Jai Sreedhar : Crafting The New Language Of Luxury Through Experiential Escapes
Jai Sreedhar
Joint Managing Director & CEO
Jai Sreedhar, Joint Managing Director and CEO of Rosetta Hospitality, brings over two decades of rich experience in luxury hospitality. Born and raised in Hyderabad, he pursued hotel management before earning post-graduate qualification from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Jai began his career with The Leela Group, where he rose through the ranks, from a management trainee at the Leela Academy of Excellence to leading their national and global leisure sales. After a successful 15-year tenure with Leela and a brief stint in Doha, he returned to India to co-found Rosetta Hospitality alongside Errol Fernandes. Their flagship project, Rosetta Sakleshpur, is a 120-acre luxury resort with 126 keys, built from the ground up with an investment of over ₹160 crores.
In a recent interaction with CEO Insights, Jai shared more insights on Rosetta Hospitality, his career, and many other interesting aspects. Below are a few key excerpts from the exclusive interview.
How do you see technology shaping guest experiences and enhancing operational efficiency in the future?
Over the past 15 years in luxury hospitality, I have witnessed technology transform how we connect with and serve our guests through personalization and building meaningful relationships. For instance, if a guest prefers their pasta a certain way in one property, that preference can be recorded and replicated across our entire portfolio, making every stayfeel uniquely tailored.
However, the real game-changer has been the ability to engage with guests before, during, and after their stay . Digital platforms now allow us to listen, respond, and adapt in real-time. This shift has made hospitality more responsive and human, ironically through technology.
Moving forward, I believe tech will continue to elevate service standards, enabling seamless, personalized, and emotionally intelligent guest experiences while driving backend efficiency like never before.
What are your thoughts on the growing importance of sustainability and social responsibility in hospitality?
While we are actively working towards becoming carbon neutral and securing IGBC certification, our approach at Rosetta Hospitality has always been rooted in aligning luxury with local ecology.
For example, in Sakleshpur, much of the produce including fruits, vegetables, and spices, is grown within the resort itself. We have invested in rainwater harvesting systems and aquifers to ensure water sustainability.
Whether it's our aquaponic greenhouses, reed bed sewage treatment systems, or eliminating single-use plastic, every step has the intention to preserve the essence of a place for the next 10 to 20 years.
We even bottle and treat our water on-site using UV filtration, served in reusable glass. This same philosophy is now being extended to our Goa property and upcoming resorts.
What are the quality control measures adopted in your organization to deliver the best quality and exceptional service across the industry?
We used the downtime during COVID to fine-tune our training processes, ensuring that every team member, across all properties, is empowered to deliver exceptional service. We believe that quality isn’t dictated from the top but brought to life on the shop floor through a culture of ownership and empowered action.
Every associate, regardless of role or designation, is trusted to make real-time decisions in the guest’s best interest. If a guest doesn’t like their orange juice, the person serving, or even a passing associate, is empowered to fix it on the spot.
Moving forward, I believe tech will continue to elevate service standards, enabling seamless, personalized, and emotionally intelligent guest experiences while driving backend efficiency like never before.
What are your thoughts on the growing importance of sustainability and social responsibility in hospitality?
While we are actively working towards becoming carbon neutral and securing IGBC certification, our approach at Rosetta Hospitality has always been rooted in aligning luxury with local ecology.
For example, in Sakleshpur, much of the produce including fruits, vegetables, and spices, is grown within the resort itself. We have invested in rainwater harvesting systems and aquifers to ensure water sustainability.
We believe that quality isn’t dictated from the top but brought to life on the shop floor through a culture of ownership and empowered action
Whether it's our aquaponic greenhouses, reed bed sewage treatment systems, or eliminating single-use plastic, every step has the intention to preserve the essence of a place for the next 10 to 20 years.
We even bottle and treat our water on-site using UV filtration, served in reusable glass. This same philosophy is now being extended to our Goa property and upcoming resorts.
What are the quality control measures adopted in your organization to deliver the best quality and exceptional service across the industry?
We used the downtime during COVID to fine-tune our training processes, ensuring that every team member, across all properties, is empowered to deliver exceptional service. We believe that quality isn’t dictated from the top but brought to life on the shop floor through a culture of ownership and empowered action.
Every associate, regardless of role or designation, is trusted to make real-time decisions in the guest’s best interest. If a guest doesn’t like their orange juice, the person serving, or even a passing associate, is empowered to fix it on the spot.
What future goals are you currently working towards?
Currently, we operate two properties, our flagship luxury resort in Sakleshpur and Elements by Rosetta, our entry-level lifestyle upper upscale brand in Goa. Together, these projects represent an investment of around ₹300 crores. Looking ahead, we are working on a 130-room resort in Kaliapura, near Bangalore, and are also expanding our Goa property by another 75 suites. Instead of following the traditional management contract route, we prefer leasing assets from owners, investing in working capital and minor operating equipments, and managing them under long-term agreements of 20 to 30 years. This model offers more control and scalability. We have already signed leases in Mahabalipuram and are pursuing opportunities in Yercaud, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur.
Over the next five years, we aim to investing another ₹400 crores into the brand including ₹150 crores through NBFC debt and the remainder through internal accruals. Our goal is to expand responsibly, and deliver consistent, high-quality, and locally rooted luxury experiences across all our properties.
What advice would you offer to emerging leaders based on your industry experience?
I would say the most important thing for emerging leaders is to stay grounded in the fundamentals of hospitality. While the industry has evolved in terms of how we recruit, retain, and operate, never lose sight of the basics, be true to your brand, and always keep the guest at the center of every thing you do. Remember brands are built on the shop floor and not on Marketing doctrines.
Jai Sreedhar, Joint Managing Director & CEO, Rosetta Hospitality
Jai Sreedhar, Joint Managing Director & CEO of Rosetta Hospitality is a post-graduate in hospitality management from Cornell University with a master's in business administration. He began his career at The Leela Palace Hotels and Resorts, before co-founding Rosetta Hospitality.
•Hobbies: Reading, Carnatic Music
•Favorite Cuisine: Kashmiri
•Favorite Book:
•How Prime Ministers Decide by Neeraja Choudhry
•"The Worldly Philosophers" by Robert L. Heilbroner
•The Four Disciplines Of Execution by Chris McChesney & Sean Covey
•Favorite Travel Destination: Varanasi, Tanjore, Coorg
Currently, we operate two properties, our flagship luxury resort in Sakleshpur and Elements by Rosetta, our entry-level lifestyle upper upscale brand in Goa. Together, these projects represent an investment of around ₹300 crores. Looking ahead, we are working on a 130-room resort in Kaliapura, near Bangalore, and are also expanding our Goa property by another 75 suites. Instead of following the traditional management contract route, we prefer leasing assets from owners, investing in working capital and minor operating equipments, and managing them under long-term agreements of 20 to 30 years. This model offers more control and scalability. We have already signed leases in Mahabalipuram and are pursuing opportunities in Yercaud, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur.
Over the next five years, we aim to investing another ₹400 crores into the brand including ₹150 crores through NBFC debt and the remainder through internal accruals. Our goal is to expand responsibly, and deliver consistent, high-quality, and locally rooted luxury experiences across all our properties.
What advice would you offer to emerging leaders based on your industry experience?
I would say the most important thing for emerging leaders is to stay grounded in the fundamentals of hospitality. While the industry has evolved in terms of how we recruit, retain, and operate, never lose sight of the basics, be true to your brand, and always keep the guest at the center of every thing you do. Remember brands are built on the shop floor and not on Marketing doctrines.
Jai Sreedhar, Joint Managing Director & CEO, Rosetta Hospitality
Jai Sreedhar, Joint Managing Director & CEO of Rosetta Hospitality is a post-graduate in hospitality management from Cornell University with a master's in business administration. He began his career at The Leela Palace Hotels and Resorts, before co-founding Rosetta Hospitality.
•Hobbies: Reading, Carnatic Music
•Favorite Cuisine: Kashmiri
•Favorite Book:
•How Prime Ministers Decide by Neeraja Choudhry
•"The Worldly Philosophers" by Robert L. Heilbroner
•The Four Disciplines Of Execution by Chris McChesney & Sean Covey
•Favorite Travel Destination: Varanasi, Tanjore, Coorg