Oberoi mulls to enter Thailand in three years

The Oberoi Hotels and Resorts today said it plans to enter Thailand in the next three years as part of plans to double the number hotels under its brand to 40 in the next five years.

"We would want our brand to be present in Thailand and hope to be there in the next three years," Oberoi Hotels and Resorts President Liam Lambert told PTI on the sidelines of Hoteliers' Conclave here.

He said entering a tourist destination like Thailand is a precursor to the firm's plans to spread presence in the luxury capitals of the world like Paris, New York and other places in the US, Europe and also Moscow.

"But before we go forward, we would like to explore the countries closer to home first like Thailand, which offers immense potential," Lambert said.

The company is currently on a five year expansion mode, under which it expects to have a total of 40 properties under the Oberoi brand.

"The objective in the next five years is to double the number of Oberoi hotels in India and outside. Right now we have 19 and want to take it up to 40," he said.

Elaborating the plans, he said: "The way we would like to grow is to expand in India as well as strengthen our global footprints, as the ambition is to become a global luxury brand. So the brand needs to be present in all the luxury capitals of the world."

He, however, declined to give a timeline to the plans of entering markets in the US and Europe.

Asked what route would the company take for entering new places, he said it could be any model --equity, partnership or just management.

Oberoi currently has two projects in the pipeline Abu Dhabi, one in Muscat, one in Morocco and another in Dubai. While the Dubai property is expected to be operational in the next one and half year, others will take up to three years to be ready, he added.

It has already signed management contracts for a hotel at Scorpio Bay, Greece and a second Oberoi hotel in Mauritius.

At present, Oberoi has hotels in Saudi Arabia, Mauritius, Bali (in Indonesia) and four properties in Egypt, Lambert said, adding in India, it has new projects in cities, including Mumbai, Gurgaon, and Hyderabad.