle

One of the defining characteristics of the new platform is its ability to accompany an asset across its entire lifecycle—from land acquisition and feasibility to operator selection, project development, transaction and asset management.
 

Mathur believes this integrated approach delivers tangible value to owners and investors: “Hospitality assets require continuity of vision from concept through delivery. As a combined Hotelivate-Savills platform, we can support clients end-to-end, ensuring alignment between feasibility, design, operator strategy and capital outcomes.”
 

Fidden adds that this continuity strengthens execution: “Relationships often begin at the feasibility stage, where the initial vision for the asset is shaped. Being able to carry that understanding through land acquisition, development, construction and eventual operation allows for a seamless advisory experience that protects the integrity of the original concept.”

Positioned for the next cycle

As real estate and hospitality continue to converge—in capital flows, development strategy and investor expectations—the case for integrated advisory becomes increasingly compelling. The markets Hotelivate-Savills serves are, by any measure, at the beginning of a significant growth cycle. Branded supply is expanding rapidly. Institutional capital is entering the sector in new ways. Ownership structures are becoming more sophisticated.
 

Hotelivate spent eight years building the relationships and sector depth required to participate in this moment. With Savills, it now has the scale to match the opportunity. Hotelivate-Savills operates across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangkok, Dubai and Jakarta.