Leela to retain its 'niche, complete luxury' hotel identity even after IPO: CEO

The luxury hotel chain, operated by Brookfield-backed Schloss Bangalore Ltd, says it will remain a distinct, pure-play luxury brand with a sharp focus on high-end hospitality, as it prepares to raise ₹3,500 via the public offer that opens on Monday. "Ours will be a niche, complete luxury hotel offering," Anuraag Bhatnagar, chief executive officer, Schloss Bangalore Ltd, told Mint.

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The Leela Palaces IPO price band has been set at ₹413- ₹435 per share.

The company's vision is clear, and will be focused on luxury hotels, continuing with its 40-year legacy. "This is a very nuanced and a very niche space we have created. We are the only institutionally managed pure-play luxury hotel company in India and it has taken us years to reach here. It's not easy to perfect this kind of an ecosystem of luxury and we have refined our vision and this will be our moat going forward too," Bhatnagar said.

The company has 13 hotels that are currently operational and another 700-odd rooms are in active development across different cities. Leela owns over 10%, or 3,500 of India's luxury hotel inventory of nearly 30,000 rooms. "When we look at industry data, we are charging on an average, 40% premium (or 1.4 times) on our luxury hotel rooms than any other luxury player in the country and luxury rooms themselves charge two-and-a-half times higher in terms of revenue per available room than the regular industry average. This number is ₹15,300, which is higher than the industry average of ₹11,000. We have a long runway ahead" he said.

Revenue per available room, or RevPAR, is a metric by which hoteliers measure performance of the total hotel rooms they have. It is calculated by dividing the total room revenue by the total number of rooms available.

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Average daily rates, or the rates that hotels charge per day per room, in the luxury segment are far lower in India than their overseas counterparts, including hotels in the Middle East and Asia Pacific, giving companies like The Leela Palaces more room for growth, Bhatnagar said.

According to hospitality consultancy firm Hotelivate’s October 2024 report, India had a total branded hotel inventory of approximately 180,000 rooms as of FY24, with around 39% of these falling into the upscale and luxury segments. India now has about 200,000 or more branded hotel rooms, with the number expected to shoot past 300,000 rooms by FY30, according to another hospitality consultancy Horwath HTL.

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Bhatnagar said that the hotel sector has experienced a sustained recovery and growth over the past five years, following the pandemic-induced downturn. This resurgence is characterized by a permanent shift towards prioritizing travel and experience-driven consumption.

“There is also now an overlap with the India growth story and the phenomenal rate at which our GDP is growing along with the increase in purchasing power. There were about 70 million-odd households in India a few years ago, which were potentially consuming luxury goods and services. This is expected to triple in the next five years to 200 million households. That’s where a huge opportunity lies," he said.

Hospitality, traditionally shaped by global consumption trends, has long been central to the luxury goods and services space. Bhatnagar further noted that the country's expanding infrastructure, including the development of new airports and the rising popularity of destinations easily accessible by road from major cities, is significantly contributing to business growth.

“The addressable luxury market is going to increase year on year," he added. While the current number of pure-play inbound international travellers lags, projections indicate a significant increase to 15 million in the coming years, which is expected to substantially boost the business.

Leela at present has a near 50-50 split of Indian versus international travellers, which gives it balanced future growth prospects, he added. Earlier, prior to the pandemic, this figure was 65% international travellers versus 35% Indians.

The company is reinvesting strategically in its existing hotel portfolio and exploring emerging luxury sub-categories to enhance average daily rates. This includes developing premium offerings such as high-end villas within current properties and establishing exclusive members-only clubs.

“These will all be value drivers that we have built into a system which will play out in the next few years," he said. This will also include its luxury residences which will come up in the next 18 months in Mumbai. Hotels will open in a phased manner till 2028.

Schloss Bangalore Ltd earlier this week said it will open its ₹3,500 crore initial public offering on 26 May, making it the largest IPO in the country's hospitality sector to date. The company has scaled down the issue from an earlier ₹5,000 crore plan, citing robust cash flows in recent quarters, and will use the proceeds to fully repay its ₹2,500 crore debt, making it a debt-free business. "We see it as a very positive spin because our primary need of the IPO proceeds was to pay our debt and we had to pay ₹2,500 crore of debt. Our need for capital has gone down. And the size of reduction of the offer for sale (OFS) shows a promoter confidence in the brand and the company," he said.

The IPO also comes amid a wave of listings in India’s hospitality sector, as rising disposable incomes and a surge in premium travel drive investor interest in hotel chains.

The Leela's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (Ebitda) have grown from ₹600 crore to ₹700 crore from FY24 to FY25. Brookfield had also infused over ₹1,200 crore cash into the business which is sitting on the balance sheet. For the next phase of growth, it will utilize that and the capital on its balance sheets including internal accruals.

"We've seen a balance growth across our portfolio and not just from one set of hotels. Food and beverages is a very large part of our business and about 37% comes from it," Bhatnagar added. More than a third, or 35%, of its current inventory of about 1,220 rooms are managed while the remainder are owned. By the end of FY28, the company will have 10 owned hotels, from five now.

Along with the listing, Schloss is ramping up expansion with seven new hotels planned over the next three years in cities like Ayodhya, Ranthambore, Gangtok, Srinagar, Bandhavgarh, Agra and Mumbai—targeting demand across spiritual, heritage, wildlife and business travel segments. "The trend of multi-generational travel and spiritual luxury travellers is here to stay. This is where our moat is. The average age of the consumer of luxury is getting younger. Earlier, one associated luxury with a particular age group, but now as we move forward, we find it is getting more democratic and more inclusive," he added.

Five of these seven hotels will be owned, while two will be operated through management or franchise agreements, making the company grow from 13 to 20 properties to scale the luxury portfolio in underpenetrated markets.

The hotel industry has seen a lot of formalization in the last few yeas, with several players listing themselves while others are still in the process. Prestige Hospitality Ventures Ltd has filed draft papers for a ₹2,700 crore public issue. Ventive Hospitality—a joint venture between Panchshil Realty and Blackstone, filed its preliminary papers with the Sebi in December last year, while Juniper Hotels and Park Hotels last February. Next will be Brigade Hotel Ventures Ltd, which filed its DRHP last December and received approval for a ₹900 crore IPO.

Brookfield is a 100% owner of the Leela Hotels. Ankur Gupta, head of Asia Pacific and Middle East for Brookfield's real estate business, said that the company will look to hold about 76% of its ownership post-IPO and will dilute just 24%. Brookfield finalized its $500 million or ₹3,900 crore acquisition of Hotel Leelaventure—the company behind the iconic Leela luxury hotel chain, in 2019.