Club Mahindra – Midst of Nature

Having established its presence in the leisure travel industry with its numerous resorts, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts is now on the expansion mode. 

Tired of the city life and need a break to rejuvenate yourself by basking in the quieter pleasures of nature, then the best resort would be to visit a tourist resort. 

However, one is always apprehensive of the quality of accommodation, food or the service at any of these destinations. Given these factors in mind, the leisure travel industry has been growing at rapid pace in the country with a few established players setting up of a chain of resorts with the needed quality standards. One such player in the industry is Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited (a part of the auto major M&M group), with its brand Club Mahindra Holidays, have carved a special niche for itself and are now on a expansion mode. 

Having opened its latest resort in Kodagu district and the first in Karnataka, Club Mahindra now has a total of 14 resorts which includes two in Thailand. “The first step for us was always to get the credibility and having established our reputation we are now on the expansion mode,” says, Arun Nanda, chairman, Mahindra Holidays. 

Club Mahindra was established in 1997, with its first resort opened in Munnar, Kerala. Nanda says, “When we opened first in Munnar, people were asking where is this place.” But now it is all history as the “God’s own country” does not need any more publicity for its tourist destinations. 

The steady expansion of Club Mahindra Holidays saw it expanding its resorts in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Goa in the south with Uttaranchal and Himachal Pradesh. 

Nanda says, “We are predominantly in the Southern and Northern parts of the country, now we would like to expand in Western part of India especially on the Konkan coast in Maharashtra and the central part of India.”

Club Mahindra in its resorts has typically the studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments with the accommodation largely available to its members. The membership fees varies on the type of accommodation one would like and runs up to 25 years. 

The membership of Club Mahindra which stood at 10,000 in year 2000 has touched 30,000 by March of 2004. The company is trying to reach one lakh membership within the next five years.

Club Mahindra also screens its application for membership with the predominant share being given to families. Nanda says that modern day lifestyle does not provide much time for oneself or others. “We hope people visiting these resorts would improve the bondings among the family members.” 

Mahindra Holidays posted revenues of around Rs 175 crore 2004-05 fiscal and plans to touch Rs 270 crore by the end of the 2005-06 fiscal. As Mahindra Holidays Managing Director Ramesh Ramanathan says, “We are seeing a great surge in the number of domestic tourists and we need not depend on the overseas people.” 

Club Mahindra resorts was the first hospitality company to have received the the PCMM 3.0 certification. It has also tied up with Resorts Condominium International, the world’s largest holiday exchange network which allows its members to stay at 40 other resorts in India and 3700 RCI affiliated resorts across the country. 

Club Mahindra has made its latest foray into the “Scotland of the east” in Kodagu district in Karnataka setting up the Club Mahindra Kodagu Valley. As one drives through the winding roads and reaches the district headquarters in Mercara, the resort is around six kilometers from the town and nestled amidst lush coffee and cardamon plantations. 

Nanda says that they had visited around 15 sites in Kodagu before they zeroed in on the current location which spread over 32 acres. However, great care has been taken in the creating the structures in the resort area without damaging the trees or spoiling the natural beauty of the place. 

Rahul Kadri of Kadri Consultants, the architects of the resort said that they set up structures only at the edge of the property and these are not visible to people on the outside. Even the swimming pool at the resort has an odd shape as they did not want to cut down the trees. The landscaping has been done by Belt Collins of Hawaii and Singapore. 

Currently, the resort has around 60 apartments and this would be expanded to 170 by the end of this year. However, all the expansion would not witness any destruction of the natural beauty as just four to six acres of the total land of the resort would be used and remaining would be left as it is. 

People visiting these resorts would not only enjoy the natural splendour of the place but also visit the numerous other places of tourist importance in the district. 

As Ramanathan says, “I have met guests coming from Mumbai who exclaimed that they did not know such a place even existed in the country.” 

Having set up its presence in the State, he says Club Mahindra is keenly looking at other destinations at Gokarna and Dandeli though no concrete plans have been made.

List of Club Mahindra’s Resorts

Lakeview, Munnar

Varca Beach, Goa

Valley Resort, Binsar

Manipur Villa, Binsar

Hilltop at Avalon, Mussoorie

Snowview Kufri Holiday Resort, Kufri

Snowpeaks Timber Trail, Manali

Danish Villa at Sheddan, Ooty

Floating Palms, Poovar

Tigerwilds at Claridges Hideway, Corbett

Coaker’s Villa, Kodaikanal

Kodagu Valley, Coorg

Elegance Suites, Bangkok

Read through these Club Mahindra reviews and get a sneak peak of how our happy members are spending their family vacations at popular holiday destinations of India with Club Mahindra resorts!