India, July 14 -- He is almost certainly the most influential living hotelier of Indian origin in the world. And ever since Sonu Shivdasani walked away from Soneva, the resort company he founded a year or so ago, the question has swirled around the world of luxury hospitality: What will Sonu do next? Also read | The Taste by Vir Sanghvi: The culture of queuing up outside a restaurant

But first a little background for those unfamiliar with the hotel world. Sonu is the son of Indoo Shivdasani who, in the 1970s, was one of the richest people of Indian origin in the world. Sonu had the classic British education (Eton, Oxford etc). His father died (at the age of 61) in 1979 when Sonu was 13. That still gave Sonu the option of joining the fami...