Tata Group-owned Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), which operates the Taj Group of hotels, has announced the launch of 'Ekyam', a new marketing platform to manage its portfolio of 25 hotels, and 2,500 rooms by 2025. The hotels at present on the platform, are jointly owned with its long-time partner, Nepali conglomerate CG Group's hospitality arm. Under two joint ventures, IHCL and CG Group own 7 of the 11 operational hotels, while CG Group owns the remaining 4. 'Ekyam' will primarily focus on properties located near adventure experiences in the Indian Ocean, Greater Himalayan regions, and wildlife areas. The platform aims to enhance transparency and drive growth in these properties under the two joint ventures between IHCL and CG Group.
Tata Group-owned Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), which operates the Taj Group of hotels, announced the launch of Ekyam, a new marketing platform to manage 25 hotels and 2,500 rooms by 2025.
Ekyam will primarily focus on properties located near adventure experiences in the Indian Ocean, Greater Himalayan regions, and wildlife areas. It will combine IHCL's 11 existing properties and 7 upcoming properties owned by its long-time partner, Nepali conglomerate CG Group's hospitality arm.
IHCL CEO Puneet Chhatwal described Ekyam as a marketing platform to enhance transparency and build on IHCL's 20-year partnership with CG Group. Under two joint ventures, IHCL and CG Group own 7 of the 11 operational hotels, while CG Group owns the remaining 4. The platform is meant to have separate leadership who will drive growth and business in these properties.
These 11 current properties under Ekyam are -Taj Exotica Resort & Spa and Taj Coral Reef Resort & Spa in Maldives, Taj Samudra in Colombo, Taj Jumeirah Lakes Towers, in Dubai, and Taj Safaris, the wildlife luxury lodges in India (Bandhavgarh, Kanha, Pench and Panna) and Nepal (Chitwan and Kathmandu). This adds up to a totality of 900 rooms in the Indian sub-continent and west Asia.
The seven upcoming properties on the platform will include four in Nepal, two in Bhutan and one in Dubai, which will add another 900 rooms to the portfolio.
Chhatwal said IHCL has identified seven of its existing managed properties with other developers that it plans to add to Ekyam. This, he said, will depend on approvals from the owners of those properties.
CG Group MD Rahul Chaudhary said they have invested INR 1,250 crore so far in these properties, and earmarked INR 1,500-2,000 crore for the upcoming 7 projects. Chhatwal added IHCL has invested INR 550-600 crore in the two joint ventures. The total investment in 25 existing and upcoming hotels under the Ekyam platform will be around INR 4,000 crore.
The groups are also planning to develop a hotel in Phuket in Thailand and will also explore opportunities in wellness tourism.
Last year, Ambuja Neotia group bought the Tree of Life Resorts & Hotels in a deal valued at INR 70-80 crore. IHCL was subsequently hired to run this portfolio for them.
IHCL reported INR 6,768.75 crore of gross revenue from operations in FY24, rising 16.5% from FY23's INR 5,809.91 crore.
The launch of 'Ekyam' aims to strengthen IHCL's presence in the luxury hotel market both in India and abroad.
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