800-plus rooms by 2021
K Raheja Corp’s hospitality company has ambitious growth plans through both greenfield and brownfield acquisitions apart from adding about 800-odd rooms by 2021.
Sanjay Sethi, Managing Director & CEO, Chalet Hotels, is back with Chalet Hotels in Mumbai after just a six-month stint at ITC Hotels. Picking up from where he left off, Sethi sounds extremely upbeat about the coming year. “We have about four hotels under development right now. These will add roughly about 800 more rooms to our current portfolio of 2800-odd rooms. These will take about two to three years to build,” Sethi reveals.
Chalet Hotels currently has about eight hotels, of which seven are owned by Chalet Hotels 100 per cent and operated by Marriott. One out of the eight is run by Chalet Hotels. Speaking about the route that the hotel company will take for growth, Sethi says, “We have ambitious plans. We are looking at acquisition opportunities in the market and we want to grow through both greenfield and brownfield acquisitions.”
While charting these plans, Chalet Hotels will stay true to its portfolio which is largely upper, upscale and luxury segments. “We are also looking at upscale assets. We are doing a couple of developments in that segment. We will stay in the upscale and upper upscale because that’s a sweet spot for us. We might do select luxury, or mid-segment hotels as well,” Sethi adds. Sethi feels that the hotel company is in for a good run. “The industry is likely to do extremely well, given the macro-dynamics of the business. The demand-supply situation is looking favourable for a healthy growth. I think we have a good five to six-year run, not taking into consideration the healthy growth that we predict on account of the recent economic activities. We still think we will grow at about eight to nine per cent. And if things go positive on that side, we might even touch low teens,” he predicts. For the year ended March 2017, Chalet Hotels’ turnover for its total seven hotels stood at 950 crore with earnings before interest, depreciation, tax and amortisation (EBIDTA) of 350 crore. After including the performance of the company’s co-owned hotel in Juhu, the turnover stood at 1,100 crore and EBIDTA at ` 400 crore.
These will add roughly about 800 more rooms to our current portfolio of 2800-odd rooms. These will take about two to three years to build