Taj-parent Indian Hotels Company (IHCL) had 360 hotels at the end of 2024, up from 285 in 2023: a 25% jump. Last year marked IHCL’s highest openings with 40 hotels opened and 85 signed, according to executive vice president Deepika Rao.
“IHCL launched the re-imagined Gateway, a full-service hotel offering in the upscale segment, acquired majority shareholding in Tree of Life brand holding company, adding a boutique leisure offering and entered into a brand license agreement for The Claridges, commencing with management of brand’s landmark hotel in New Delhi, extending IHCL’s luxury portfolio,” said Suma Venkatesh, executive vice president — real estate & development.
The company’s expansion is driven by an asset light model which accounted for 75% of its signings in 2024.
Brands Leading the Charge: Of the 360 hotels, 125 are under IHCL’s flagship luxury brand Taj, in line with the growing preference for premiumization in India. This is followed closely by midscale brand Ginger with a 102-hotel portfolio.
Skift had earlier reported that while Taj is IHCL’s international brand, Vivanta, Gateway, Ginger, SeleQtions and Tree of Life will bolster its domestic presence.
Reflective of the emerging consumer trends as well as the growth in Tier 1 and 2 cities, boutique leisure offering Tree of Life, the re-imagined Gateway brand in the upscale segment and Ginger in the midscale segment would drive 75% of IHCL’s new additions, CEO Puneet Chhatwal had said during an investors’ meeting in November last year.
Within less than a year of relaunch, the Gateway brand has a pipeline of 17 hotels, and 8 operational properties.
In November last year, IHCL unveiled its “Accelerate 2030” strategy. It plans to grow its portfolio to 700 hotels by the end of the decade, and double its consolidated revenue to INR 150 billion ($1.7 billion).
Air India’s First Class Plan and More on Loyalty Program
Air India is set to expand its loyalty program Maharaja Club to its low-cost carrier Air India Express, a company executive said during a press briefing attended by Skift. Chief commercial officer Nippun Aggarwal shared that the loyalty program, which was overhauled last April, has seen its membership surge from 3 million to 10 million. Monthly enrollments have increased fivefold, he added.
The airline also has plans for co-branded credit cards. “The co-branded credit cards present a huge market opportunity. The numbers that we have today are very small, and we are working to simplify the card portfolio and come out with a new card with a much stronger value proposition,” he said.
Air India is working to strengthen its domestic hubs to capture a larger share of the connecting traffic. Only 15% of the connecting traffic passes through India, while the rest fly through foreign hubs such as Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, and Singapore. With long-haul making up more than half of India’s air travel revenue opportunity, this segment is central to Air India’s growth plans over the next decade.
Most of the aircraft under Air India have a three-class configuration: Business Class, Premium Economy, and Economy. Aggarwal said that the revenue growth in Air India’s premium cabins has outpaced economy class. Thus, it has plans to develop first-class products on select widebody planes.
The footfall at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru reached 40.7 million passengers in 2024, an increase of 9.5% over the previous year’s 37.2 million passengers. With this, the airport now meets the criteria to be in the list of world’s “larger airports” as per the Airports Council International.
In a statement, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), said that there was a significant surge in daily air traffic movements (ATMs) at the airport along with the launch of various new domestic and international routes last year.
Last year, 11 new domestic and four international flights commenced from the Bengaluru Airport. With this, the total destinations served by the airport reached 75 domestic and 30 international by 2024-end.
Cygnett Announces New Luxury Resort in Goa
Cygnett Hotels & Resorts has signed a new luxury property: Anamore Select Resort & Wellness near the Manohar International Airport in Goa. The 150-key luxury resort is part of its Anamore brand which targets the upscale market.
Founder Sarbendra Sarkar said the chain has five more Anamore properties in the pipeline across Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan. Over the past 10 years of operations, Cygnett’s portfolio includes a total of 48 hotels, with over 3,600 rooms.
As part of its expansion plans, the hotel chain is planning to add 1,000 keys every year for the next five years, with the ultimate goal of expanding to over 100 hotels with more than 9,000 rooms by 2029.
Royal Jordanian Resumes India Connection
Jordan’s flag carrier Royal Jordanian Airlines has announced new direct routes connecting Amman with Delhi and Mumbai. Starting from April, the airline will operate on the Mumbai-Amman route four times a week. Delhi-Amman flights will commence in September.
Royal Jordanian earlier operated non-stop connections from Amman to Delhi and Mumbai. The operations were discontinued in 2014.
The new routes are a part of Jordan’s effort to attract Indian tourists to explore the country. In a statement, the airline said that through this move, it plans to position itself as a boutique airline. Royal Jordanian Airlines will deploy A320neo aircraft on the Delhi and Mumbai routes with a two-class configuration: Business and Economy.
Zoomcar Reports Highest-Ever Contribution Profit
Car rental company Zoomcar has reported its highest-ever unaudited and unreviewed contribution profit for the single month in December 2024, it has said. The profit amounts close to $500,000.
This, it has said, is sufficient to cover its operational costs in India, the only market where it currently operates. During the month of December, Zoomcar witnessed a 17% year-on-year growth in bookings.
