Onyx to expand brands in five Indian cities

Bangkok-based Onyx Hospitality Group aims to expand its business in five key cities in India in the next five years.

Sales and marketing director Anita Kapai told The Nation that the group was keen on expanding its Saffron, Amari and Ozo brands in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai and Goa after Amari Ludhiana Hotel in Punjab opens in the second half.

“In those commercial cities, international and upper-class hotels remain inadequate to the demand both from local and foreign business travellers,” Kapai said on the sidelines of the sixth Outbound Travel Mart in Mumbai last week. 

The upcoming 127-key hotel in Ludhiana is an example of how to cash in on this opportunity. The Onyx group has been appointed by Apna Punjab Resorts to operate the four-star property. 

She said Ludhiana had been well recognised as a manufacturing hub for hosiery and woollen garments, so the target customers, about 70-80 per cent of the guests, should be businesspeople and textile buyers, while the rest are family groups and leisure tourists. In its first year of operation, the hotel expects an 80-per-cent occupancy rate. 

Located on Canal Road, it will have a courtyard lobby, with the reception desk and lounge within a grand atrium covering about 1,400 square metres. In terms of area, Amari Ludhiana will be the largest hotel in Punjab state. The property will also offer meeting facilities that will be able to accommodate events for up to 2,000 people, as well as parking for 250 cars. Amari Ludhiana will also feature a tea lounge to cater to society ladies’ lunches and social gatherings. 

Adul Chotinisakorn, executive director of the Thai Trade Centre’s Mumbai office, said the Thai government saw service sectors such as the hotel business as top priorities for Thai business expansion in India. It is a land of great opportunity, particularly for tourism, because it is expected to have 403,000 millionaires within three years and the world’s largest population, ahead of China, in 2025.

“Apart from hospitality business, we would like to see more leading Thai companies from the infrastructure-development industry, agribusiness and food processing to expand their business here,” he added.

With many infrastructure projects in the pipeline, India needs to learn expertise in those areas from Thailand, Adul said.