Thailand-based Minor International Plc, which runs Minor Hotels and brands like Anantara Hotels Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, NH Hotels, and NH Collection is looking to have a strong presence in India in the next decade with a target of 50 hotels by 2035. The company’s group CEO, Dillip Rajakarier who is visiting India and spoke exclusively to Mint said the company has now established its presence in India with the recent launch of its 150-room Anantara Jewel Bagh hotel in Jaipur. Three of the company’s Anantara properties in Thailand were featured on the recent hit HBO show, The White Lotus, which has led to a huge demand for these hotels.
In India, the company is signing agreements with hotel owners in tier I and II cities. “India’s domestic connectivity is becoming more simplistic. Your country is opening 10-12 airports a year and the country is now standing out because of its economy and attention from global investors. Your fundamentals are quite strong as you are becoming more business friendly. This will help drive a lot of demand. We now see a significant chunk of our international outbound travellers to be Indians, from short to long haul travel, the country offers great opportunity, ” he said.
“In Asia, other than Thailand, we have two of the biggest economies sitting at our doorstep, India and China. In China, we now have our presence established and a big pipeline building up there. In India, we want to do the same and make sure that we have a strong footprint, mainly because of the growing potential of your outbound travellers who are now well-versed with our brands,” he said.
Indians rush to Europe
Minor at a group level has seen that Indians travelling to its properties in the last few years has increased exponentially and now make up 15% of all its travellers to European hotels, and about 35% into Asia, including Thailand. The company’s core portfolio-level revenue in 2024 was up 16% to five billion baht ($151 million). This year, he expects to grow further than that, on the back of not just revenues but growth in occupancy, he said.
The company has about eight brands and intends to add two new brands to its portfolio. These brands will also likely make their way to India. While Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas is more of a 5-star chain, Avani Hotels & Resorts is an upscale lifestyle hotel brand. The company also co-owns a hotel in Bodhgaya which is branded under its ‘Oaks’ brand. It also has other brands like Elewana, Nhow, Tivoli and Hesperia elsewhere in the world.
The company’s worldwide occupancy rose to 68% in 2024, up two percentage points, with Thailand leading at 70%. The average daily rate (ADR), which measures the average revenue earned per occupied room, grew 6% year-on-year, while revenue per available room (RevPar), a key hotel performance metric, increased 9%. Thailand’s 30 properties saw a 17% RevPar surge, driven by new airline routes and targeted marketing that drew high-spending travellers from North America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
By the end of 2027, Minor expects to have about 850 hotels in its portfolio, up from its current 560. About 70% of its current hotels are owned or leased by the company, down from a portfolio mix of 85% owned hotels within the 530 hotels two years ago. About 90% of the next 300 hotels it will add to its portfolio, will be managed hotels.
“Once we get to know the optics of a country better, then we start to invest in building our assets or hotels there. We are looking to invest wherever we get the highest returns and are open to deploying equity, even in India in the future. But at present our strategy is becoming more asset light or “asset right” because a lot of our hotel brands have a lot of equity of their own now,” he added. Along with India, the company is also adding other new regions to its portfolio including Japan, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and others.
Globe-trotting to continue
Travellers and travel patterns now, he said, are changing around the world, with a little less predictability coming in. A lot of travellers don’t mind travelling economy and staying at a luxury hotel or travelling business and staying in a premium or mid-market hotel. Rajakarier, however, is not concerned with any geopolitical uncertainties world over and said travel is still resilient and growing well with many new travellers joining the bandwagon to explore the world, compared to pre-covid, “This will continue because of the growing middle class,” he added.
According to hospitality consultancy Hotelivate’s most recent data from June 2024, India had about 200,000 branded hotel rooms of the entire 24.8 lakh operational lodging rooms, including guest houses and homestays. This total is expected to rise to 31 lakh by 2029 with branded rooms accounting for about 300,000. The branded sector has rebounded with new signings and openings and with tourism recovering, the industry expects to surpass pre-pandemic levels this year and sustain long-term growth.
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