Louvre Hotels Group plans expansion, to double its India share by 2021.

Louvre Hotels Group envisages increasing share of its India business from the current 5-7 per cent to 10-15 per cent by 2021, said Saurabh Chawla, chief development officer at the world’s fifth-largest hotel group.

The growth will be driven by an aggressive expansion plan across small towns and cities, as it seeks to remain competitive amid growing the app-based hotel aggregators that have the ability to scale up much faster, said Chawla. The Paris-based international hotel chain, owned by China’s Jin Jiang International Holdings, operates 130 properties in the country under the Golden Tulip, Sarovar, and Kyriad brands.

Recently, the mid-size hotel chain made an announcement to introduce the Kyriad brand of hotels in India, along with its franchise partner, Orange Tiger Hospitality India. Orange Hospitality is a hotel management consultancy company, which joined with the French hospitality firm in July. According to the agreement, Orange will be operating eight hotels under Kyriad brand. Besides India, the terms of agreement extends to opportunities for development in Nepal, Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, The Maldives, Pakistan, and Mauritius.

“We are living in challenging times,” said Chawla, adding that competition from app-based budget hotel chains and homestay aggregators like Oyo, Airbnb, and Treebo have lined up expansion plans to seize the opportunity. “Our goal is to become one of the top hospitality group by 2023. This calls for a strategic approach to countries with high growth potential such as India, where we introduce new brands that complement our existing presence,” Chawla added.

BS