Lords Hotels and Resorts eyes 40 hotels by 2020

"The premium mid-market hotel chain expanding to have 40 properties by the end of 2019-20 financial year and is exploring markets in the east and south. We are looking to venture into new geographies and focus on niche segments," Lords Hotels and Resorts Chief Operating Officer P R Bansal said here.

Currently, the company has 26 operational hotels and four more scheduled to commence operations later this year.

In the current financial year, the hospitality chain has plans of establishing hotel properties in Kolkata and Bhubaneswar in the East, and in Hyderabad and Chennai in the South.

"We have identified potential projects in the east where we have not made a mark yet and also in the south where we see tremendous growth in the coming years," Bansal said.

About 30 per cent of the company's hotel portfolio will be in the pilgrimage segment, he said.

"Our next big focus is to serve the pilgrimage tourist for whom today the stay options fall largely in the unorganised domain," Bansal added.

There are close to 200 iconic and sacred places of worship in the country and these sites receives around 1.5 million tourist’s footfalls annually, Bansal said.

While many of the top pilgrimage destinations today have branded hotels, a majority of the sites are served by stand-alone hotels which leave tourists with no option but to manage with what is available, Lords Hotels & Resorts Vice President Rishi Puri said.

"We are very keen on developing a focused offering to the pilgrimage tourist segment. Out of the 26 properties that we currently operate, 7 are in the heart of such pilgrimage destinations and we are aiming at maintaining at least 30 per cent of our portfolio for pilgrimage tourists. The designated tourism circuits will include pilgrimage sites including identified Katra, Mathura, Vrindavan and a couple others for our upcoming projects," he added.

The company has four brands, including Lords Plaza, Lords Inn, Lords Eco Inn and Lords Resorts.