Sarovar Hotels eyes aggressive growth in India & Nepal

Home-grown hospitality brand Sarovar Hotels, has already come a long way since its humble beginnings about 30 years ago and now it is eyeing aggressive growth across India, Ajay K Bakaya, Chairman, Sarovar Hotels, tells India & You. Bakaya also elaborates on what the partnership with Louvre Hotels means and the challenges of talent acquisition, changing client profiles, and the evolving hospitality landscape in the country.

How has the partnership with the Louvre Hotels influenced development of Sarovar Hotels?

Well, from day one when Louvre Hotelscame in with their majority shareholding in 2017, they told us very clearly that we have a good story, we have a good brand and they would like us to build it our way. They would not want to bring in expertise from Europe to tell us how to run hotels in India.

The larger partnership evolved a couple of years later to where we have been completely and independently, exclusively in charge of their brands in India. So now our portfolio is the Sarovar brands and the Louvre brands.

We are now once again rebuilding and re-marketing the Golden Tulip brand and other brands in this region. So it is going exceptionally well and we are both very happy with each other.

Since the debut of Sarovar, how has the company grown and where do you stand today?

We started 29 years ago with one Sarovar Hotels eyes aggressive growth in India & Nepal hotel. We are today at 140 operating hotels with another 80 in the pipeline. So we are happy with what we have achieved so far. We opened 24 hotels in calendar year 2024.

We never imagined it would happen. The other thing is that we have done well in terms of our structure, our ability to market, our ability to distribute and ability to support hotels. So, we are very happy where we are at the moment. I think the growth path is very clear. I see growth in India for every strong player at least over the next fourfive years at a very steady rate.

I presume about 9 pc growth compounded year-on-year for the next five years.That kind of growth we have never seen before in this country so it is a sweet spot to be in India at the moment.

Also Read: Interview with Shafiul Alam Ishaque, General Manager, RK Sarovar Portico, Srinagar

We added 24 hotels last year which was about 1,500-odd rooms and our conservative estimate we will open another 16 this year. We have opened four already. The growth has been there in the number of rooms, in the top line and of course, in the bottom line. We are way ahead of 2019, at least about 30-40 pc ahead.

Have you observed any significant shifts in your client profile?

Ours was always a strong domestic brand but now the strength of the domestic traveller is far greater than what it used to be. The international traveller has shrunk for a variety of reasons.

Of course, Covid-19 was a kick-start but then post-pandemic I think India has made very little effort to woo the foreign traveller for whatever reasons. I hope that changes but I do not see any effort to change that right now. But you know, the demand is strong and we are a good player in the Indian space.

Being an Indian, I would like to make sure that the best times of the country, when the country is really growing and booming, are showcased to everyone around the world in person and not just over television.

The best thing is for people to come here and have a look at what is happening around them. From the airports to roads to every bit of infrastructure. Everything is changing dramatically for the better. So why would we not showcase our country?

So pre-pandemic, our client profile ratio was 70:30, 70 pc Indian and 30 pc foreigners. Today we would probably be at about 85:15. That is a gap. I think it is likely to stay where it is. I do not see it getting any better and it cannot get any worse.

Are you expanding your portfolio with new properties in India? Do you plan to extend to neighbouring countries as well?

strong overseas also, in Nepal for example. We have one hotel that we are opening in Birgunj. We have two more opening in Kathmandu, including the largest hotel in Kathmandu which is the Royal Tulip, that is part of the Tulip portfolio.

We are opening two Royal Tulips in Kathmandu itself this year. We have a Royal Tulip in Chitwan at the National Park also opening this year. So that is four. We have a hotel coming up in Lumbini, in Janakpur and another in Nagarpur. So that is the Nepal story. We tried very hard for 10 years and nothing happened. Now all of it is coming together.

Also Read: Interview with Shafiul Alam Ishaque, general manager, RK Sarovar Portico, Srinagar

How challenging is it to find the right talent with the necessary skills? What steps are you taking to address this?

It is a big and real challenge. It becomes more difficult every day. Unfortunately, now the scenario is that we do not have a large number of people who want to work in the business again. Hotels are not good for the social life of their employees, because you are working, while everyone else is celebrating.

What we have got to do is to change ourselves as employers and we are doing that with a lot more of flexible hours, a lot more of permanent part time and work from home for positions that allow comfortable work from home and of course a better understanding, if people have issues or problems at home and we see how to help and support. We have also started our own management training programme but that is small. At the end of the day, large numbers still have to be hired.

Which are the segments that you cater to?

Our customer mix is 70 pc corporate and 30 pc leisure. We have seven hotels each in Goa and Jaipur. We also have properties in Kerala, though not very large numbers and we are in most pilgrim destinations. So we have leisure but still 70 pc is a big box of hotels in the cities. For MICE, you need to have large properties. Our larger hotels are in all of Punjab, one in Kerala, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. These are our big ticket hotels. They are the ones who can cater to MICE and weddings are also big for us, that is where the money is.