It seems all roads lead back to the Palos Verdes Peninsula, especially when it comes to the South Bay’s newest luxury boutique hotel, H2O Hermosa. We were excited to learn that while the hotel is located in Hermosa Beach, the dream of developing it actually began in Palos Verdes. H2O Hermosa is locally owned by the highly-acclaimed Raju Chhabria and Chhabria family, as well as their partners Ravi and Shamita Khosla. The Chhabrias have called Palos Verdes home for nearly 40 years and the Khoslas recently moved to the Peninsula in 2019.

H2O Hermosa is truly one with the entire South Bay community and proudly collaborates with many local partners, many of which are from Palos Verdes. The hotel was designed by Palos Verdes resident Luis De Moraes, who is the founder of the architecture firm, EnviroTechno and the brand of H2O Hermosa was developed by Intertidal LA which is a marketing and brand studio run by PV native Dilan Mistry. We knew this story would be a great chance to catch up with the Chhabria family, get to know more about the Khosla family and connect with the other PV partners that helped turn their dream into a reality.

“We have been selling and developing properties on the the Hermosa Strand for a long time. After doing due diligence with the city they suggested we do a hotel, so that’s what we did. And it’s been an amazing outcome. It’s been great for the city and it’s really cool to know we’ve helped develop a place where people from all over the world come to stay and visit our beautiful community.” —Raju Chhabria

Although Raju and Philomina consider themselves semiretired and say they are enjoying it,  they are both still very involved in their family business. Philomina says, “We’ll always be doing some form of business within the community, with our friends and clients. But we are now taking a backseat to the kids and letting them handle most of the business. We still help and support them because we love it and it’s a big part of us.” It seems after three decades in the real estate business and 3 billion dollars in lifetime sales, this power couple would welcome the extravagance of relaxed time but instead they decided to develop a 30-room luxury hotel.  However, they both do smile and admit that “the best part of life right now is enjoying the grandkids” and the time they spend with them brings them “so much joy.” They do some work with the hotel still as well as the brokerage business which keeps them involved and connected to what is going on. We asked them what they had planned for the future and the years ahead and they replied, “more exercise, daily walks on the beach, tennis and Mahjong.”

Ravi and Shamita Khosla’s hotel partnership with Raju and Philo Chhabria started in early 2000 when they were looking for a home to buy in Manhattan Beach. Through the years as they bought and sold several properties with Chhabria, the relationship has grown into what it is today. He tells us “I have partnered with Chhabria on several construction projects including a few commercial properties that we own together so when the family asked me to partner with them to build the hotel on an empty lot, it seemed like a good idea as it was only a few blocks from a beautiful sandy beach and nice ocean views.”

Ravi & Shamita are not just in the hotel business, they have a very successful global clothing business that was built through very hard work and a team effort that includes the whole family. “I opened our company back in 1994 after having worked as a retail salesperson and doing trade shows. It all started very small, working from our garage. Although it was a slow process,  we grew from selling clothing from the back of my van to opening our office in the LA Fashion District and opening a wholesale store, downtown. Soon after, my wife, Shamita joined the business, we focused on selling through catalogs and we slowly started selling to department and chain stores. Today our son, Akaash, daughter Divya and son-in-law, DJ work with us as a team. We have our products in chain stores all over the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe and Australia with overseas offices in India and China, where we source all our products. In a nutshell, we  grew from a seed to a full tree through all of our hard work and a strong family team effort. “ Ravi says.  So it shouldn’t be surprising that Ravi and Shamita have DJ and Akaash both part of the owner management team at H2O Hermosa alongside the Chhabria brothers, working with the back office staff to make sure it’s functioning smoothly. DJ is married to Akaash’s sister, Divya and in addition to working in the fashion business with their parents, Ravi and Shamita, they were involved in the final two years of construction of the hotel and its development.

Neil and Anand have both followed in their father’s footsteps. They are heavily involved in the day-to-day operations of the Chhabria Real Estate Company and both say they are committed to continuing to run the brokerage and business. Although they have an office in Lunada Bay, the brothers spend most of their time out in the field seeing properties and meeting clients.  Neil has a three-year-old daughter and a son, seven months old. He tells us his daughter just started preschool and absolutely loves it. He laughs and tells us, “although my kids are so young, I cannot wait to get them into sports.” He credits his wife, Sanam, “for constantly looking for ways bring excitement and joy to the whole family” and says “she is the most selfless person he knows and always puts family first.”  Anand makes it clear that although he grew up in this community, he values and whole-heartedly appreciates what it has to offer. He tells us “I think the hotel is a great addition to the community because it embraces the lifestyle and beauty of the South Bay. It was a different and challenging project for us so I think that allowed us to be creative and build something very unique.” Both brothers value the path their father has paved for them and their parent’s  passion for the business and clients. They hope they can continue to fill the very large shoes that have already walked down the path.

“The Chhabria family has been my client and dear friends for the last 15 years. We have worked on many projects together varying from residential and commercial development. We share our passion for quality and great design.” —Luis Moraes

Luis Moraes has been designing projects in the South Bay and beyond for over 30 years. His firm, EnviroTechno Architecture was founded in 1989 and his illustrious portfolio includes remodels to ground up design collaborations on several hotels and resorts including Trump National Golf Course, Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas, The Georgian hotel in Santa Monica and The Westin Bonaventure hotel.  His offices have designed over 200 projects in the South Bay, including many luxury residential estates. Luis was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and moved to California 38 years ago, to study design. His wife Stephanie, is a teacher in the Palos Verdes Peninsula District and was born and raised in the Westside of Los Angeles.  The family moved to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in 2000, where they raised their two daughters, Miranda and Olivia who both graduated from PVHS. Miranda recently graduated with her Masters in Journalism from Columbia University in New York and Olivia, who just graduated from UCLA in Cognitive Sciences.