By Praveen Paramasivam
(Reuters) - Hyatt Hotels (NYSE:H) is betting on India's rising population and consumer spending power to help the U.S. hotel chain keep up revenue growth in the double-digit percentage range in the Asian country this financial year, an executive said.
Global hotel operators have been building diverse property portfolios in the world's most populous country, targeting its more affluent consumers, whose appetite for domestic travel has been strong since the relaxation of COVID curbs.
Hyatt, which has roughly 325 of its more than 1,400 hotels in Asia Pacific, is looking to expand in the region, and "India is a big part of that," Carina Chorengel, a senior executive, told Reuters on Wednesday.
Hyatt said it plans to open six hotels in India, home to roughly 1.4 billion people, this year including in smaller cities from northern Ghaziabad to southern Kochi.
Within five years, it is planning to double its hotel count in India to 100, Hyatt said.
Many global brands, from fast-food restaurant operators to apparel sellers, have been downplaying the recent slowdown in Indian consumer spending to double down on the country to tap its growing middle class in the longer term.
India's growing population, rapid urbanization with more people moving to its cities and their desire to travel more are the key reasons Hyatt is focusing more on India, Chorengel said.
The hotel chain would also post revenue growth in the double-digit percentage range in India in fiscal 2026, after recording similar growth in previous years, said Sunjae Sharma, managing director of India and Southwest Asia at Hyatt.
Late last year, rival Hilton Worldwide (NYSE:HLT) said it plans to quadruple the number of hotel rooms in its India pipeline in five years.