Abhiraj Rathod has faced a lot of struggles in his journey but never gave up, he paved his way out of difficulties and is proving his competence in the hospitality industry.

Abhiraj Rathod is the Director of Operations in Ranakpur Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. He is also affiliated with National Geographic.

Abhiraj Rathod was born in Ranikhet, Uttarakhand. At that time, his father was posted there, as he was also in the hospitality sector. Abhiraj did his schooling from Nainital. He was an average student but was a talented boxing player during his school time. Unfortunately he had to quit boxing and focus on his career due to his father's untimely demise when Abhiraj was only in 11th standard. He chose to pursue a Hotel Management and Catering Technology course for his graduation as he already had a bit of knowledge about it.

Immediately after completing his hotel management from Dehradun, Abhiraj got placed in the Oberoi Group of Hotels and started working there. After some time, he quit his job at the Oberoi and joined The Leela Palace as an executive and later switched to Marriott Hotel, Delhi after working there for some years. He didn’t prefer working in Delhi, so he, on the advice of his fiancee who is already working in the tourism sector of Udaipur, came to Udaipur and started a joint venture with two partners.

He started a cafe after some research by the name of Brewmen, but he left the partnership after three years. Finally, he joined Ranakpur Hospitality Pvt. Ltd. in the post of Director of Operations and is currently working there. He has tried his luck in the export business too, but COVID got the best of him and it didn’t work out.

Abhiraj faced numerous challenges after the death of his father but his elder brother and his mother proved to be a crucial support system for him. His elder brother, who is now in the army, had started working in call centres to support the family and his mother, being from a tourism background herself, got the position of his father. Her mother educated and nurtured both her sons and thus became a role model for them.

The only thing that Abhiraj regrets in his life is quitting boxing. He says that he shouldn’t have left boxing and should have pursued it professionally. He says if he had a time-machine, he would like to change this decision of his.

In his free time, Abhiraj likes to sing, dance, go trekking and rock climbing. He also likes doing wooden craftwork. He loves spending time with nature.

Two of the biggest achievements of his life are also two of his earliest. First one being his love-life, his loving fiancee whom he is dating for around 12 years now and is set to marry soon. And the second one being his professional life, his campus placement, where he performed excellently and got placed at reputed hotels. He also considers his successful venture of the cafe to be a big achievement.

Abhiraj firmly believes in karma and has made it his life mantra too. He believes that if you have positive intentions you will meet good people and eventually do better in life too.

To the younger generation, Abhiraj says that never give up, sometimes life may be hard but it will ultimately get better if you keep working hard.