Creating Inroads to an untapped country. Boutique Hotels are giving new challenges to big, branded luxury hotels. Andhra Art & Craft Vizag is one of them.
Deepali Nandwani
HOTELIER INDIA
An artistic interpretation and rendition of the state goddess (left) and a headboard from the Etikopakka room at the Andhra Art and Craft Hotel in Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The marketing battle is half won when you have the endless azure-grey beach at the backyard of your hotel. Add arts and crafts to the mix, and you have piqued the interest of the most hardened luxury traveler.
Nilofar Haja
ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST
How about staying in the world’s first handicrafts hotel? That's Andhra Arts & Crafts Hotel for you. Joining a growing league of Art Hotels in the world, the Palm Beach Hotel in Visakhapatnam, recently opened up its heritage wing, the Andhra Arts & Crafts Hotel. It pushes forth the legacy of Andhra by introducing 24 boutique rooms decorated in themes of leather shadow puppetry, Budithi brass work, and Etikoppaka toys.
OUTLOOK TRAVELLER
World’s First Handicrafts Hotel Is An Ode To Andhra’s Local Art Communities
As the heritage wing of Palm Beach Hotel in Vizag, the Andhra Arts and Crafts Hotel is a visual treat from the minute you walk in. With a huge mural of Telugu Thalli - a goddess symbolizing good agriculture harvest, giant cartwheels hanging from the roof, and multiple chocolate-coloured monkeys holding up the pillars in the lobby - this hotel is inspired from Andhra’s deep-rooted artistic essence. Making use of Andhra’s lesser-known handicrafts like leather shadow puppetry and Etikoppaka toys, the Arts and Crafts Hotel is a unique storytelling experience with an evolved aesthetic that is also traditionally inspired. An initiative that has added considerable value to Andhra Pradesh - both culturally and economically - it’s an unparalleled, indigenous experience representative of Andhra’s arts and craft heritage that is being painstakingly revived through efforts of the entire community.
Pankhuri Shukla
HOMEGROWN
