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a shift in interest from there to Nepal and expect a big bump in business in 2023 . The timing is just right for the launching of Mountain Lodges of Nepal and Shinta Mani Mustang . The New Nepal is here .”
To learn more about MLN , HOTELS recently spoke to Namgyal Sherpa , CEO of Sherpa Hospitality Group and a born mountaineer whose mother , the late Mrs . Pasang Lhamu Sherpa , was famously the first Nepali woman to summit Mount Everest . We also spoke to Jason Friedman of J . M . Friedman & Co . to get perspective on the marketplace .
HOTELS : Can you elaborate on why you have launched Mountain Lodges of Nepal ? Namgyal Sherpa : My goal has always been to build on what my family has created over the past 30 years . Now it ’ s about the overall quality of the experience and making the most luxurious lodge-to-lodge trekking journeys in the Nepali Himalaya .
My father and uncle created these circuits in the Annapurna and Everest regions that could be very difficult to set up today . It ’ s our goal to build on that by elevating the style , comfort hospitality levels , and food and beverage offerings .
Launching MLN was important because it gave a sense of hope and a new beginning coming out of COVID . It is an evolution from the old adventure comfort lodges concept to the new brand , a new team led by the young generation of Nepalis
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who are very much motivated and passionate to lead . It was challenging to invest during COVID because there was a lot of uncertainty around when things would go back to normal . However , we took a more bullish approach and speculated based on our research and consultation with our peers and decided to move ahead – this has turned out to be the right timing and we are happy with it .
H : What should the global hotel industry know / understand about Sherpa Hospitality ? NS : Sherpa Hospitality is the management company that J . M . Friedman & Co . worked with us to develop and establish . We saw a gap in our corporate structure and within Nepal hospitality at large as there were no boutique hospitality
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management companies in the country .
By consolidating our brands and leveraging our scattered hospitality resources in hotels , restaurants , food production , logistics , finance , sales , marketing , travel and adventure into one office we could create a leaner and more efficient business operation that could focus on the quality of experience in a more efficient way that would allow us to grow higher quality hospitality .
H : What are some of the highlights of the renovations ? NS : Seeing the lodges that I grew up in being renovated with a new style and comfort has been much more exciting than building all of the new lodges . Honestly , building the new lodges has been much easier
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Guest room rendering from Shinta Mani Mustang
than renovating the old ones . The highlight of the renovation is Phakding lodge , which we are re-building F & B and public areas situated on top of our old helipad overlooking the Dudh Koshi River . Of course , we had to also focus on the basics first . So , we are improvising our entire MEP services .
H : What are the biggest challenges of the development of the new brand ? NS : We worked with an amazing team from J . M . Friedman & Co . and Advant AI , a global branding agency . Together , they guided us through the process and made it fun .
The big challenge was getting the timing right as we were doing the MLN branding during the first year of COVID and were
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12 hotelsmag . com Nov / Dec 2022 |