Juniper eyes more luxe hotels

Firm has key metros like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru in its sights; focus on asset ownership, development

- Varuni Khosla

Juniper Hotels, gearing up for a late January or early February IPO, is setting its sights on developing more large-scale luxury hotels in key metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. This strategy is in line with its departure from the mid-market segment, which it has deemed less profitable and increasingly crowded.

The company's CMD Arun K. Saraf, in conversation with Mint, said that in the upper-upscale and luxury hotel categories, the industry has seen a steady average increase in demand of about 10% year-on-year since the early 2000s. But because of a negligible projected increase in supply of new hotels in the luxury category over the next five years, the company is positive that there will be strong growth prospects for it. IPO-bound Juniper Hotels will also look at developing more assets in Goa and Hyderabad with large convention facilities.