JS Anand founded LEVA Hotels in 2019 after more than 25 years in hospitality, including experience with Hilton, Marriott International and other major operators. The first flagship, LEVA Hotel Mazaya Centre in Dubai, established a contemporary, accessible lifestyle proposition. From that base, Anand has expanded through the Middle East, Europe and West Africa.
LEVA now operates through four hospitality sub-brands: LEVA Hotel Residences, LEVA, EKONO by LEVA and ZEN by LEVA. The architecture allows Anand to respond to different assets and price points without forcing every owner into one format. It also reflects his central thesis: a smaller operator can move faster, tailor agreements and give owners more direct access to decision-makers.
The company’s international moves have been deliberately varied. In 2023, LEVA announced a 120-unit hotel-residences project and a 180-room four-star hotel in Zimbabwe, and added a property on Victoria Island in Lagos through an affiliation with Pedestal Africa. In May 2025, it entered Europe with EKONO by LEVA Hotel Strasser in Graz, Austria. Earlier development included an airport-hotel agreement in Jeddah.
These markets offer opportunity precisely because they are complex. Independent owners may possess well-located assets but need brand, distribution and operating support. LEVA can propose conversions or management structures with lower bureaucracy than a global chain. Anand’s relationships and personal involvement help win trust, especially when owners are making their first branded-hotel decision.
The same flexibility creates risk. Four brands across several regions can stretch marketing, technology and talent. A lighter central structure must still deliver robust finance, revenue management, quality assurance and guest support. Anand’s next challenge is to make the company institutional without making it slow, building systems that preserve entrepreneurial responsiveness.
Brand clarity is equally important. LEVA’s labels need to communicate a meaningful difference to guests, not merely accommodate development deals. EKONO should represent a consistent value proposition; residences require expertise in longer stays and owner interests; the core LEVA brand needs an identity strong enough to travel. Growth will be durable only if customers understand what each name promises.
Anand’s achievement is to have created a Dubai-based management business willing to compete across underserved and mature markets. He has shown that regional hospitality expertise can be exported, and that owners have appetite for alternatives to the largest chains. Rank 100 does not make his story marginal. It highlights a wider transformation in which independent operators are becoming essential to tourism growth. LEVA’s future will depend on execution, but Anand has already widened the field of possibility.
Europe will test the transferability of that model. Graz is a mature, regulated market with established distribution patterns and different labour economics from Dubai or West Africa. Anand must demonstrate that LEVA’s value is not based only on familiarity with emerging markets. A successful conversion can give the company operating references and credibility with owners elsewhere on the continent.
Africa presents a different opportunity: growing cities, constrained branded supply and owners seeking flexible partners. Projects in Lagos and Zimbabwe can build first-mover advantage, but currency, infrastructure and political risk require careful contracts and strong local teams. Anand’s asset-light structure limits capital exposure, though reputation remains fully exposed. The next phase is therefore about selective courage, choosing markets where LEVA’s agility solves a real owner problem and declining expansion that offers visibility without durable value.
