TravTalk India Online Magazine
Amruda Nair, Founder, Araiya Hotels & Resorts, is a third generation hotelier, who is taking her legacy forward by adopting an asset-light strategy and tapping tiertiary markets to create a young Indian, female-founded hotel brand, which blends international practices and local expertise.
Lipla Negi
The Founder of Araiya Hotels & Resorts, Armuda Nair, is carrying forward the lessons and legacy of her grandfather, CP Krishnan Nair, the renowned hotelier and Founder, The Leela Group.
Looking back
Nair revealed, “My father, Vivek Nair, was instrumental in pursuing the asset-light strategy for The Leela brand.” Today, when most hotel brands follolw that path, it only strengthens her beliefs.
Sharing Araiya story, she said, “I was fortunate to find a business partner from the Middle East who encouraged me to set up a brand for his hotels in Qatar and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The joint venture was my first foray into strategic brand programming, and it gave me the confidence to do the same for myself.” Araiya Hotels was thus launched in India in 2018 and Araiya Malta was set up for restaurant business in Europe in early 2019.
Keeping with the times
Nair defines her target client as “an urban adventure seeker that is looking for an immersive, personalized experience adapted to their reason for travel.” Another aspect that makes Ariaya properties stand apart is their strong focus on food and beverage.
A unique space
Talking of cdmpetition, Nair stated, “When competing with bigger brands we have found our biggest strengths to be technical—with a focus on building efficiently, technology—cloud-based and cost-effective and training—adaptive and intuitive service delivery,” she said.
Expansion roadmap
Currently, Nair has her mind focussed on two projects under construction in Alibaug, Maharashtra, “where we are currently providing technical services to the developers to ensure that what is built is efficient and sustainable,” she shared. The brand also aims to supplement its presence in Himachal Pradesh this year with a hotel under the ‘Soul by Araiya’ brand in Dharamshala as well as a resort under the same flag in Kerala. In terms of future tie-ups, the brand continues to pursue developments in South Asia and is currently discussing projects in Sri Lanka and Bhutan. It has also partnered with the Global Hotel Alliance for its loyalty programme, which rewards Araiya Discovery members. Under the Araiya
banner, a serviced apartment project is coming up in Alibaug, Maharashtra. Talking about the future growth of this segment, she said, “As a management company, we have provided technical services for a 180-key serviced apartment tower in Qatar.”
Demand is key
Commenting on Indian hotel brands, she says, “Their stronger presence in Tier II & III cities, locally contracted rates with companies, as well as a larger leisure footprint.” She feels that the demand from the domestic market remains steady, which is translating into an expansion of resort capacity in Tier II & III locations, accounting for around 33 per cent of future supply. “The overall pace of growth in 2021-22 remained at 6 per cent, in line with the 10-year CAGR of hotel supply. Mumbai, the second-largest hotel market after Delhi, is seeing much more active development due to increasing demand than Bengaluru, the third-largest. Smaller urban markets are seeing traction thanks to investor confidence in upcoming commercial hubs in Tier II & III cities,” she explained.
