NH Hotels

Apr 26, 2023

NEW DELHI : Thailand-based Minor Hotels is looking to expand its presence in India. The company recently announced its second hotel project, a 150-room hotel in Jaipur which will open end of 2024. Its first was in Bodhgaya. The group operates hotels under brands like Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, NH Hotels, and NH Collection across Europe and Southeast Asia. The company’s group CEO, Dilip Rajakarier told Mint that it is evaluating many more possibilities in the country and will also consider bringing the company’s restaurant brand Benihana to India. In 2018, the Thailand-based firm purchased 94% of NH Hotels for $729 million and went on to become a global player from being a regional owner and operator. In the same year, it also bought a majority stake in restaurant brand Benihana for $12 million. The company runs its Oaks brand in India and also has Elewana, Nhow and Hesperia elsewhere in the world. The company has been trying to enter India for the last decade and a half and for that, it built one hotel in Bodhgaya. “We didn’t find the right opportunity or the partner or the brand fit," Rajakarier said. “Getting the right brand is important, it’s not putting up flags on hotels. We wanted to begin with a hotel which would blend in with Indian culture. Today, we have many Indian customers who use our hotels in Thailand, Maldives etc. where we host a lot of Indian weddings," he added. The company is now exploring cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Goa, and will either buy or manage its assets. Globally, it owns and leases about 85% of its assets and has 530 hotels and resorts in 56 countries. “When we look at Indian market, we see a lot of younger generation travelling now, many of whom like to experience different hotel brands. It’s a known fact that Indians do lavish weddings," he said. “Compared to anywhere in the world, domestic flights are really cheap in India. Even during the pandemic, airlines had a lot of control on their businesses unlike in the other parts of the world," he added. Other than having a younger demographic, a lot is being spent on infrastructure in India, he said. At a global level for the company, Rajakarier said he expects the losses to take at least two years to recover. “We took some measures to navigate around COVID and did a lot of things like refinancing, and raising fresh capital. But we also continued our growth plan as well during this time. In the coming years, there will be a fairly strong outlook for the travel industry because the post-pandemic resurgence has taught us that no matter what happens, the industry will survive," he said. Despite several brands checking into the country, hospitality consultants project that there is likely to be an under supply of hotels in the coming years. Hotels under active development in India are unlikely to keep pace with the increasing demand for hotel rooms. Based on research that hospitality consultancy Hotelivate has done, there are about 59,000 new rooms proposed across the country in the next five years. Of this, 72% or about 35,000 rooms are under active development. In 2020, pre-COVID, only about 35,000 rooms were being developed. The active development ratio has gone up by at least 10% now when compared to 2020. This means just about 7,000 rooms are going to be added per year to India, which is only a 4.5% growth in supply and demand will outpace this number, said the consultancy. ABOUT THE AUTHOR