It is not a difficult sight to come across a fortress or palace atop an isolated hillock while visiting India. For many of the travelers, who are not very much familiar with India, it makes them wonder if there is anybody staying up there. It is also a matter of great speculation about the grandeur and intrigue of former kings and queens. While grandeur and intrigue of past has been last forever, the mementoes are still alive, kicking, and if you wish they could be yours for a small price, then you are in the right place!

Heritage Hotels as a concept born in India as much from necessity as from spotting an opportunity. The prime necessity was to present the past grandeur of India to the tourists who are interested. Another important aspect of the initiation of this concept was the saving an important part of Indian heritage. The owners of the great havelis and palaces were not wealthy enough to maintain these huge buildings and these palaces were now falling prey to disuse and neglect.

Here then was the opportunity to kill two, nay three, birds with one stone. If some of these fascinating palaces, forts and havelies could be converted into hotels offering the ambience of medieval Indian décor and lifestyle, they could serve as an added incentive to visit India. In the process, the properties, with their new found commercial angle, could be restored to their past glory by careful restoration; and the erstwhile royalty could bask in the sunshine of a regular income source which dried up when their principalities were dissolved.

Heritage Hotels, a term commonly used to include all hotels that are being run in such restored royal properties-were thus a foregone conclusion in the history of the Indian Hospitality Industry. And so they were born. Reborn, rather!

Amongst the heritage hotels in India are: