Business of Experience Perspective – Vithoba Dhote, General Manager, The Orchid Hotel Lonavala

Vithoba Dhote is General Manager of The Orchid Hotel Lonavala, the Orchid Hotels resort in Valvan, set amid the Western Ghats. In this conversation with Hospemag, he talks about the risk of over-designing experiences, when guests should pay separately, where AI fits into personalisation, and why the employee experience is the foundation of the guest experience.

What is one mistake hospitality businesses make when trying too hard to ‘design’ an experience?

The biggest mistake is designing an experience around what the hotel wants to showcase rather than what the guest actually needs. When an experience becomes too scripted, it can lose its authenticity. Great hospitality is about creating the right environment and then giving the team the freedom to personalize the experience naturally.

Should guests pay separately for experiences, or should they be built into the overall proposition?

It depends on the experience and the value it creates. The essentials of hospitality should always be part of the overall proposition, while specialized or highly personalized experiences can be monetized separately. The key is transparency: guests should feel they are paying for genuine value, not being charged for every small touchpoint.

Can AI create meaningful personalisation, or will the most memorable moments always require human intuition?

AI can help us understand preferences, anticipate needs and deliver consistency, but hospitality ultimately remains a people business. Technology can tell us what a guest may want; human intuition tells us how and when to deliver it. The most memorable experiences will come from combining intelligent technology with genuine human interaction.

What happens when the employee experience and guest experience are out of sync?

The gap becomes visible to the guest very quickly. You cannot consistently deliver a warm and memorable guest experience if your employees feel disengaged, unsupported or disconnected. The employee experience is therefore not separate from the guest experience—it is its foundation. When employees feel valued and empowered, that naturally reflects in the way they care for guests.

What separates a good hospitality experience from a truly memorable one?

A good experience meets expectations; a memorable experience creates an emotional connection. It is often the smallest, most unexpected details—a team member remembering a preference, anticipating a need or simply making a guest feel genuinely recognized. Guests may forget what we served or what the room looked like, but they remember how we made them feel.

What is one thing the hospitality industry still does not understand about creating memorable experiences?

I believe the industry sometimes overcomplicates the idea of memorable experiences. We look for expensive technology, elaborate activities or Instagram-worthy moments, when often the most powerful experiences are created through consistency, attention to detail and genuine human connection. The future of hospitality is not about doing more; it is about making every interaction more meaningful.

Image: courtesy of The Orchid Hotel Lonavala