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IHG Hotels & Resorts has signed a management agreement with Discover Resorts Neral Pvt. Ltd. for a 200-key voco-branded property in Karjat, Maharashtra. The existing property will convert to IHG's premium voco brand by early 2028. The signing adds to IHG's expanding India portfolio, which currently comprises 53 operational hotels across seven brands, alongside a pipeline of 110 hotels expected to open over the next three to five years.
IHG Hotels & Resorts on Monday said it has signed a management agreement with Discover Resorts Neral Pvt. Ltd. for a 200-key voco hotel in Karjat, Maharashtra. The property will be converted to IHG's premium voco brand by early 2028, the global hospitality company said in a statement.
Sudeep Jain, Managing Director for South West Asia at IHG Hotels & Resorts, said voco was well suited to a destination such as Karjat, where travellers sought a premium experience that felt distinctive, relaxed and connected to the character of the location. The signing extends the voco brand's footprint further into Maharashtra's weekend and leisure travel belt, an area that has increasingly drawn hospitality investment given its proximity to Mumbai and Pune.
Karjat, located in the Sahyadri foothills, has in recent years emerged as a popular short-break destination for travellers from both Mumbai and Pune, owing to its hill terrain, riverside resorts and relatively easy accessibility via road and rail. The addition of an internationally branded property in the region reflects the broader trend of global hotel chains extending their premium and upscale brands beyond metro markets into drivable leisure destinations, as domestic travel demand for such getaways continues to grow.
Voco was launched by IHG in 2018 as a premium conversion brand, designed to allow owners of existing independent or unbranded hotels to align with an established international operator while retaining the character and individuality of the original property, rather than adopting a fully standardised chain format. The brand has since been rolled out across several international markets, including a growing presence in India, where it has been positioned to appeal to owners seeking global distribution, loyalty programme access and operational standards without the architectural uniformity typically associated with larger hotel chains.
IHG currently operates 53 open hotels across seven brands in India, spanning luxury, premium, upscale and mainstream segments. The company has said it maintains a strong development pipeline in the country, with 110 hotels expected to open over the next three to five years, underscoring its continued expansion strategy across both metro and emerging leisure and business markets in India.
The Karjat signing forms part of IHG's wider push to grow its premium segment presence in India through management agreements with property owners, a route that allows the company to expand its branded portfolio without direct ownership of real estate assets. This asset-light expansion model has become increasingly common among global hospitality chains operating in India, as they seek to scale their footprint rapidly across both established gateway cities and emerging tourism circuits without committing significant capital to land or construction costs, leaving that investment to local developers and property owners such as Discover Resorts Neral.
Source PTI
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