CNT Reader's Choice Award WINNER 2020.
My Dear Guests and Friends
At a time when the worldwide travel industry is in the doldrums and facing huge financial and emotional challenges, it is a huge lift for us to have been honoured by the world’s premier travel organisation Conde Nast Travel. Their Readers Choice Award has voted us at number 16 in Asia, and thus among the best hotels and resorts in this part of the world. For all the details, Discover More: https://www.cntraveler.com/readers-choice-awards/asia/asia-top-resorts
Neeleshwar Hermitage for me is an extended private home with a host of family stories, that have imprinted the premises with a continuing physical and emotional resonance. Every part of the place has a story to tell, a memory to be stirred. Standing as a tribute to Kerala’s art and culture, with its expansive tropical gardens rolling down to the pristine beach and huge expansion of the Arabian Sea, the Hermitage is not only a delightful retreat to soothe tired limbs and minds. It is also a vibrant hub of the local economy, that has helped to benefit the lives and fortunes of local people. We are very proud that 98% of our staff are drawn from the immediate area, making us the highest employer of local people, both men, and women. On a wider stage, we take great delight in the fact that it was us who pioneered tourism in this area of north Kerala, known as Malabar, twelve years ago. It was a tremendous gamble to build and open a hotel in an area that had never seen such a thing, and now that Malabar is squarely on the tourist map, this entire northern part of the state is benefitting, construction, premises, shops, suppliers, transport and hospitality staff - everyone from fishermen to fashion shops. Not that we are at all complacent; we continue to work hard refining the quality of what we are offering and improving our contribution to development of the locality.
After three decades of travel experience catering to clients from all around the world, and a great diversity of cultures, we at ABChapri Retreats, Neeleshwar’s parent company, feel we have developed an intuition to predict what people really want when they come on holiday. The ethos and ambition of all our properties are to create the sort of calm, welcoming atmosphere that you would find visiting the home of a close friend. We offer an ambience that is relaxed, familiar, and nourishing, behind which operates an efficient organisation totally dedicated to the well-being, safety, and satisfaction of our guests, or as we like to think of them, our extended family.
This intuitive style of hosting is made possible by choosing staff who have the potential to grow with us. This includes developing an inner sense that enables them to operate in an unobtrusive yet highly attentive way, as part of a seamless network that operates behind the scenes to provide what is wanted even before a conscious need is felt.
In these tough times, let us remain resolute in the hope that tourism returns soon to help the local economy and people we have come to love so much.
Stay well and safe.
Altaf Chapri Co-Founder / Managing Director
