The Sky Bar is the most stunning part of the boutique resort, and with winter here, just the ideal spot for parties and events. It can accommodate up to 300 people (with seating for 100 adjusted accordingly) and is equipped with a stage and a bar. 

Sky Bar by day... 

... And by night

Moving one level higher, Celeste is the terrace on Level 21 and will “open soon” for social gatherings. 

On the 20th floor of AltAir are the dine dens. Capella (picture below) is a 90-seater “restobar-kitchen-brewery-sky bar”, the USP of which is “monoportions”. “It’s probably the first restobar in the city that has a ‘small eats’ menu from starter to dessert. You’re not restricted to having to order a main course item for Rs 800 and get stuck with it,” said Nitin Kohli, business head, Ambuja Neotia Hospitality. A cafe — Rendezvous — will open in around a month. And then a deli on the ground floor from where the offices at Ecocentre can take away coffee and small bites. 

The other end of the 20th floor is equally breathtaking. There is a Jacuzzi along with a sunbathing deck, which can be cordoned off in the evening for a small party. And, of course, a heated infinity pool — an Ambuja signature — which feels closer to the sky here than the seventh-floor pool at Swissotel. End-December, the poolside bar will open, so you can order a holiday-mood The Parisian (gin stirred with dry vermouth) or a detox drink from the “health food” section and watch the sun set. 

Apart from the cinema wall (Top), elements of Indian cinema can be seen in and around AltAir, like this (Above) costume set from Lagaan at Capella. 

The Fitness Centre with Precor gym equipment is functional, while Elle Spa & Salon will open soon. 

The 23 rooms — including one suite — are boutique-ish and functional. The average room rate ranges from Rs 5,000 for 
(above) a premium room to Rs 7,000 for the suite. The best part? “The rooms are wrapped around the periphery, so every single room has a great view,” said Kohli. The corporate offices around are “one of the key target audiences” for the rooms. “We’ve also received a lot of enquiries for the social part. AltAir is like a resort… you have the infinity pool, spa, salon, sky bar, all-day dining and a restobar. Within the city, if you have the weekend to spend and don’t want to travel too far, this is the ideal place to come with the kids. So while we have the premium business class people from Monday to Friday, we target the social crowd on weekends,” said Kohli. 

The banquet hall Phoenix can be divided into I and II and can hold around 500 people. There are also three boardrooms — Nova I, II and III. “We are projecting Phoenix as the first ‘marketplace banquet’ or the ‘great grand Indian bazaar’ of the city. Any buffet we do here will be offered with the theme of a bazaar, free of cost. The concept is inspired from the Marche Restaurants by the  Movenpick group,” said Kohli. 

Room guests can meet visitors at the Nova Lounge. 

Harsh Neotia gives t2 an exclusive peek into the making of BOUTIQUE HOTEL ALTAIR, which opens today 

What inspired the idea of a boutique hotel perched on Ecocentre in Sector V?

When we were building this project, I had seen a couple of boutique hotels in the US — in particular New York — because my children are studying there.

Some of the hotels were perched on office buildings, with some interesting offerings of F&B as well. So this inspired me, especially as Ecocentre is a tall building and provides a beautiful view of the city.

The idea sort of evolved as we went along. I think the important thing was how can we leverage the specific positioning on top and create something that would be contemporary, and something that would also celebrate India. And if you see, the soul of this space is very Indian, whether it’s the photographs or textiles hung on the walls, or the cinema wall installation or the huge light installation as you walk up from Level 19 to 20. I think the soul of AltAir is Indian while the shell is contemporary. 

The F&B offerings have been a large focus in all your hospitality projects…

For me, the hero will have to be food. It’s been that way right from the days we started Conclave. Not that we have always got it right, sometimes we haven’t, but it has been a clear focus for us, for me, at least, and (wife) Madhu has been keenly involved. The way I look at food is that, besides cuisine, it has to be something that is fresh and allows for the flavours to come in. It could be Indian or international but it’s really about being flavourful and fresh.

We have an outstanding chef in Sumit Kedia. My brief to him is — I don’t want you to make this or that. We can live with your favourite dishes rather than mine but making my favourite dishes poorly is not a good idea! I don’t think we even directed him on what should be there. Like for decor, I have a strong personal involvement, but food is his business, he decides and we accept. So he has given a contemporary twist to Indian and also some international food.

What is the idea behind the ‘small eats buffet’ at the restaurant Capella in AltAir?

Capella is really our hero of this project. We are hoping so because the catchment of Sector V is mostly young people, and also because the kind of crowd this location will attract with its nice music and the view, would be the younger group.

The youngsters today actually don’t eat full meals — this is a learning from my kids! We adults are accustomed to having a drink and a full meal at one go and then going to sleep. But if they spend hours at a party and probably have to stay up till 3am, then that’s not going to work. So it’s like a drink, then a bite, then another drink and another bite. Capella is centred around that trend.

Another advantage of small eats is that a guest can sample three-four items on the menu within the same per head pricing.

You mentioned your involvement in the decor… can you tell us more?

A lot of it — this entire photography, textiles and other things — are collections that were lying with me. When I see something I like, I procure it. At that time I don’t know where I am going to use it. Then when I do a project, I try to see what can be used. So when we were doing AltAir, I told the architect — look, don’t buy any art or don’t even think of art, because I have a lot and we will fill it up. So in the rooms we have Rajasthani stuff, which was lying with me.

There is some art that has been commissioned, like the light installation by Shivaji Pal, which is site-specific. I knew that I wanted something elaborate, something dramatic... Shivaji understood that and showed me a few sketches and I said go ahead. These are things you have to trust each other on. 

Does the light installation have a little Sonar Tori in it?

It does but it’s also different because Sonar Tori was a little more rustic while this has a little more oomph. Fundamentally, we all have the same sensibilities of Bengal. You can take anything away from me but not the Bong Calcuttan, which I am happily proud of! 

What about the cine art wall?

There’s a group of three young architects — Shantanu Bhalla, Akash and Anurag — who passed out a few years ago. Shantanu is architect Kapil Bhalla’s son. Kapil was planning something for that wall, and that day I happened to be in Bombay in his office, and Shantanu was there, so I asked him to sit in. I asked him what he’s doing. He said, ‘Uncle, I’m going off in August for my masters’. So I said, ‘Here’s your summer assignment — spend June-July in Calcutta. I’m giving you the theme of Indian cinema. How you want to interpret it is up to you. This (wall) is the canvas.’

So he read up and picked up what he could. I said, let’s do it three-dimensional — with stuff that we can see, stuff we can read and things procured over time, which have nostalgia value. If I see an iPhone camera, it’s no fun, but if I see a Rolleiflex, it’s fun because I’ve possibly used it (in my case) or possibly seen it (in the case of the younger generation) with the grandparents or lying at home. Just things that would remind you of that era.

Then you have a peek into some things like Draupadi’s cheer haran, so you see a photograph with some cloth... the whole idea was to do a surreal kind of mural. If somebody is walking down that corridor, that someone should take three-four extra minutes to cross that corridor. Your achievement should be to slow him down. 

What expansion plans for your other projects?

There’s Swabhumi, which will come up next year, by Pujas, hopefully (the company has plans to renovate Swabhumi by adding banquets, restaurants and a 33-room hotel). Sonar Tori is coming up in City Centre Salt Lake by January, I think. Work on two resorts is on — one in Sikkim and the other in Makaibari — which we are building for Taj. Work had stopped for six months but it has started again. 

Finally, anything on The India Story?

I am blissfully unaware! That’s the ladies’ jhamela and I have to keep away from it, because if I get sucked into it, it’s more money going (laughs)! Jokes apart, it gets bigger and better each year and I wish it success.

Text: Karo Christine Kumar

Pictures: Pabitra Das