Special stopovers

Have you ever travelled on business and yearned for a quiet, memorable place to stay in, away from hordes of other business travellers? Or if on a vacation, have you longed for a unique experience? If you have, small, independently-owned boutique hotels are the answer. And these days it is not too difficult to find such properties, thanks to entrepreneurs like Mamta Sharma.

Sharma, the executive director of 32nd Milestone, a hospitality group, is betting big on the concept of boutique hotels. Her company has already announced the opening of its luxury boutique resort at Candolim Beach in Goa. "The 360 Degree Beach Retreat is a 12-room boutique property and tariffs would be between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 per night," she says.

The group is also coming up with four new boutique hotels in Goa at an investment of Rs 100 crore and a five-star hotel in Gurgaon at an investment of Rs 400 crore.

"We have just finished construction of a Portuguese-style 27-room hotel around the Baga river in Goa and a