Innside Scoop - The Hospitality Podcast
Hosted by Anant Kumar
A deep-dive interview show where an Indian hotelier unpacks the careers and playbooks of hospitality and travel-tech leaders.
This is an insider's look into the Indian hospitality industry, hosted by a fellow hotelier. Host Anant Kumar conducts chronological, career-focused interviews with the founders and C-suite executives of major hotel groups, travel technology companies, and hospitality consultancies. The conversations dig deep into origin stories, pivotal business decisions, major deals like mergers and acquisitions, and personal leadership philosophies.
“The host's own background as a hotel co-founder allows for a peer-level conversation that goes beyond surface-level questions. This leads to technical discussions on business models, financial metrics, and the strategic logic behind landmark industry deals, providing an uncommon level of depth.”
Who hosts this show
Anant Kumar is the co-founder of Brij Hotels, a collection of boutique luxury properties in India that focus on immersive, local experiences. A graduate in Economics from University College London (UCL), he comes from a family with a long legacy in hospitality, as his great-grandfather founded the Clarks Group of Hotels. In his podcast, Anant leverages his own industry background to hold peer-level conversations with the founders and CEOs shaping Indian travel and hospitality.
Credentials & credits
- Co-founder, Brij Hotels
- Graduate in Economics, University College London (UCL)
- Alumnus, The Doon School
- Promoter Group, Clarks Group of Hotels
- Co-founder, 1589 Hotels
- Co-founder, Blu Dove (catering)
Other ventures
- Brij Hotels
- Clarks Group of Hotels
- 1589 Hotels
- Blu Dove
What kind of podcast
When new episodes drop
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
- 06
- 07
- 08Patu Keswani on The Lemon Tree Hotels Story | EP 14 | Innside ScoopSep 29, 2025 · 1h 12m
Notable episodes
- 01The Leela, Brookfield & Starting Over: Amruda on Building Next A Great Hospitality Brand | EP 17
A candid look at navigating family legacy, the pressure of a famous name, and the decision to start over with a new venture after the landmark sale of The Leela group.
- 02Hotelivate, HICSA & Savills Deal: Manav Thadani on Building India's Hospitality Powerhouse | EP 18
The definitive story of how India's most important hospitality conference (HICSA) and consulting firm were built, culminating in a major acquisition by Savills.
- 03MakeMyTrip Co-founder Rajesh Magow on Scaling Through Crises & Reinventing Travel in India | EP 16
An inside account of building India's largest online travel agency, including surviving the dot-com bust and the strategic rationale behind the massive merger with Goibibo.
What you'll be asked on this show
Anant Kumar opens interviews by asking guests about their childhood and upbringing to establish a personal context and uncover foundational values. He then guides the conversation chronologically through their career, using prior research to ask about specific roles, deals, and turning points. As a fellow hotelier, he confidently probes into technical subjects like the 'asset-light' model, the strategy behind major mergers, and the key metrics a CEO tracks daily. He often concludes by asking what guests would tell their younger selves or what advice they have for aspiring professionals in the field.
The show is a one-on-one long-form video interview, typically running for an hour or more. Host Anant Kumar follows a chronological arc, starting with the guest's childhood before moving through their career milestones. In the video version, on-screen text boxes are used to define industry jargon (e.g., 'keys', 'RevPAR', 'mystery guest audits'), making the niche conversations more accessible.
Questions Anant Kumar keeps coming back to
12 cataloguedIf you're going on this show as a guest, expect some version of each of these. Each note explains when Anant Kumar reaches for it.
origin
2- Q.01
“Tell me about your childhood and how you got to where you are today.”
This is his standard opening question, used to ground the guest's professional journey in their personal history.
- Q.02
“What was the catalyst for starting your own venture?”
A key question for founder guests to pinpoint the exact moment or reason they became an entrepreneur.
values
1- Q.01
“What core values from your upbringing have you carried into your company?”
He asks this early on to connect the guest's personal principles to their leadership style.
backstory
1- Q.01
“Did you always know you wanted to be a hotelier/work in this industry?”
This question explores whether the guest's career was a deliberate choice or a path they discovered.
process
4- Q.01
“Can you walk us through the story behind a major deal or merger, like the Goibibo merger?”
He uses this to deconstruct the strategic thinking behind significant, publicly-known business moves.
- Q.02
“How did your earlier experience at [Company X] shape your later work?”
This question connects different phases of a guest's career to trace the development of their expertise.
- Q.03
“How do you convince a property owner of your model from a financial point of view?”
Leveraging his own expertise, he asks this to understand the guest's value proposition and sales pitch.
- Q.04
“What's one metric you track daily, and why is it so important?”
This reveals the guest's day-to-day business priorities and what they consider a key indicator of health.
personal
1- Q.01
“Has any particular crisis or single meeting significantly influenced your life?”
This question seeks to uncover pivotal moments and formative challenges in the guest's journey.
future
2- Q.01
“Now that you've hit a major milestone, like a $10B valuation, what's the strategy to get to the next level?”
He asks this to push beyond past successes and explore future ambitions and growth plans.
- Q.02
“What do you see as the biggest threat to your business today?”
This question assesses the guest's awareness of the competitive landscape and industry risks.
advice
1- Q.01
“What advice would you give to young entrepreneurs entering the hospitality industry?”
A standard closing question designed to provide actionable takeaways for the audience.
Signature segments
- · On-screen text defining industry jargon (e.g., 'keys', 'RevPAR')
Topics covered repeatedly
Who gets booked here
Guests are typically founders, chairpersons, or C-suite executives from India's most prominent hospitality and travel-tech companies. They are established leaders with decades of experience and a significant public track record, such as Patu Keswani of Lemon Tree Hotels and Rajesh Magow of MakeMyTrip.
- Manav Thadanion Hotelivate, HICSA & Savills Deal: Manav Thadani on Building India's Hospitality Powerhouse | EP 18
- Amruda Nairon The Leela, Brookfield & Starting Over: Amruda on Building Next A Great Hospitality Brand | EP 17
- Rajesh Magowon MakeMyTrip Co-founder Rajesh Magow on Scaling Through Crises & Reinventing Travel in India | EP 16
- Karan Maheshon Inside India’s Hotel Boom: Data, Demand & Insights | Karan Mahesh - STR, CoStar Group | EP 15
- Patu Keswanion Patu Keswani on The Lemon Tree Hotels Story | EP 14 | Innside Scoop
Where to find this show
Audience & reach
Estimated: The podcast appears to be unsponsored as of the reviewed episodes. Given its niche audience of industry leaders, professionals, and investors, it would be a strong fit for B2B service providers in hotel tech, real estate, private equity, management consulting, or luxury goods targeting the Indian market.
Subscriber and view counts are pulled live from YouTube and re-verified on a 30-day cycle. Listener estimates for the RSS feed aren't published here unless they're host-verified.
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People also ask
- What is the format of the show?
- It is a long-form, one-on-one interview podcast, usually running over an hour. The host interviews a single guest in each episode.
- Who is the host?
- The host is Anant Kumar, the co-founder of Brij Hotels, a boutique hotel company in India.
- Is this podcast still active?
- Yes, the podcast releases new episodes on a roughly monthly basis, as of mid-2026.
- Where can I listen to the podcast?
- The full video episodes are available on the 'Innside Scoop - The Hospitality Podcast' YouTube channel. It is also available on audio platforms like Apple Podcasts.
- What kind of guests are featured?
- The podcast features founders, CEOs, and senior executives from the Indian hospitality and travel industry, including leaders of major hotel chains and online travel agencies.
Built from the show's public RSS feed, YouTube, the host's own websites, and the cited sources below. Computed and AI-extracted fields are labelled. Facts only — no private info, no fabrication, no transcripts republished.
Sources & how this page was built
This page is AI-assisted, grounded in the public sources cited below, and host-verifiable. We publish facts only; we do not republish transcripts. If anything here is wrong, the host can claim and correct the page above.Model: gemini-2.5-pro · high confidence
- [01]Anant Apurv Kumar Summary - HVSHOPEvertexaisearch.cloud.google.com
- [02]Innside Scoop - The Hospitality Podcast - YouTube Channelyoutube.com
- [03]Brij Hotels Official Websitebrijhotels.com
- [04]Thriving in the boutique space - Hotels - ET Hospitalityhospitality.economictimes.indiatimes.com
- [05]Innside Scoop with Anant Kumar - Apple Podcastspodcasts.apple.com
- [06]Brijhotels - Company Profile - Tracxntracxn.com
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