Indian landscape seems propitious for Radisson Hotel Group currently on account of strong recovery rate. This resilience of sector in Indian market has led to RHG being bullish on expansion, with 148 hotels and resorts to be added by 2025.
Hazel Jain
Radisson Hotel Group is preparing to double its portfolio in India as it unveils plans to more than double its Indian footprint, with 148 hotels and resorts to be added by 2025. These will be in addition to the over 140 properties Radisson Hotel Group currently has in operation or under development nationwide. At present, Radisson Hotel Group operates 106 hotels and resorts in India, covering seven of its brands.
Showing faith in the India market, Katerina Giannouka, President-APAC, Radisson Hotel Group, says, “I am so impressed by the way the India market has rebounded, successfully, much faster than the last wave. After the first wave, it took about seven months to recover RevPAR. In the second wave, we took only four months, and we have seen with Omicron that our hotels have rebounded within a month. This illustrates the resilience of the market, predominantly driven by leisure travellers in India. And now I am happy to see that the MICE segment is coming back along with corporate demand.” She added that the team has a pipeline of about 40 more properties, which puts the group at 150 hotels. “Our target is to double that to 300 hotels within the next five years. We have a focus on tiered cities in India. We already have a large network of hotels across the country. One can reach a Radisson hotel every five hours. So we have a good distribution of properties across India,” Giannouka added.
Sunrise industry of India
Echoing similar sentiments is Zubin Saxena, Managing Director and Vice President of Operations, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, who said, “We see Indian hospitality as the sunrise industry. We are seeing a good recovery where the larger economic factors are lining up. The larger traveller trends in India that we are seeing are all conducive to a big boom, so we are expecting both the Radisson Hotel Group in India as well as the hotel industry in India at large to narrate a huge growth story in the coming years. We have also observed that, over the course of the pandemic, the demand segments have opened up and the domestic traveller has really started experimenting with branded hospitality and experiencing hospitality products. We foresee that with international skies and the market opening up, the slab of base demand will expand, thereby increasing the total demand.” Saxena added that the group saw occupancy levels of 70 per cent in Q1 2022.
Individual Retreats pilot
The group recently unveiled its Individuals Retreats brand extension, specifically designed and launched only in the Indian market. It is an extension of Radisson Individuals, launched last year. It will be a collection of upper-upscale and luxury lifestyle retreats across India that will offer guests experiences in wellness, adventure, and culture, among others. They will be located in offbeat destinations such as Goa, Kashmir, Coorg, and Kabini.
