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  Photograph courtesy Vivanta by Taj

How does it feel to stumble upon a Hilton hotel in the middle of nowhere? Startling to say the least. The Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat & Spa is tucked away on a 3,500-acre estate in the forests of the Western Ghats. Getting there involves a journey along a bumpy, rutted road that never seems to end.

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  The Vivanta by Taj Madikeri in Coorg, which is perched at 4,000ft inside a 180-acre rainforest, offers sybaritic delights such as a traditional Coorg Gudda bath (above) and an outdoor jacuzzi

This is Hilton's first retreat property in Asia and it aims to take resort living to a new high with its unique mix of separate spa and lifestyle zones — the gigantic spa zone itself is spread over 70 acres and the entire hotel covers a huge 320 acres. 'Shillim's all about making your own journey,' says Andreas Kraemer, general manager, Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat & Spa.

On the other hand, would you like to get closer to the clouds — literally? Head down south to Coorg to the Vivanta by Taj Madikeri resort perched at 4,000ft, where the clouds literally descend into your rooms. This luxurious resort, which opened in December, is set within a 180-acre living rainforest. 'Everyone says 'Let's go to Coorg for the coffee plantations'. But we said 'Let's reinvent',' says Veer Vijay Singh, COO, Vivanta Hotels & Resorts by Taj.

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  At the Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat, the spa zone itself covers a massive 70 acres, making it among the biggest spas in the world, says Andreas Kraemer (below)

The Big Boys of the hospitality trade — both the Indian and international giants — are muscling their way into the luxury resort game, opening a host of new mega-properties across the country. With their superior financial clout, the hoteliers are offering bigger, better and more spectacular resorts that offer the promise of fancier experiential sojourns to their well-heeled guests.

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Do you fancy sailing to your own island for that ultimate resort vacation? Well, you needn't travel all the way to the Maldives now. How about sailing into the Banyan Tree Kerala when it opens by the year-end? It's set on its own private island, Nediyathuruthu, in the Alleppey backwaters. Visitors will take 20 minutes to get here by speedboat from the hotel's private jetty at Vaduthala, Kochi.

'We're known for our signature blend of romance and travel,' says Abid Butt, CEO, Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, the famous Thai operator of luxury boutique resorts that's entering India with this resort. And that's what he intends to bring to this 59 all-pool-villa resort with its breathtaking views of the backwaters.

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  The new resorts have larger and more lavish rooms too, as in this premium indulgence room at the Vivanta by Taj Bekal, says Veer Vijay Singh (below)

Other renowned resort players like the Singapore-based Alila Hotels & Resorts and Dusit International from Thailand are also bringing the international resort experience to India. Meanwhile, domestic majors like the Taj group, which practically created destinations like Goa and Kerala in the 1970s, are expanding too.

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The Taj group's Vivanta by Taj has opened three new resorts in the last two years starting with the Vivanta by Taj Dal View in Srinagar in 2011. Last year, it created two more spectacular resort destinations at Coorg and also Bekal in north Kerala. The Vivanta by Taj Bekal, which draws its design inspiration from the Kettuvallam houseboats of Kerala, is set amidst lush paddy fields and pristine beaches so you could easily imagine that you're in Bali instead. 'We've always believed in promoting new destinations. And all these hotels are in extremely unique locations,' says Singh.

Meanwhile, Alila Hotels first opened the award-winning Alila Diwa Goa set amidst rice plantations in Majorda two years ago. And now it will open the Alila Fort Bishangarh in an 18th-century warrior fort perched atop a granite hill near Jaipur by early next year. Says Mark A. Edleson, president, Alila Hotels & Resorts: 'It's a beautiful old fort so, we have a really special offering.'

On the other hand, how about enjoying the resort experience in the heart of a city? Well, Dusit Bird, the joint-venture between Dusit hotels and the Delhi-based Bird Group, is opening the Dusit Devarana just off the Delhi-Gurgaon highway shortly. It's spread over an oasis of eight acres covered with over 1,000 trees and large water-bodies. 'We're creating an extremely unique experience here,' says Sunil Mathur, regional vice-president, Dusit International.

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  The Alila Hotels' upcoming Alila Fort Bishangarh resort is located in an 18th century warrior fort near Jaipur. Photograph Courtesy Alila Hotels & Resorts

The players are opening new resorts because domestic leisure travel is growing explosively. Says Manav Thadani, chairman, HVS, a leading hospitality consultancy: 'The domestic market for leisure travel is developing and offers a huge opportunity for resorts.'

Size matters

The new resorts are relying on several factors to refresh the resort experience. For one, the accent is on space. Vivanta's Singh says that the older resorts were typically built on 15 acres to 20 acres. But now, big is beautiful with fewer rooms spread over larger areas.

So the Vivanta Dal View is perched on an around 60-acre hill. And the Vivanta Madikeri is set within a densely canopied rainforest and even built around the trees using eco-friendly materials like recycled wood and natural river stones.

Meanwhile, Alila has restored the warrior fort of Bishangarh with its 2.5m-thick outer walls while building an entirely new structure to house its 59 stately suites. The look is all contemporary. The restaurants are located inside the old fort while the lavish public areas, including banquet lawns, are at the bottom of the hill. 'We're creating a perfect blend of yesterday and tomorrow to give our guests a surprisingly different today,' says Atul Kapur, one of the hotel's three developers.

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  Abid Butt (below) promises to bring the Banyan Tree's signature blend of romance and travel to its first property in India, the one-island-one-resort Banyan Tree Kerala. Photographs Courtesy Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts

The biggest of the new resorts is the 320-acre Hilton Shillim — it's named after the Shillim village nearby — with its sheer-luxury-of-time-and-space appeal. Here, it's all about preserving nature right down to the hundreds of mango and jackfruit trees on the Shillim Estate, which is owned by the Writer Corporation of Mumbai. Motorised buggies transport you around the grounds and you even have your own private butler to meet your every need.

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'It's a challenge to bring this concept to India,' admits Kraemer. Hilton Shillim's pitched as a retreat not resort and it's divided into separate spa and lifestyle zones that offerm what Kraemerm calls 'the balance between detox and retox'. 'Nobody does that,' he says.

All this space is naturally translating into bigger rooms at the new resorts. At the new Vivantas, the rooms are 800sqft to 1,200sqft on an average. The Vivanta Madikeri has just 63 rooms, cottages and villas, including a 9,000-sqft Presidential Nirvana suite and five 3,300-sqft Luxury Bliss villas. And at the 26-acre Vivanta Bekal, every room has a private courtyard.

At the Hilton Shillim, you can choose between the spa villas at the bottom of the hill, the forest view villas in the middle tier and the valley view villas on top. They're all built with natural stone cut from the surrounding mountains and the interiors are minimalistic. A plunge pool and private garden beckon you through the glass-paned living room in the 2,260-sqft spa pool villa. The smaller 1076-sqft spa villa (without a pool) even has its own open-to-sky spa treatment room. At the top of the scale, the three presidential villas that will open by December will be spread over 6,000sqft with three bedrooms and a private pool each.

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  Guests can enjoy luxuries like dining in private at the Vivanta by Taj Dal View

Spa and more

Of course, no resort is complete without a spa today. But the question is how can you make your spa bigger, better and more relaxing than anyone else? The solution is to bring in the international touch and create a separate wellness zone too.

So, Banyan Tree is bringing its signature spa to Kerala but it's also creating its first Ayurvedic Centre. And the Vivanta Bekal has a separate 125,000-sqft wellness area with a 25,000-sqft spa where you can opt for a two-week Panchakarma programme too. Meanwhile, Vivanta Madikeri's 30,000-sqft wellness zone even offers a traditional Coorg Gudda bath, where the water is heated in a copper vessel over a wood fire in an outdoor pavilion.

Of course, Shillim is a complete wellness retreat in itself with the spa zone alone occupying 70 acres. 'It's probably the largest spa in the world,' says Kraemer. No kids are allowed in this zone. Hilton executives say the spa is built on a spot that has the 'highest crystal concentration as shown by satellite images'. There are 17 treatment rooms with private gardens here. And you can choose from over 80 treatments ranging from Watsu (that's the Japanese Shiatsu therapy in water) to a Kerstin Florian caviar facial. And if you want to rejuvenate your spirit, how about stepping into the special Meditation Cave or the open-air Yoga pavilion? You can even come for a two-week Ayurvedic or Yoga or detox retreat.

Experiences count

It's not enough to unwind in a resort, however. The new resorts are also all about creating experiences. Would you like to dine deux on a mountain top or picnic near a waterfall? Or perhaps you're adventurous enough to go paragliding or ziplining.

'All our Vivanta hotels offer signature experiences or what we call Vivanta motifs that are unique to a hotel and the location,' says Singh. So at Bekal, guests can drive to the nearby fishing village with the chef and pick the day's catch. Its wellness zone even has a homam, where guests can perform a yagna. And at the Vivanta Madikeri, you can take a rainforest walk with a naturalist.

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  Mark Edleson (below) says that the Alila experience is all about creating special memories for their guests and that's what they're doing at the Alila Diwa in Goa too

Meanwhile, Hilton Shillim has an entire lifestyle zone with a club and an extensive wine cellar too. You can go paragliding nearby or trek up to Shillim peak and enjoy a strawberries-and-cheese picnic with your partner. What's more, it has a Shillim Institute with cookery, pottery and dance studios, where visiting experts will conduct master classes. So how about signing up for a cooking class with a Nobu chef this month? Or you can take tips from a two-star Michelin chef from Germany in July.

Lavish spread

Now, what's a holiday without good food? Guests now expect the same food in resorts that they enjoy in a great city, says Singh. So that's what the new resorts are serving. You can enjoy a refreshing Kokum Mojito at Hilton Shillim's Green Table, which even does Ayurvedic dishes based on your blood group. Or you can try a wine-poached pear salad and avocado ice cream at the Vivanta Madikeri's Fern Hill restaurant.

Of course, all this luxury doesn't come cheap. The average rack rate at the Hilton Shillim is $600 while a night at the presidential villa will cost Rs 7,00,011 though this includes helicopter transfers et al. Tariffs at the new Vivanta resorts too are around $225-$250 (Rs 12,000-Rs 13,000) a night (with only breakfast).

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To be sure, the resort hotels come with special challenges not the least of which are building a property in a remote location and promoting a new destination, too, like in Shillim. Yet that isn't deterring the players. In fact, Kaushik Vardharajan, managing director, HVS says: 'You'll see more resorts opening over the next few years and in non-traditional resort destinations too.'

Indeed, Dusit's got resorts coming up in Goa and Rishikesh in three years. And Banyan Tree too will move to Goa by 2015. Vivanta by Taj has at least five more resorts opening over the next five years including in Rishikesh, Puducherry, the Andamans and Lakshwadeep. Then, more players are entering too. So Dubai's Jumeirah group is about to announce a project in Goa while Four Seasons is expected to enter Kerala. Clearly, it's fun times ahead for leisure travellers in India.

FAST FACTS

• The sprawling 320-acre Hilton Shillim Estate Retreat & Spa with its unusual mix of separate spa and lifestyle zones is the international chain’s first retreat property in all of Asia.

•The Vivanta by Taj brand has opened up new resort destinations in the country with its new properties at Madikeri in Coorg and at Bekal in north Kerala.

• Renowned resort groups like Banyan Tree and Dusit from Thailand, and Alila Hotels from Singapore are bringing the international resort experience to India.