VMPL
New Delhi [India], September 3: What began in 2024 as an idea for a hotel rooftop gradually became Verre, a distinctive hospitality destination shaped through nearly two years of strategy, collaboration, creativity and countless decisions. In 2024, an empty rooftop at Vivanta Goa Miramar presented Divya Kamat with a question.
What could this space become if it were given an identity of its own?
The answer could not simply be another hotel restaurant or a conventional rooftop venue. The location needed a reason for people to seek it out, including those who were not staying at the hotel. It needed to complement the property while developing a personality strong enough to stand independently.
That question marked the beginning of Verre.
Over the next almost two years, the rooftop would move through ideation, market research, concept development, planning, design, budgeting, execution, pre-opening preparation and launch. Divya remained closely involved throughout the journey, guiding the idea from an initial possibility into a fully formed hospitality destination.
As Vice President of Kamat Constructions & Resorts and DRK Ventures, the owning companies behind Vivanta Goa Panaji and Vivanta Goa Miramar, Divya had grown up around conversations connected to hotels. However, Verre gave her an opportunity to take responsibility for a concept in a deeply personal and hands-on way.
“I saw an opportunity to create something distinctive,” she says. “The intention was to build a destination that would strengthen the hotel’s positioning but would also become a place that Goa’s local community and tourist would choose likewise.”
The project would eventually bring together Divya’s interests in business, design, art, hospitality and human behaviour, but getting there required much more than imagining how the finished rooftop should look.
Growing Up Around Hospitality
Divya’s introduction to the hotel industry began early. Her family had owned hotels for as long as she can remember and spent most of her childhood playing in hotel lobbies and swimming in their pools. When she was 15, her family was developing Vivanta Goa Panaji. She watched the property take shape and became interested in everything that happened behind the guest-facing polish of a hotel.
That early exposure stayed with her through university. Divya completed a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from UCLA and later earned a Master’s in Management from New York University. Her academic interest in hospitality continued through her master’s thesis, which examined the impact of online travel agencies on the hotel industry.
An internship with the Sales and Marketing team at The Pierre in New York gave her another perspective on the industry.
It was, she recalls, her first close look at the extraordinary amount of coordination hidden behind the apparent glamour of luxury hospitality.
Yet her first professional chapter took her into finance rather than hotels. Divya worked as an analyst covering public and private equity at ICICI Securities and IIFL Asset Management and completed CFA Level I.
Finance taught her to examine the larger commercial picture behind an idea. It trained her to question whether an opportunity was viable, how a business could create long-term value and whether an exciting concept could also remain financially sustainable.
Her return to Goa during the pandemic opened another significant chapter. Divya immersed herself in art, exhibiting her work across India, gaining representation through galleries in Europe and selling her work internationally.
Art sharpened her understanding of colour, composition and visual storytelling, but its influence went beyond aesthetics. It encouraged her to think about how people emotionally respond to what they see and experience.
By the time she began working more closely within her family’s hospitality business, she carried perspectives shaped by several very different worlds.
Engineering brought structure. Finance brought commercial discipline. Art encouraged intuition and experimentation. Hospitality gave her a place to bring these ways of thinking together.
Imagining More Than a Rooftop
From the outset, the ambition for Verre extended beyond creating an attractive rooftop.
The project had to answer practical questions about feasibility, investment and operations. At the same time, it needed a distinct narrative, visual identity and atmosphere.
A hotel venue designed primarily for resident guests operates differently from a destination that hopes to build a relationship with Goa’s local as well as tourist audience. The latter must give people a compelling reason to return, independent of whether they have a room key.
This meant that Verre could not rely solely on its location or view. Its design language, music, food, service, artwork and overall energy had to be memorable.
“For me, hospitality is more than operating hotels or creating attractive spaces,” Divya says. “It is about understanding how environments influence emotion, behaviour and memory.”
That belief influenced the way she approached Verre. Rather than treating the project as a series of separate design and operational tasks, she considered how every decision would affect the way a guest moved through and responded to the space.
Would the entrance create anticipation? Would the lighting remain atmospheric without making the space uncomfortable? Would the seating encourage guests to linger? Would the artwork deepen the venue’s identity rather than simply decorate it? Would the experience feel equally relevant to hotel residents and local visitors?
These questions became as important as the selection of any individual material, fixture or piece of furniture.
Almost Two Years Behind the Finished Space
Hospitality projects often appear effortless once completed. Guests see the lighting, the furniture, the food and the atmosphere. They rarely see the long process of decisions, changes, approvals and problem-solving behind them.
Verre took almost two years from the initial idea to launch.
As Project Lead, Divya’s involvement extended across concept development, planning, budgeting, vendor selection, interiors, lighting, furniture, artwork, pre-opening preparation and launch. She also worked closely with specialist teams responsible for contractor coordination, procurement, timelines, kitchen planning and hotel operations.
Her role required her to move continuously between creative and commercial conversations.
An idea that appeared visually exciting still needed to function within the realities of a working hotel. A design decision could affect procurement, maintenance, service movement or the overall budget. A change that seemed minor on paper could involve several teams and create consequences elsewhere in the project.
The challenge was not merely to make individual decisions. It was to ensure that those decisions continued to support the original purpose of the venue.
Divya identifies three challenges as particularly significant: translating an idea into something tangible, keeping multiple stakeholders aligned and balancing creativity with commercial feasibility.
Those challenges also shaped her understanding of leadership.
Leading Without Pretending to Know Everything
Verre involved engineers, interior designers, consultants, branding and marketing teams, contractors, hotel operations, and food and beverage and kitchen teams.
With so many specialists involved, effective leadership did not mean attempting to make every technical decision independently. It meant creating clarity around what the project was trying to achieve and ensuring that each team’s contribution strengthened the same central idea.
“I believe in surrounding myself with experts in their respective fields, giving them the space to do what they do best, and then bringing those perspectives together into one cohesive vision,” Divya says.
Her approach was to remain closely engaged without interfering with the expertise of the people around her.
“Rather than trying to control every detail, I see my role as maintaining the integrity of the concept, asking the right questions and making informed decisions.”
This collaborative approach allowed specialists to contribute fully while keeping the project from becoming fragmented.
For Divya, the most successful outcome was not one dramatic feature or a single design statement. It was the way the many individual elements eventually began to feel as though they belonged together.
Creating with Intention
Verre also reflects Divya’s preference for thoughtful choices over unnecessary excess.
“Integrity, curiosity and intentionality are the values I return to most often,” she says. “I believe every decision should have a clear purpose rather than existing simply because it is fashionable or expected.”
This approach is particularly relevant at a time when hospitality concepts are often designed around immediate visual impact. A dramatic installation or highly photographed corner may generate online attention, but it does not automatically create comfort, loyalty or commercial success.
Divya believes a successful hospitality destination must work at several levels. It must photograph well, but it must also function well. It must feel current, but it should not become dated as soon as a design trend passes. It must offer personality without losing sight of the business behind it.
“I value thoughtful design over excess and long-term thinking over short-term trends,” she says. “Above all, I want projects to feel authentic to their context and create genuine value for the people who experience them.”
At Verre, that meant thinking beyond how the venue would appear on opening night. It meant considering how it would operate, evolve and build a relationship with its audience over time.
Finding Her Own Place in the Business
Verre has also given Divya a clearer individual identity within her family’s real estate and hospitality business.
Being part of a hotel-owning family gave her early access to the industry, but it did not automatically define the contribution she wanted to make within it. That understanding developed through education, professional experience, creative exploration and the responsibility of leading a substantial project.
Verre became the place where she could apply her own point of view.
Her engineering background encouraged her to remain grounded in execution. Her experience in finance helped her evaluate the commercial logic behind decisions. Her work as an artist shaped her sensitivity to storytelling and emotional impact. Her interest in philosophy continues to influence the questions she asks about people, behaviour and memory.
Rather than choosing between these interests, she has begun using them collectively to shape the kind of hospitality professional she wants to become.
She is particularly interested in developing concepts that balance commercial success with identity, cultural relevance and a genuine sense of place.
The Woman Behind Verre
Today, guests arriving at Verre encounter a completed destination. They see the artwork, the lighting, the skyline and the many details that give the venue its personality.
Behind that apparent ease are nearly two years of work and a project that began with little more than an empty rooftop and a belief that it could become something meaningful.
For Divya, Verre represents neither a final destination nor a one-off achievement. It is the beginning of a more visible role in hospitality and an opportunity to develop a body of work that reflects her own ideas.
“I have always been deeply curious about the human experience,” she says.
That curiosity may be the most consistent thread running through her journey so far. It is present in her art, in the questions she asks about business, and in the way she thinks about spaces.
At Verre, it helped turn an empty rooftop into a destination with a story, a personality and a reason for people to return.
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