Preferred Hotel Group plans robust expansion for South Asia
Come 2022 and Preferred Hotels & Resorts will have its maiden Beyond Green representation in India. The world’s largest independent hotel brand with more than 700 independent hotels, resorts and residences in over 80 countries expects the signing to happen sometime soon as it has been shelved for a while due to Omicron making its presence felt globally.
“We are very close to our first property of Beyond Green in India. Hopefully, it will happen sometime soon,” shared Saurabh Rai, Executive Vice President –South & South East Asia, Middle East, Africa & Australasia, Preferred Hotels & Resorts. Aimed to cater to the fast-increasing demand for properties that prefer leading the way in sustainability, Beyond Green is a purpose-driven hospitality brand and is owned and operated by Preferred Hotel Group. “It is making your business more future-aligned to become completely sustainable. The fact that it was launched during the pandemic last year demonstrates our commitment towards environment,” said Rai. Beyond Green is already an established brand in Africa and has recently signed the first hotel brand in the Middle East.
Despite having faced a number of hurdles over the last two years due to the pandemic, Rai is optimistic about the Group’s expansion plans. “We will be announcing five to seven hotels in the South Asian region becoming a part of Preferred Hotels & Resorts in 2022. We are represented almost everywhere but we expect to do more in Sri Lanka,” he said, adding they have a fair share in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Maldives, Thailand and Japan. “It may not be big in terms of the number of hotels at all of these countries but it is about business,” Rai explained.
Talking about the challenges independent hotels in India face, Rai shared, “The biggest one is that there needs to be more capital available freely for independent owners and operators, be it the private equity or the venture capital. The banks and financial institutions need to wake up to the reality that an international brand does not guarantee better or faster returns anymore and they need to be equally available to lending at preferential arrangements to independent hotels too. This will fast-track the process.”
The biggest opportunity in the Indian context, Rai opined, “With the acceleration of leisure business and the tide visibly shifting towards domesticated demands, especially for a country like India where there is a huge domestic demand, the writing is on the wall for owners to have the confidence to unabashedly develop more unique experiential non-commodotised independent hotels that will enlarge the opportunity pool.”
