Indian Hotels Company Ltd ( IHCL), the promoters of India’s iconic hospitality brand Taj Hotels, Resorts, Pacaes and Safaris has announced a comprehensive five-year business strategy, targeting an improved Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBIDTA) margin by 800 bps, from 17% now to 25% by 2022. The company with $1.2 billion in revenue,has announced plans to improve its EBITDA margin by increasing revenue and keeping tight control on costs and decides to monetize non-core assets including flats & land.
Under this strategy, the company will work towards deepening guest experience, strengthening market leadership and achieving trans-formative growth leading to greater profitability and market leadership in each of the IHCL relative market segments. Indian Hotels has also decided to retain its old structure and push for growth across segments, including mid-scale and economy hotels, reversing an earlier decision to club all premium properties under the Taj luxury brand and exit sub-brands such as Vivanta and Gateway.
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Articulating the plan, Mr. Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Indian Hotels Company Limited, outlined a crisp overview of the vision, created with an eye towards maximizing stakeholder value over the next five years. The plan aims to build on the century-old legacy of IHCL and further strengthen its position by operating best in class portfolio of brands in India and select overseas destinations.
“Our greatest opportunities reside at the very heart of our brand, our people, authentic guest experiences and unmatched value. Our strategy is three pronged: Restructure, Re-engineer and Re-imagine our portfolio to achieve eight percent point EBIDTA margin improvement. This will be driven by a deep commitment to service excellence as well as implementation of revenue and profit-driving initiatives,” Puneet Chhatwal added.
IHCL has the distinct advantage on the Indian sub-continent of having the largest system wide revenue, one of the largest network of hotels, spanning iconic landmark hotels, authentic palaces and the highest number of leisure hotels.
