{"id":106615,"date":"2026-05-28T12:40:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/how-stay-ananta-became-indias-most-trusted-name-in-luxury-villa-rentals-and-why-2-7-lakh-guests-keep-coming-back\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T12:40:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T12:40:34","slug":"how-stay-ananta-became-indias-most-trusted-name-in-luxury-villa-rentals-and-why-2-7-lakh-guests-keep-coming-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/2026\/05\/28\/how-stay-ananta-became-indias-most-trusted-name-in-luxury-villa-rentals-and-why-2-7-lakh-guests-keep-coming-back\/","title":{"rendered":"How Stay Ananta Became India\u2019s Most Trusted Name in Luxury Villa Rentals \u2014 And Why 2.7 Lakh Guests Keep Coming Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A deep dive into the villa rental brand that quietly built a 600+ property empire across India\u2019s most sought-after destinations \u2014 without cutting a single corner.<\/em><\/p>\n

New Delhi [India], May 28<\/strong>: There\u2019s a question that every serious\u00a0traveller\u00a0in India eventually asks: where do you actually stay when hotels start to feel impersonal, and Airbnb listings feel like a gamble?<\/p>\n

For a growing number of discerning families, corporate groups, and celebrations-in-themaking, the answer has increasingly become the same \u2014 Stay Ananta.<\/p>\n

Founded in 2017\u00a0by\u00a0Mr. Darshan Hiranandani\u00a0and\u00a0Mrs.\u00a0Smita\u00a0Asrani, and managed\u00a0dayto-day by\u00a0Mrs. Bharti J, Stay Ananta didn\u2019t enter the luxury villa rental market with a splashy launch or a venture-capital war chest. It started, like most things that endure, with a conviction: that private villa stays in India could match the best in the world, if someone was willing to be obsessive about the details.<\/p>\n

Nearly a decade later, the numbers tell one story \u2014 600+ handpicked luxury villas, 15+ destinations, 2.7 lakh guests served, a 4.8-star rating that has held steady through scale. But the real story is in what those numbers don\u2019t capture.<\/p>\n

The Philosophy Behind the Portfolio<\/h1>\n

Most villa rental companies in India operate on volume. List everything. Approve fast. Let the reviews sort it out.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta took the opposite approach. Their vetting process is famously rigorous \u2014 fewer than 1 in 10 properties that apply actually make it into the collection. Every villa is personally inspected. Linen quality, water pressure, kitchen equipment, the view from the master bedroom at sunrise \u2014 nothing is taken on trust.<\/p>\n

The result is a portfolio that feels intentional rather than inflated. Whether it\u2019s a\u00a0threebedroom\u00a0cottage tucked into the Sahyadri hills or a sprawling twelve-bedroom estate overlooking paddy fields in South Goa, each property meets a standard that most competitors simply don\u2019t enforce.<\/p>\n

The brand further\u00a0organises\u00a0its collection into distinct tiers \u2014 Stay Ananta Luxe Collection,<\/p>\n

Ananta Noir, Stay Ananta Signature Collection, Ananta \u00c9lite, and Stay Ananta Most Desired Collection \u2014 each representing a clearly defined level of luxury, service, and experience. It\u2019s a system that gives guests a vocabulary for what they\u2019re booking, and a promise they can hold the brand to.<\/p>\n

Where Stay Ananta Takes You<\/h1>\n

Stay Ananta\u2019s footprint now spans the full breadth of India\u2019s leisure travel map. Here\u2019s the complete picture:<\/p>\n

Maharashtra\u00a0\u2014 Lonavala,\u00a0Alibaug,\u00a0Karjat,\u00a0Kamshet,\u00a0Pawna, Mahabaleshwar, Nashik,\u00a0Igatpuri<\/p>\n

Goa\u00a0\u2014 North Goa, South Goa<\/p>\n

Rajasthan\u00a0\u2014 Jaipur, Udaipur<\/p>\n

Himachal Pradesh\u00a0\u2014 Manali,\u00a0Kasauli, Shimla<\/p>\n

Uttarakhand\u00a0\u2014 Mussoorie, Rishikesh, Jim Corbett<\/p>\n

Karnataka\u00a0\u2014 Coorg,\u00a0Chikmagalur<\/p>\n

Kerala\u00a0\u2014 Munnar, Wayanad<\/p>\n

But a list of destinations is just geography. What makes Stay Ananta\u2019s approach different is how deeply embedded the brand is in each location. Every destination has its own locally hired team of caretakers, chefs, and hospitality staff \u2014 people who know the area, understand the seasonal rhythms, and can recommend the waterfall that isn\u2019t on Google Maps.<\/p>\n

Five Destinations That Define the Stay Ananta Experience<\/h1>\n

While the full portfolio spans coasts, mountains, and heritage cities, five destinations capture the essence of what Stay Ananta does best.<\/p>\n

Lonavala: The Western Ghats, Without the Chaos<\/h2>\n

Lonavala has always been Mumbai and Pune\u2019s go-to weekend escape. But anyone who\u2019s driven through the main strip on a Saturday afternoon knows the problem \u2014 it\u2019s become\u00a0crowded, commercial, and increasingly indistinguishable from the city you left behind.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta\u2019s Lonavala collection exists in a different world entirely. Private villas set into the hillside with infinity pools that seem to dissolve into the valley below. Properties where the only sound at 7 a.m. is birdsong and the distant hum of a waterfall. The brand\u2019s strongest concentration of villas is here, and it shows \u2014 from compact couples\u2019 retreats to sprawling family estates with theatre rooms and outdoor\u00a0barbecue setups, the range is unmatched.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0travellers\u00a0from Mumbai (roughly two hours by expressway) and Pune (just over an hour), Lonavala remains the most accessible luxury escape in western India. Stay Ananta has simply raised the bar on what that escape looks like.<\/p>\n

Karjat: The Quieter Alternative That\u2019s Having Its Moment<\/h2>\n

If Lonavala is the popular kid,\u00a0Karjat\u00a0is the interesting one. Less developed,\u00a0more raw, and surrounded by river valleys and dense forest rather than tourist infrastructure,\u00a0Karjat\u00a0has\u00a0attracted a different kind of villa \u2014 larger properties with serious land, often with their own farm-to-table gardens, riverside access, and a sense of genuine seclusion.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta\u2019s\u00a0Karjat\u00a0portfolio leans into this. These aren\u2019t villas that try to replicate a hotel experience. They\u2019re homes that happen to come with private chefs, sunset-facing decks, and the kind of silence that makes you\u00a0realise\u00a0how loud your everyday life has become. Weekend corporate offsites have become a particular strength here \u2014\u00a0the setting lends itself to the kind of unhurried thinking that conference rooms never allow.<\/p>\n

At roughly 90 minutes from Mumbai,\u00a0Karjat\u00a0offers everything Lonavala does, minus the traffic and the tourist traps.<\/p>\n

North Goa: Beyond the Beach Shack<\/h2>\n

Goa doesn\u2019t\u00a0need an introduction. But the Goa that Stay Ananta operates in might.<\/p>\n

Forget the beach shack and the crowded Calangute strip. Stay Ananta\u2019s North Goa collection is\u00a0centred\u00a0in the quieter, more architecturally interesting pockets \u2014\u00a0Assagao,\u00a0Siolim,\u00a0Anjuna\u2019s\u00a0back lanes, and the increasingly sought-after\u00a0Vagator\u00a0plateau. These\u00a0are Portuguese-influenced villas with laterite walls and tropical courtyards, contemporary homes designed by some of Goa\u2019s best architects, and heritage properties that have been sensitively restored for modern living.<\/p>\n

The appeal is different from a Maharashtra hill station. In North Goa, the villa is the destination. Guests aren\u2019t driving to viewpoints \u2014 they\u2019re cooking\u00a0Goan\u00a0prawn curry with the in-house chef, reading by the pool through an afternoon thunderstorm, and walking to a\u00a0neighbourhood\u00a0bar that only locals know about.<\/p>\n

For\u00a0travellers\u00a0from Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru, Goa remains the definitive long-weekend luxury destination in India. Stay Ananta\u2019s presence there reflects the shift in how people experience the state \u2014 less party, more private.<\/p>\n

Igatpuri: The Wellness Corridor<\/h2>\n

Igatpuri\u00a0has always had something that other hill stations near Mumbai lacked \u2014 a spiritual dimension. Home to the Vipassana International Academy and surrounded by the\u00a0Tringalwadi\u00a0and\u00a0Bhatsa\u00a0dam landscapes, the area attracts a\u00a0different kind of\u00a0traveller. One who wants stillness, not stimulation.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta\u2019s\u00a0Igatpuri\u00a0villas lean into this character. Expect properties surrounded by working farms, morning views of the\u00a0Kalsubai\u00a0range (Maharashtra\u2019s highest peak), and an absence of the nightlife-and-restaurant culture that defines Lonavala or\u00a0Alibaug. The brand has positioned\u00a0Igatpuri\u00a0as its wellness and retreat destination \u2014 a place where small groups come for yoga weekends, digital detoxes, and celebrations that\u00a0prioritise\u00a0togetherness over spectacle.<\/p>\n

At just under two hours from Mumbai via the Kasara ghat,\u00a0Igatpuri\u00a0is also one of the most scenic drives in western India \u2014 a fact that Stay Ananta guests discover long before they arrive at the property.<\/p>\n

Manali: The Himalayan Chapter<\/h2>\n

When Stay Ananta expanded beyond Maharashtra and Goa, the choice of Manali\u00a0signalled\u00a0a clear ambition \u2014 to be a truly national brand rather than a regional one.<\/p>\n

Manali is India\u2019s original mountain escape, and the luxury villa market here has evolved rapidly in recent years. Stay Ananta\u2019s Himalayan collection includes traditional\u00a0Himachali\u00a0cottages with wooden balconies overlooking the\u00a0Beas river, as well as contemporary chalets with floor-to-ceiling glass, heated floors, and the kind of mountain views that stop conversations mid-sentence.<\/p>\n

What distinguishes these properties from the area\u2019s crowded hotel strip along Mall Road is precisely what Stay Ananta does best\u00a0\u2014 privacy, space, and the assurance that someone has personally checked whether\u00a0the hot water works at 6 a.m. in January. For families from Delhi and Chandigarh, and increasingly from Mumbai and Bengaluru (Kullu-Manali airport has expanded connectivity significantly), a Stay Ananta villa in Manali is a Himalayan experience without the Himalayan compromises.<\/p>\n

What the Awards Say \u2014 And What They Don\u2019t<\/h1>\n

Recognition from the industry has followed the growth. Stay Ananta has been named Brand of the Year by MakeMyTrip and\u00a0recognised\u00a0as\u00a0Favourite\u00a0Villa Rentals by Cond\u00e9 Nast\u00a0Traveller\u00a0\u2014 two of the most respected names in Indian travel and global luxury publishing, respectively.<\/p>\n

But awards, as any honest hotelier will tell you, capture a moment. What sustains a hospitality brand is repetition \u2014 the same family booking for the fourth Diwali in a row, the same corporate team returning to the same\u00a0Karjat\u00a0villa every quarter, the friend-of-a-friend recommendation that fills weekends eighteen months in advance.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta\u2019s\u00a04.8-star guest rating, maintained across more than 2.7 lakh guests, speaks to this consistency. It\u2019s the kind of number that\u2019s easy to achieve with ten properties and hard to maintain with six hundred.<\/p>\n

The People Behind the Brand<\/h1>\n

Behind the operational machinery is a leadership trio with complementary strengths.<\/p>\n

Mr. Darshan Hiranandani, co-founder, brought the original vision \u2014 the conviction that India\u2019s luxury villa market was ready for a brand that could deliver five-star consistency in a private-home setting. His background in business gave Stay Ananta the strategic discipline that many hospitality startups lack.<\/p>\n

Mrs.\u00a0Smita\u00a0Asrani, co-founder, brought the aesthetic and experiential sensibility \u2014 an understanding that luxury in a villa context isn\u2019t about marble lobbies and uniformed doormen, but about the quality of the towels, the playlist on the Bluetooth speaker, and whether the pool is the right temperature when you wake up.<\/p>\n

Mrs. Bharti J, who manages the day-to-day operations, has been the architect\u00a0of Stay Ananta\u2019s expansion \u2014 building the destination-level teams, establishing the vetting protocols, and maintaining quality standards across a portfolio that now spans seven Indian states.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a leadership structure that avoids the single-founder bottleneck. The brand feels like it has multiple sensibilities running through it \u2014 strategic, aesthetic, and operational \u2014 and that shows in the product.<\/p>\n

What Comes Next<\/h1>\n

Stay Ananta isn\u2019t slowing down. The brand\u2019s expansion into Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand,\u00a0Karnataka, and Kerala suggests a roadmap that follows India\u2019s evolving travel patterns \u2014 the shift towards longer stays, remote-work-friendly destinations, and experience-led travel rather than sightseeing-led travel.<\/p>\n

The villa rental category in India is\u00a0maturing fast.\u00a0Travellers\u00a0who once defaulted to five-star hotels are discovering that a well-managed private villa offers something hotels fundamentally cannot \u2014 the feeling of being home, in a place that isn\u2019t home, with someone else taking care of everything.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta understood this earlier than most. And they built for it \u2014 not with shortcuts, but with the kind of patient, property-by-property\u00a0rigour\u00a0that turns a collection of homes into a brand people trust.<\/p>\n

For anyone planning a luxury villa getaway in India \u2014 whether it\u2019s a monsoon weekend in Lonavala, a family reunion in Goa, or a winter escape to Manali \u2014 the question isn\u2019t whether to consider Stay Ananta. It\u2019s which property to choose from a collection that now stretches across the best addresses in the country.<\/p>\n

Stay Ananta operates 600+ luxury villas across 15+ destinations in India. For bookings and enquiries, visit\u00a0stayananta.com\u00a0.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A deep dive into the villa rental brand that quietly built a 600+ property empire across India\u2019s most sought-after destinations \u2014 without cutting a single corner. New Delhi [India], May 28: There\u2019s a question that every serious\u00a0traveller\u00a0in India eventually asks: where do you actually stay when hotels start to feel impersonal, and Airbnb listings feel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":106616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-106615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/indianweekend.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}