Rajan Thapa on striving to be the best

Rajan Thapa is the proprietor of Diamond Hill Resort, which is situated in Panauti, in the midst of nature. His grandparents, who raised him, instilled in him an appreciation for hard work and dedication and he credits that for all the successes in life.

Thapa was born in 1970 in Kavre. He wanted to continue his studies after school but due to a financial crisis in his family he couldn’t do so. However, he passed the Public Service Commission exam as a non-gazetted second-class officer. He then worked in Pokhara and Kapilvastu for a few years. He used to travel a lot and got into a lot of accidents which eventually compelled him to leave the job.

After that, he got a chance to work with German-Austrian businessperson, Walter Schweiger. Schweiger had a hotel inside the Boudha Stupa premises. Schweiger encouraged him to learn German and pursue a bachelor’s degree in Food and Beverage. Thapa was then further trained and given the role of the food and beverage manager at Schweiger’s hotel.

“I admired Schweiger a lot. He used to treat me like a business partner and sometimes like a family member too,” says Thapa. “But I felt he used to dominate me in front of the other workers. What I also didn’t like was that there used to be a sign at the entrance of his hotel saying Nepalis weren’t allowed inside. Schweiger did that as he used to think Nepalis were uncivilized and not of high class. Some royals, however, were allowed in the hotel.”

But Schweiger sent him to Germany for training and Thapa is still grateful for that as he got a chance to learn about wood carving and design during that trip. He returned from Germany in 1997 but circumstances led to him resigning from his managerial post at Schweiger’s hotel. “It was a conflict of working styles, especially with his wife,” he says.

He then joined an American franchise company, Sterling Catering, whose manager was John Matthew. With Matthew’s team he got a chance to visit Qatar in 1999 and slowly started traveling to places like UAE, Bahrain etc. “Whenever I think of those days, I thank Matthew for trusting me and taking me to different places around the world with his team. He also made me the operations manager of four five-star hotels which had over 2000 workers,” says Thapa.

However, there too, Thapa faced the same issue. A part-time French chef was paid more than him. “I realized that Nepalis were dominated everywhere and I decided that I wouldn’t work for any foreign company from then on.” After he returned to Nepal, he considered doing something in the hospitality business. However, the environment wasn’t favorable for launching a new hospitality venture. As he had the know-how of wood carving and design, he decided to do something with those skills.

After a short stint with a wood-carving business, he turned his focus to hospitality once again. He built the Stupa Hotel and Café Dew Drops in Boudha and let one of his friends run the café. In 2012, he constructed Balthali Mountain Resort which is now run by his relative. In 2020, he started working on the Diamond Hill Resort project.  

The construction of the hotel started during the first phase of the Covid-19 lockdowns. The pandemic led to many difficulties in sourcing materials and made construction difficult. However, despite numerous hurdles, the hotel began operations in 2022.

Today, the resort focuses on meditation classes and free yoga sessions as the environment there is peaceful and beautiful.  Thapa says that Diamond Hill Resort is slightly on the pricier side but tourists love the resort and are always recommending it to their family and friends. “It’s so popular that we have already started taking bookings for 2025 and 2026,” says Thapa.

Thapa adds that the focus of the resort is to provide excellent services. Since it’s situated in a beautiful area, they have managed to use the location to their advantage and promote the hotel. “You can see the mountain ranges as well as many migratory birds from up there. You will also get great views of the sunrise and sunset, making for stunning photo backdrops,” he says.

Thapa says he has been lucky that the hotel has been popular even in the off seasons. They haven’t had a dry spell yet, he says. People from the community say that the place has been doing well business wise ever since the resort opened its doors. Thapa has encouraged his family and friends to start restaurants and other businesses near the resort and even those have been growing steadily, he says.

“I was born there and I wanted to do something special. I wanted the place to flourish and make a difference in the community. So, I choose to put in all my efforts, skills, hard work and experience that I have gathered from many countries and utilize it in my own motherland,” says Thapa.

Diamond Hill Resort has only had a soft opening till date. Before the grand opening, Thapa has plans to add a sauna and build a swimming pool as well. He wants the hotel to be unlike any other five-star hotel in the country. Thapa believes Nepalis can dream big and use their skills to achieve their dreams rather than relying on others to make their wishes come true. “All we need is the will to succeed in life, free from negative or harmful thoughts,” he says.