Museum of Stories
From concept to operation, dream to design each destination hotel of the RARE Community is a story worth being told many times, in different ways. If RARE were a physical entity, it would fill multiple rooms with sepia toned photos of heritage preservation, gold tinted handover documents to erstwhile royalty, herbariums filled with many flowering grasses, sketches of iridescent sunsets, voices of happy animals, footsteps of artists, photographers and film makers, art, craft, textiles, books, dreams, hopes and vision….. each drawing you into their stories. Many times you will enter a story, this collection is an ode to every hotel of the community, the destination may be different, but every story is worth celebrating.
Heritage Preservation
We live with a lot of heritage around, always have but to a large extent unconscious and oblivious to its value – tangible, intangible and often twisted out of context. Announced, mostly unspoken yet always there...for the discerning to discover and appreciate. At RARE you will...
Where is your power ?
The Tiger CEO by Sharad Vats
Never again will you confer the title of ‘tiger’ to anyone without considerable thought, to be a Tiger is a tall order. The Tiger in the jungles of India is a legend of our times, a survivor and walks assured in the knowledge of who he is. The Tiger...
Love in Mandu
I spent 3 nights and a lifetime in Mandu. It was the annual Mandu Festival and I was invited. Fed by beautiful images in my head from memories of Bollywood films shot amidst the beautiful buildings of Mandu, stories my friends have told me about the beauty of Mandu.... here I was !
Like...
Wilderness 2.0
Biodiversity loss – the loss of nature is as critical an issue today as climate change. Huge swathes of natural forests are being converted to agricultural land or mining grants allocated or simply to make way to build cities. The inevitable therefore happens – species become...
World Tourism Day 2020 :...
While we have lived through a slew of special days, it is surprising how celebrating World Tourism Day is not even a memory all these years. This World Tourism Day 2020 for all of us will have a new meaning that will be etched deep in our hearts with a powerful connotation. This one day let...
Ten Reasons 'RARE' for the...
Not many people know that the origins of RARE began by promoting offbeat hotels and home stays on classic road journeys from Delhi to discerning Indian travellers and expats. The result of organising accommodation for Bunny and Jugs Suraiya was a middle piece in the TOI...
The Human Touch in Travel :...
Travel touches you in ways that you may not discover until a shift inside you has become a habit or an ideal you live by. It is one of those activities where even Solo Travel is not such a lonely journey. For travel pulls into its ambit the power of ‘human touch’ an important...
RARE Touchstones: Single...
A key attribute of the RARE Touchstones that define the tenets of Conscious Luxury Travel, Single use and dispose option has settled into the mindset of travellers across geographies and all economic strata. As a youngster, family trips involved carrying a canister with water that was...
RARE Touchstones: Safe...
Waste segregation was an integral part of India. Just two decades ago, over 70% of all household waste was recycled! As an agrarian economy, the maximum recycling was not only seen in rural India where villages were clean, but also carried across to the urban...
Ecstatic Estuary
A first time experience on a boat floating into an estuary was a fascinating experience for Poonam, our guest blogger. One that she captured in her heart, and recounts it with lyrical clarity even today.
I had read about estuaries in school, but it was...
The RARE Touchstones :...
Every business has to differentiate itself. And if you are in a business like travel and hospitality services where entry barriers are non-existent or fudged you had better be clear about what you do and how. The most essential ‘why’ is however a personal story for every inward looking...
Ten Ways to celebrate the...
A glimpse of the Royal Bengal Tiger in the wild inspires awe. His assured languid gait and piercing eyes, that tawny glint of his skin amidst the green brown of the Indian forests - Panthera tigris, he mesmerises.
Every one of us has a favourite ‘sher...