In this episode of The Curious Concierge, Justin Sun speaks with Ankit Goenka, Founder & CEO of Jade Caps, about building a full-stack operating system for second homes across India and Asia — and why trust, technology, and local understanding matter more than scale alone.

India’s short-term rental market is often misunderstood — seen as fragmented, unstructured, or difficult to scale. But behind the complexity lies one of the fastest-growing hospitality opportunities in Asia.

In this episode, Justin sits down with Ankit Goenka, Founder & CEO of Jade Caps, whose journey spans global banking at HSBC to building a 200+ home portfolio across India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East. What began as a personal frustration with long hotel stays evolved into Jade Caps — a hospitality-tech platform managing premium homes, owners, and guests at institutional scale.

Ankit shares how India’s second-home market is being professionalized through technology, operations, and trust. From medical tourism and corporate relocations to villas, urban long stays, and multi-generational travel, the conversation explores why homes are increasingly replacing hotels — and what operators must get right to deliver quality at scale.

They dive deep into why Jade built its own AI-powered PMS, how WhatsApp-first guest journeys define hospitality in Asia, which data points actually drive revenue, and why regulation — not capital — may be the key to unlocking the sector’s next phase of growth.

This episode is a masterclass in building hospitality businesses in emerging markets — blending finance, real estate, technology, and human experience into a scalable, durable model.

As India and Asia enter a defining growth phase for short-term rentals and second homes, Ankit offers a rare operator-led perspective on what it truly takes to scale responsibly. This episode goes beyond listings and branding — it’s about systems, trust, and building hospitality businesses that can last.

(00:00) Introduction to The Curious Concierge

(00:33) From global banking to building homes

(02:22) Why hotels fail long-stay travelers

(05:11) Starting with one apartment — and the mental leap

(08:02) Trust, risk, and convincing owners to hand over keys

(11:32) Defining Jade Caps as a “trusted home”

(12:51) India’s short-term rental reality & misconceptions

(19:02) Will India repeat the West’s STR mistakes?

(24:30) Why Jade built its own PMS from scratch

(27:58) AI, WhatsApp, and unified guest communication

(28:30) What happens on a “no-guest day”

(30:33) Predicting owner returns with data

(31:18) The most overlooked metric that drives revenue

(33:39) Villas vs urban long stays: Stay Jade vs Red Olive

(38:52) How Indians travel today

(41:29) The future of India’s STR market

(44:13) Why Jade isn’t becoming a property owner (yet)

(45:13) The one thing holding the industry back

(46:47) Rapid fire round

(49:44) What’s next for Jade Caps

(52:01) Closing reflections

Ankit Goenka | Founder & CEO, Jade Caps

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Jade Caps