Royal Orchid Hotels to add up to 35 properties with 2,000 rooms in FY25

Royal Orchid Hotels is planning to add 30-35 new properties with about 2,000 rooms in the 2024-25 fiscal as part of its expansion plans across India, according to its Chairman and Managing Director Chander K Baljee.

The company, which operates hospitality properties under the Royal Orchid and Regenta brands, is also looking to expand its wedding destination portfolio by adding four to five locations every year.

"We are expanding very fast. We have already crossed 100 hotels, and I think this coming year (2024-25), have already signed up for another 30-35 (hotels to be added)," Baljee told PTI.

In terms of places where these new hotels will come up, he said, "We're looking at all over India. In fact, are we trying to focus on places where we are not present right now like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and some other places".

When asked about the total number of rooms that will be added through the new properties, he said, "I think there should be an addition of approximately 2,000 rooms".

These new properties will be across various segments under the management contract, he said, adding there would not be any company-owned properties but some properties would be on a flexi-lease revenue sharing model.

On job creation through the new hotels, he said, "We are actually training a lot of people ourselves. Normally, for every room, there is at least one person. We are going to be having 2,000 rooms added, so, 2,000 people will be added".

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi taking the lead in promoting India as a wedding destination, Baljee said the company is also accelerating its efforts to take part in the initiative.

"We have 20 wedding destinations across the country...We are planning to add some more wedding destinations. Maybe every year we'll add about four or five wedding destinations," he said, adding these could be anywhere ranging from wildlife resorts to heritage resorts, hillside or beachside.

Currently, Royal Orchid Hotels is present in more than 65 locations across India and also in neighbouring countries Sri Lanka and Nepal.