What would you like to discover?
Ask about our member hotels, travel designers, magazine stories, events and membership.
Rigzin Wangtak Kalon
Owner, Lchang Nang Retreat — Nubra Valley, Ladakh, India
A study in building community partnership into daily operations rather than as a side program — using close to zero incremental infrastructure.
View the member hotel
Lchang Nang Retreat
Nubra Valley, Ladakh, India
17
Boutique, high-altitude (~3,100m)
2016
A native of Kyagar Village, where Lchang Nang now stands, Kalon holds a B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi and spent 14 years in oil and gas before returning home. Watching tourism accelerate across Ladakh without the infrastructure to absorb it responsibly, he built Lchang Nang as a working answer to that problem — and his engineering background shows up directly in the property's systems: he's collaborated with IIT Delhi researchers on plastic biodegradation and low-carbon energy storage, and been interviewed on data-driven water management in the region.
Community partnership as core operations, not a side program
How it actually works
Lchang Nang was the first property in the valley to route parts of its core guest experience through the Women's Alliance of Teggar — not as an add-on activity, but as the operation itself. The kitchen, Chansa, is run by local women; baskets and textiles throughout the property come from the same alliance; a signature dinner happens in a 400-year-old community home rather than on-site.
What it took
A pre-existing relationship with the Alliance, and a willingness to let community partners set some terms — dish selection, pricing, scheduling — rather than the property dictating them.
Look for one guest-facing function you're already paying for and ask whether a local partner could deliver it instead of you curating it for guests. It shifts the economics from cost centre to shared value.
Start measuring before you can afford a platform
How it actually works
A dedicated Sustainability and Regenerative Officer logs energy, water and waste in Excel, tracked over time — no dashboard, no vendor contract, just a role and a habit.
The barrier to measurement is usually assumed to be tooling. It's actually ownership. A spreadsheet with a named owner beats no tracking while you wait to afford software.
Lchang Nang Retreat, Nubra Valley
Lchang Nang Retreat
17 rooms in a high-altitude orchard, Nubra Valley, Ladakh
Explore the hotel