In today’s world, people are willing to shell out a premium for an experience of a lifetime. This could be a relaxing getaway with friends or loved ones, or just a professionally managed environment that encourages innovation and networking. For Laksh Dembla, this has meant designing environments where people can genuinely step away from screens and connect, offering a standout experience that they would cherish forever
To enable him to do this Dembla aligns these requirements to his civil engineering degree, allowing him to shape his perspective across hospitality, entertainment and curated events.
“I tend to look at things as systems: where is the friction, what is missing, and how can it be designed better?” he explains. “However, I have also now come to realise that some of the most interesting gaps are hardly ever technical. They are behavioural, emotional and social. We are more digitally connected than ever, but there is also a growing need for meaningful offline experiences, a stronger sense of community and spaces where people can genuinely switch off.”
That realization has formed the basis of his ventures. Whether through the quiet foliage of Whispering Woods Resort, the curated conversations of After8, or his close collaboration with Sets in the City—the sprawling filming and experiential venue created and run by his father, Rajesh Dembla—the central mission remains identical: creating spaces that make people want to participate and cherish nature and community without distractions.
Redefining the Getaway: Hospitality by Subtraction
For Laksh, Whispering Woods offers a natural escape from the stress and commotion of Mumbai, without making it challenging to reach there. With time, he realised that such an escape meant different things to different people.
“A couple looking for privacy, a group of friends, a family, or someone coming in for a slower weekend all respond to a property differently,” Dembla says. “That is why the accommodation has evolved into distinct experiences. Kayu Villas have a more open, tropical sensibility, the Signature Wooden Cabins are intimate and familiar, Oakhaus offers a different style of communal living, while Bambusa Sanctum is being developed as something quieter and more immersive.”
The retreat integrates open-air cinema, acoustic sets, wellness programs, and workshops, but Dembla resists the urge to program every hour.
“An experience should either deepen someone’s relationship with the place, introduce them to something interesting, or make it easier for people to connect with each other. If it does none of those things, it is probably just filling time.”
This reflects a wider shift in urban luxury.
“For a long time, hospitality was communicated largely through addition: more facilities, larger rooms, more elaborate buffets,” he notes. “Increasingly, value can also come from subtraction. Less noise. Fewer decisions. More privacy. Better sleep. Cleaner air. Time outdoors. Food you do not have to overthink. Space, both physically and mentally.”
Yet delivering effortless tranquility demands rigorous back-end precision.
“The guest remembers the entire system, not just the room,” Dembla points out. “Consistency is actually built through very unglamorous things: processes, maintenance, training, response time and operational discipline. The challenge is building strong systems while giving the team enough judgement to respond differently to different guests.”
The Architecture of Connection: After8 and Beyond
Dembla applied that same structural scrutiny to the world of professional socializing through After8, an initiative designed to strengthen business meetups.
“A lot of traditional networking is built around maximising the number of people you meet. The problem is that volume does not necessarily create value,” Dembla says. “You can exchange fifty introductions in an evening and still leave without having had one meaningful conversation. After8 came from wanting to reverse that equation. If someone leaves with two relationships they genuinely want to continue, I think that is more meaningful than leaving with twenty contacts.”
Scaling such an initiative requires protecting its soul. Rather than chasing sheer headcounts, Dembla focuses on replicating the core standards of curation. “Real-world interactions form the bedrock of this concept and will always stay central,” he emphasizes. “Technology should enhance the sense of community and not replace it.”
Beyond networking, Laksh has also been collaborating with his father, Rajesh Dembla, to run Sets in the City, a physical environment that fosters imagination, storytelling and production. All of these ventures remain independent, but offer different approaches to the same challenge: Make people participate in something physical, while leaving their screens.
By interweaving Sets in the City’s visual storytelling environments with Whispering Woods’ natural sanctuaries and After8’s curated circles, Dembla is carving out a distinctive ecosystem.
“As more of our work, consumption and interaction becomes digital,” he concludes, “I think businesses that give people compelling reasons to participate in the physical world are going to become increasingly important. The exact format may change, but that is probably the space I will continue building in.”
