Ravla Khempur is a haveli and heritage hotel in Khempur in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It was built in the 1620s and became known as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel after being used as the filming location for the 2011 film's hotel and its 2015 sequel, The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. The hotel is surrounded by a Marwari horse breeding stable and paddocks and caters to horse lovers.

The 17th century rural hotel is located in the village of Khempur, in the Mewar region of Rajasthan, about 50 kilometers from Udaipur,^[1][2] and 9 kilometers south of the village's township, Mavli.^[3][4] In Rajasthan, the term 'Ravla' refers to the home of a village chieftain, historically the social, political and religious focal point.^[3] The hotel was the original haveli of a chieftain, Khemraj Dadhivadia, before being converted into a hotel, and is entrenched in Mewari history.^[3][4] The chieftain received the jagir or land grant after killing two assassins and saving the life of Jagat Singh II, who became the Rana of Udaipur and built the Taj Lake Palace.^[5] In the same century, the palace and village were plundered by neighboring raiders.^[1]

Around 1997, local villagers encouraged the hotel's owner and descendant of the chieftain's noble family, Hemant Singh Deval, who was residing in Udaipur, to return as head of the original jagir of Ravla Khempur, as sarpanch for Khempur.^[5][6] The hotel has a great influence on the villagers and they are friendly with hotel guests who visit the village, and offer tea and hospitality.^[7]

In 2010, filming took place for the first "Marigold" film with actors Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Penelope Wilton, Celia Imrie and Ronald Pickup, along with Dev Patel. In 2014, they returned for the sequel with Richard Gere. Set designers transformed the hotel to fit the film, and included an adjacent Hindu Krishna temple for characters "Sonny" and "Sunaina's" Bollywood-style wedding in the second film.^[1][8]

One set piece that remained is the marigold carving which hangs over the main entrance courtyard, where Maggie Smith "held court" in the films.^[6]

Director John Madden said "the character of that hotel needed to have gone downhill, but nevertheless be aspiring to a former glory, and that’s a fairly good description of the way the place is now. It needed to have a magic about it, some sense of it being a refuge or a place where the seven characters wouldn’t immediately leave and try to seek alternative accommodation. It’s a very cinematic space because it has multiple levels and rooms that defy any kind of modern western concept of what a room would be." ^[12]

Claire MacDonald, writing for The Australian in 2016, conjectured that the hotel's staff, Mohan, who had worked there seventeen years and wore stylish clothing gifted by the production company's wardrobe department, might have been an inspiration for "Sonny's" character.^[1]

Deborah Moggach, author of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel said, "If you want a wonderfully atmospheric, slightly dusty, idiosyncratic, blissfully romantic hideaway, then the Ravla Khempur is the place for you".^[13] By 2015, the hotel had favorable reviews on TripAdvisor,^[14] and was featured in the Taj Lake Palace package tour, "Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tour".^[15] The Times Matt Hampton said of his tour of India, "But it might just be a stay at the Ravla Khempur hotel that steals your heart....the charming guesthouse offers Indian hospitality in a truly atmospheric setting."^[16]