India’s hotel companies are recalibrating their growth strategies around brand expansion, conversions, localisation and technology, while retaining human service as the core of hospitality, senior industry leaders said at Business Session II of the 56th FHRAI Annual Convention at Taj Ganges, Varanasi, on August 22.The session was moderated by Nikhil Sharma, Managing Director & COO – South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group.
Vikram Lalvani, MD & CEO, Sterling Holiday Resorts, said the company has moved beyond its timeshare legacy towards a broader leisure and hospitality play. “We moved from a timeshare legacy brand into predominant leisure or hospitality space,” he said, adding that Sterling is increasingly targeting destinations where leisure and business travel converge.
Lalvani added that the company is pursuing growth without compromising financial discipline. “It’s not just about expansion or adding numbers or putting dots in the country. I think it was far more intense and expectation,” he said, adding that Sterling has built its balance sheet “very tactically and very strategically, step by step.”
On brand building, Rahool Macarius, Market Managing Director, Eurasia, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, said that future success would depend on balancing consistency with local relevance. “The brand is successful when you are able to standardize the invisible and localize the visible,” he said.
Macarius said destinations, cuisine, wellness and community would increasingly become part of a hotel brand’s intellectual property, with technology acting as the enabling layer. “Technology is and will be the orchestrating layer to growth,” he said.
IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Managing Director, South West Asia, Sudeep Jain, said the Holiday Inn family would continue to dominate IHG’s India portfolio, with the segment expected to remain around two-thirds of the company’s portfolio by 2030.
On consumer behaviour, Zubin Saxena, Senior Vice President & Regional Head – South Asia, Hilton Hotels, said loyalty remains influential but cannot override a compelling price proposition. “If the price value proposition is very distinct, then the customer will choose price over loyalty,” he said. He added that service and loyalty, become critical in bringing customers back.
The panel also pointed to growing consumer consciousness around sustainability. Macarius said younger travellers were increasingly treating sustainability as “a way of life”, rather than a standalone hotel proposition.