Have you heard of the shoppable hotel room? Well, it’s here

“CHEC KIN” says the sign on the marble wall by the reception. 

It’s not a typo. This oddly split verb phrase is in fact a play on the name of Mumbai’s newest boutique hotel, The Kin. It’s one of many little pieces of whimsy that give this building its big personality. 

Mere metres from Shivaji Park’s shoreline, The Kin is brand new, utterly gorgeous, thoughtfully designed, and still full of light-hearted playfulness that makes you stop, notice, and chuckle. For instance, the ground floor sottoscala has a winged, tasseled armchair, alongside a round table that looks like it’s melting, dripping metal. Behind the chair is a vinyl record player attached to headphones. It’s an under-stairway listening room for one, its stepped roof padded and upholstered in a swirling monochrome landscape that protects passing heads from potential bumps. 

Even climbing up and down the kota staircase is an exercise in gawking. There is art everywhere—provocative photographs on one side, meditative abstract canvases on the other, prints from Paper Collective in Copenhagen, and a glass balustrade that catches the angled golden light coming in through the landing windows. Walk down one of the corridors leading to the rooms and on a cabinet lies a puffy, shiny, grinning metal Michelin Man statue, his elbows akimbo, weighing down a book titled Sneaker of the Year. The tyre-company’s mascot in the hallway is a nod to the hotel’s co-founder Imrun Sethi’s time as an apprentice at Marco Pierre White’s Michelin-starred restaurant, The Criterion in Piccadilly.

The Kin, as the name suggests, comprises founders—Sethi and his sister, Guneet Singh—who are siblings. Mumbai, Pune and most-recently Goa know Sethi as the founder of Terttulia—in fact, the Mumbai outpost of the restaurant, which opened a little over a decade ago, occupies much of the ground floor of The Kin’s building.  Singh is a product designer who loves antiquing and design hunting. She picked up figurines like the Michelin mascot and phrenology heads made of ceramic, which can be seen on a shelf flanking their old-school elevator shaft, from a little shop on London’s Portobello Road. “I like to dig deep into the interiors of a space,” she says. At The Kin, she’s provided enough rabbit holes for guests to follow, from pages of books rolled up and kept in glass jars, to illustrations on their do-not-disturb door hangers. Every tchotchke at The Kin has a backstory connected to the siblings, their many journeys and adventures thus far. 

Evidence of Singh’s eclectic taste are also amply displayed in The Kin’s concept store leading to the reception. There are custom hand-poured candles, an array of funky lamps, blown glass vases in blue fishnet, candelabra that looks like coral, a vase that’s a clutch of crimson chillies, paper-wrapped bouquets sourced daily from Dadar’s historic ‘phool gully’, and copies of Nanki’s Book of Positivity, hand-drawn by Singh’s daughter, where each page holds a little thought to brighten the bleakest day. “We wanted to change the narrative of the hotel check-in experience,” says Sethi. “It’s so consumingly boring. Here, while checking in, you can browse the shelves of the store, or go to the vinyl listening booth.”

You could also get a mini quiche and a cocktail or a cup of Nandan coffee a few steps past the stairs. Terttulia is The Kin’s in-house restaurant, offering everything from all-day breakfast to late-night in-room burgers and fries. Folks who have been to this dining room in the daytime will know what we mean when we say that this spot in Shivaji Park has great light. The skylit sunroom of Terttulia has a way of making everyone look like they have a very effective skincare routine. The wide entrance corridor that houses The Kin’s concept store, its lobby area, and reception shares this same light, but it’s somehow even glowier. Could it be because some of the panels on the roof are mirrors? Look up, and try not to take a selfie. I challenge you. The musically-inclined won’t miss Sethi’s past experience as a DJ, which rings clear in the music streaming through this space. Like us, you may want to keep auto-Shazam on while you shop or check in.

Fun fact: Before it was The Kin, this building used to be the two-star Hotel Parkway, owned by Sethi’s maternal grandfather, also the founder of Pritam da Dhaba. (A little sleuthing on hotel booking sites will also reveal that before it became Terttulia—or ‘Tert’ as the cool kids call it—the ground floor restaurant used to be a locally-liked eatery called Mumbai Masala.) The building’s transformation is a project that the siblings started pre-pandemic. It has been five years in the making, alongside architect and designer Samir Raut of Atelier Nowhere, who over this long collaboration has become kindred. And so, as Singh and Sethi point out, The Kin gets its name from it being all in the family. 

A walkthrough makes it clear that this is a hotel that’s going to have guests who request specific preferred rooms on repeat visits, possibly sulking if they don’t get them. (We would.) Especially since each of the 15 chambers, across three floors, has its own character, lavishly supplied by its distinctive wall finishes, furnishings, flooring, and frames, all styled by Singh, who was assisted in the last six months by ACKM Studio to bring it all together. 

We lingered in rooms with checkered and chevron floors, then strolled across ones with wood, Jaisalmer stone, and white marble streaked grey, like a glacier in motion. We marvelled at the in situ terrazzo that flowed across the floor into sunken tubs. We ran our hands over textured walls, fluted glass, and tucked-away sun-lit writing desks. Because they are each so unique, a tour of the rooms could take much deliberation over hours, so the siblings are planning an album to make selecting easier. Even so, a Kin-ness ties the rooms together via a common design language, elements that populate each room: a floor lamp with a squiggle in its pole, a push-button rotary phone in retro pastel shades, open wardrobes, fluffy room slippers, and an in-house bath line called, what else but, sKIN. 

If guests feel like taking a piece of The Kin back with them, they absolutely can. The art in the corridors and rooms at present is a rotating collection curated by A&H Collab, and available for sale (works are priced between ₹50,000 to ₹2,00,000; you’ll spot a catalogue near the Michelin Man.) As a way of celebrating the hotel’s excellent curation, almost everything in any room can be preordered with a lead time of a week to ten days—from the throws on the beds, to the signature lamps. “Everything except the beds, the mattresses, the wardrobes, shower fittings, and curtains…” says Sethi when we realise it’s easier to check what’s not for sale. 

As we sweep our gaze across the rooms, they seem cool and inviting, as ready for a solo writer’s retreat as a romantic weekend, or a slow weekend with friends bookended by long walks by the water, or the neighbourhood’s many very fun street eats. Bathed in glorious soft light thanks to porthole windows and slanted glass panes, they look out to lush green leaves, or the glimmering sea, or to a city in movement, making it all look somewhat cinematic through these wooden window frames. It’s compelling enough to make us, even as Mumbai residents, want to staycation at The Kin. 

Address: Veer Savarkar Marg, off Cadell Road, Shivaji Park Sea Face Road, Mumbai 400028.

Telephone: +91 22 2445 3362 / 63

Website: www.thekinhotel.com 

The Kin opens for bookings on February 1, 2025. Room rates start at ₹10,000 plus taxes per night.