“Alma” means soul in Spanish. At Alma San Juan, Ankita Jain crafted a hospitality experience inspired by the soul of Puerto Rico – showcasing its history, its culture, and its people.
By Amy Drew Thompson
Ankita Jain was a seasoned traveler by the time she was 7, which was when her family relocated from Mumbai to Dubai. But in the late ‘90s, the Gulf Tiger was still just a cub, and as she grew up, Jain witnessed the city transform into what it is today: A world capital of luxury and opulence, of skyscrapers. The effects of such evolution, for Jain, were powerful.
“I watched the whole city – all these beautiful landmarks – come up,” said Jain, an AAHOA Member and senior associate for acquisitions and development at Vivant Capital, acknowledging the city’s role in shaping her career. “I don’t remember wanting to do anything other than be an architect from the beginning.”
And so, that’s what she became. But even before returning to India for her studies, Jain’s early years traveling with her family seemed to be steering her, always, toward where she is today.
The daughter of a math teacher (her mother) and a marine engineer (her father), she and her younger brother spent months at a time living in hotels as their father’s career working on oil tankers – hence the move to Dubai – progressed.
“I’ve always experienced the world this way,” she said, “Because he would be working, our experience would be very local. We would almost hang out with the hotel staff. We’d settle in. And whoever my dad was working with on one of the ships, they would come and take our family out. This was my life from the very beginning.”
A life that seemed destined for hospitality.
“It’s funny, even many of my earliest projects, when I returned to Dubai as an architect, were hotels,” she said. “It wasn’t so much that I planned to be in the hotel industry, but that my career and my life naturally took me to where I am.”
Though there have been many stops along the way, these days, that’s Puerto Rico, where she’s overseen the development of Alma San Juan.
The hotel celebrated its grand opening in December of 2024. Its 56 luxurious rooms and suites are housed in the gorgeous and carefully restored Pisos de Don Juan building, the first Hispano-Mediterranean-style building in the tourist haven of Old San Juan.
Its gorgeous shell, rife with Moorish touches, wasn’t quite dilapidated, said Jain, but the 19th-century building suffered flood damage during Hurricane Maria in 2017. Its owners hadn’t invested much in either repair or upkeep. Vivant purchased it in 2019.
“It was the island’s first apartment building,” Jain said. In the initial plans, it would serve as the same in its second life.
“But then came the pandemic. And earthquakes. Many things,” said Jain, who studied finance in addition to architecture. “Living in San Juan full time, I realized there was almost a need for a luxury boutique product. In doing this, we could control how we operated, how we incorporated the Puerto Rican culture and experience into what we were building.”
The neighborhood did much of the work.
“There’s so much culture, so much around it to guide you in what the design should be, what the services should be. That, the operations, everything almost, was dictated by the beautiful surroundings.”
Challenges were many, though, as construction started during COVID. Plus, Jain and her team were new to the region.
“We weren’t yet familiar with the authorities or the regulations … and logistically, getting things to the island was difficult. There were labor shortages, power outages. What helped us overcome nearly everything were the local partnerships we created, finding people locally we could work with got us past flying in labor [from other areas].”
The team they assembled had more than 20 years of experience working on the island.
“That’s really important in a place like this, having their insight, their suggestions – it matters more than almost anything else – and now we have this amazing crew in place for our next project.”
She likens the experience to that outlined in Herman Wouk’s 1965 classic, Don’t Stop the Carnival, in which a New Yorker runs off to the Caribbean to start a new life as a hotel owner and, through mishaps and adventure, morphs from outsider to insider.
Jain’s immersive travel experiences growing up helped inform the process of creating a space that brings an authentic experience to guests while respecting the culture it showcases.
“Puerto Rico is a very small island. The people here are very proud of their local culture – and vocal. There are often challenges with new businesses here.”
While the building’s exterior was restored to its original glory, the inside is modern. Many of its local touches come from the hotel’s art program, in which each of the property’s six floors has a collection curated by one local artist.
Common-area pieces, too, are locally sourced, each with placards that help tell the story of Puerto Rico. Soon, said Jain – who herself paints – Alma will host a series of conversations between those involved in the curatorial program and the hotel’s guests.
“It’s a trend we’re seeing, where local culture is how you experience the hotel. Many big brands are beginning to do this, too, and it’s very exciting to me … because if I’m traveling, I want to know where I am. I want to know the history rather than just being in a room where I’m isolated from what’s actually going on outside the hotel.”
While the art program brings the local culture to Alma’s walls, the hotel’s two restaurants, Andaluz and Mar y Rosa, heap it onto guest’s plates. Andaluz gives a culinary nod to Puerto Rico’s Spanish heritage, and at Mar y Rosa, native son and five-time James Beard nominee Jose Mendin brings the island’s unique spin to the table.
“Food is a hobby,” said Jain. “I just love that part of the job.”
Jain is also passionate about elevating more women into roles like hers.
“I’ve had the privilege of working with some very talented women, but more on the operations side and in the fields that support hospitality,” she said. “Many times, when I introduce myself and say I work in real estate, the first thing people say is, ‘Oh, you must be a broker.’ The bankers, contractors, and managers I work with are all men, but I’ve also been very lucky in that I’ve had great experiences where men in senior positions mentor me and push me to learn more.”
Her current boss, she said, does all that he can to make sure she’s in the room and has a voice, “but I know that’s not the norm … I think it’s important that companies push women in leadership roles.”
But learning, she said, can come from anyone, anywhere.
Among Jain’s latest finds for forward thinking, a book she picked up simply because, as a foodie, she enjoyed author Will Guidara’s restaurants. It’s called Unreasonable Hospitality.
“I started reading it for fun, but it also gave me a lot of ideas about how we could treat people and lead our team here in creating these amazing moments in hospitality, because that’s what I want when I go out.”
Perhaps because of the interesting way in which she grew up, Jain came to the table with unique ideas about what a hotel or restaurant could be.
“They are about more than physical space,” she said. “They are about the people in them, the culture around them, and the opportunities we have to create core memories and experiences for the guests.”
Image: eskystudio/stock.adobe.com
Leave a Reply