The Indian Hotels Company Limited (INDHOTEL) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Indian Hotels Company Limited Earnings Conference Call for the quarter ended 31st December 2025. On the call, we have with us Mr. Puneet Chakwal, Managing Director and CEO, IHCL, and Mr. Ankur Dharwani, EVP and CFO, IHCL. As a reminder, all participant lines will be in the listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call, please signal an operator by pressing star, then zero on your touchstone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Puneet Chathwal. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Chathwal.

Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining our conference call for Q3-2526. We are pleased to inform you that we have continued our record performance for the 15th consecutive quarter, driven by sustained strength in our core business while building scale with profitability. I will now want to outline the five key sections of this call or this presentation from us, Let me now begin with the number one, which is performance. On a consolidated basis, revenue for Q3 2526 grew 12% year-on-year to Rs. 2,900 crore. EBITDA grew 11% year-on-year to Rs. 1,134 crore, yielding EBITDA margin of 39.1%. Our consolidated PAT before exceptional items grew 15% year-on-year to 668 crore, highest ever quarterly PAT in IHCL's history. For the very first time, our quarterly EBITDA for hotel segment crossed 1,000 crores, yielding 40.7% EBITDA margin. Our standalone performance in Q3 was also the best ever with 9% growth in revenue to $1,654 crores and EBITDA margin expansion by 40 basis points to 48.2%. Standalone PAT before exceptional items grew 13% to $529 crores, taking PAT margin to a robust 32%. For nine months, 25-26, we delivered consolidated revenue growth of 17% year-on-year with EBITDA margin of 34% in line with our guidance of double-digit revenue growth. What is important is to step back and reflect on our growth journey over the past four years. As you would have seen, we have delivered a double-digit CAGR across revenue, EBITDA, and PAT on both consolidated and standalone basis. On the investor presentation, there is an interesting slide number five if you would want to refer to during or after this call. These numbers underscore the consistency, quality, and the structural strength of our business model. With that, I move to point number two or section number two, the pillars of diversification. Having discussed our performance, the move to the structural drivers behind it is also important because we have now a highly diversified business model, a journey we commenced a few years ago. We are right in the middle of it, with a few more years and several more quarters to go. Let's first take this journey across brands. Taj continues to be our crown jewel, with 69% of our operating revenue coming from the luxury segment anchored by the Taj. At the same time, as the overall revenue pie has expanded, the contribution from our other businesses and reimagined brands, too, has scaled meaningfully. The new business vertical, comprising of ginger, cumin, ama, and tree of life, now contributes 8% of total revenue. At the same time, Tatsats contributes 13% of the total revenue. Our upper upscale brands, Vivanta, Selections, and Gateway account for another 10%. This balanced brand architecture allows us to capture premium pricing while participating in structural growth across mid-scale and emerging formats across all of India. Second pillar of diversification is geography. 53% of revenue comes from key domestic business cities, 15% from domestic leisure destinations, and 22% from international markets. The balance, obviously, from other domestic locations. This diversified geographic mix reduces concentration risk, smoothens cyclicality, and ensures resilience across demand cycles. In a sense, diversification is not incidental. It is deliberately designed to drive stability, scale, and sustainable growth. Diversification is not only about revenue mix, it is also very important for capital efficiency. If we take the breakup of our operational portfolio, we have 32,300 keys, of which 68% are on a capital-light model, managed or fully fitted revenue share lease structures. You would recall those who have been with us for several years that eight years ago, this number was the other way around, that the capital heavy was around 78% and the capital light was 22%. This change in the ratios has enabled us to scale expansion with disciplined capital deployment, supporting margins, and return ratios. More importantly, when we look at the pipeline, which is 30,200 keys under development, 30,200 keys is almost equal to the total number of operational keys that we have. 80% of our pipeline is managed. Only 6% is owned or leased. Basically, 94% of the total pipeline is on a capital-like model. This significantly enhances forward visibility on earnings growth with limited balance sheet intensity. The result is a structurally strong business model, one that combines growth, margin expansion, and higher return on capital employed. With that, I move to Section 3, which is about portfolio and pipeline. With 361 operating hotels, 256 in pipeline, and a total portfolio of 617 hotels, IHCL today is India's largest hospitality ecosystem, spanning across 15 countries and 300-plus unique locations. Importantly, this translates, as I mentioned previously, to 32,300 operational keys and an almost equal amount of 30,200 keys under development, which is an industry-leading pipeline that provides strong multi-year growth visibility. Moving on to Section 4 is about partnerships and platforms. Having outlined the strength of our portfolio and pipeline, let me now move to partnerships and platforms, a key lever for accelerating inorganic growth and unlocking value. We have completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in A&K and Bright. We have signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 51% stake in Bridge. We have also completed the acquisition of 51% stake in Atmanthal. These transactions strengthen our presence in high-growth segments, including mid-scale, experiential leisure, and holistic wellness, while further expanding our portfolio, scale, and geographic footprint. Importantly, these acquisitions are expected to contribute meaningfully in the range of $250 to $300 crores to IHCL's consolidated top line in FY26-27. Also, very important is that we have divested our stake in Taj GVK, generating 592 crores in cash while retaining management contracts for all GVK hotels. We have also signed another contract with the GVK Group, which we announced for a 250-plus room hotel in Yarlanka in Bangalore. That is about to open in the next three to four months' time. All this reflects disciplined capital allocation, recycling capital from ownership into higher return, capital light, growth opportunities. In a sense, we are sharpening the portfolio while strengthening our operating platform. A key focus area within our platform strategy is mid-scale expansion, about which we have been communicating with all of you over the last five to seven years. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, this is about Ginger, which today has a portfolio of 110-plus hotels, reinforcing its position as a category leader in the branded mid-scale segment. Post the migration and integration of ANK Plus Pride Hotels, the combined portfolio will comprise of 250 plus hotels in this segment, significantly enhancing our scale, distribution reach, and owner network in this structurally under-penetrated segment. We have already signed an addendum for 20 hotels for brand migration, with another 30 planned in the first half of FY27, demonstrating our momentum of execution. Today, the combined portfolio of Ginger and ANK Plus Pride has over 10,000 mid-scale operating keys, with approximately 24% market share of branded mid-scale inventory. This figures are as per a report from Lodging Econometrics. This scale provides operating leverage, stronger procurement economics, enhanced brand recall, and improved return metrics. Through partnerships and platform-led expansion, we are building not just incremental rooms, but scalable ecosystems that drive sustained growth, margin expansion, and long-term shareholder value. With that, I would want to move to the last section on prospects and possibilities. We see six clear drivers that will shape the next phase of growth for IHCL. First, like-for-like revenue growth momentum is expected to continue, supported by favorable demand supply dynamics in key markets and sharper asset management focus, something which we have been pursuing for the last seven years in a very focused and consequent fashion. Second, a strong forward pipeline, including balance sheet assets and greenfield projects. This provides multi-year visibility on revenue and EBITDA expansion. Third, management fee income is set to grow in the high teens, driven by 60-plus openings. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, 60-plus openings in FY27 and sustained asset-light expansion on what we call a capital-light model. Fourth, Ginger and our new business verticals are expected to deliver 25%-plus revenue growth, supported by integration benefits and scale efficiencies. Fifth, Tatsaj to continue its growth trajectory on the back of travel buoyancy and structural tailwinds such as new airports. Sixth, strategic acquisitions such as Bridge and Atmanthan will deepen our presence in boutique leisure and integrated wellness segments, a much-awaited growth segment for the future. Collectively, these levers give us confidence in delivering double-digit revenue growth in FY26 and FY27 with improving quality of earnings and sustained margin strength. Let me just now address a few more issues before we come to the end of the call. Number one, favorable demand supply will continue to drive rep power growth. That is the core engine of value creation is the continuous growth in REVPAR. And over the last few years, the sector has benefited from strong demand tailwinds and favorable supply dynamics. Importantly, we believe this is not cyclical alone, but structural change that is here to stay. Because India's travel and tourism ecosystem continues to deepen, driven by rising disposable incomes, infrastructure investments, mice demand, weddings, spiritual tourism, and premiumization of experiences. On the supply side, additions remain measured in several key micromarkets, and this is ultimately supporting the ref power growth. For ISL, this translates into continued pricing power across segments, improved mix and yield management, operating leverage flowing through to margins. As a result, we expect steady like-for-like revenue growth to remain a meaningful contributor to earnings expansion. Second, as I already mentioned, a strong forward pipeline as we are going to open a lot of hotels and our capital allocation remains disciplined. Our capital will be deployed only on high-visibility locations. Our focus will be on growth driven by management contracts or fully-fitted revenue share lease models in the mid-scale segment and selective capital deployment where strategic control and long-term value creation justify ownership. All these ensure multi-year revenue visibility, margin resilience, and strong return ratios. As you will all ask one question before you ask, let me address Taj Bandstand. That is a project which is both strategic and symbolic for IHCL and for the Taj brand and for our country, India. Excavation at the site has commenced since a few months, and the tendering process is currently underway. We are progressing in line with the planned milestones. Once completed, Taj Bandstand will be a state-of-the-art project, redefining the seafront skyline of Mumbai. From a financial standpoint, upon stabilization, Taj Bandstand is expected to contribute 1,000-plus crore to IHCL's top line with EBITDA margins close to 50%. This reflects the premium positioning and strong operating leverage of luxury assets which not only define the new skyline but create iconic buildings for the new and buoyant India. We have put some renderings on the investor presentation, would welcome you to have a look through that. Number three is growth in management fee income. With 60-plus expected openings in F527 and sustained signings momentum, our asset-light model continues to strengthen. As the share of managed hotels rises, the quality of earnings improves and improves structurally. We expect management fee income to grow in the high teens, reinforcing both profitability and cash generation. Then comes new business, which is at an inflection point, which is our fourth lever. This is emerging as a significant growth engine for IHCL, and I've already mentioned the growth of Ginger in this segment, which is also getting support from Cumin, Ama, and Tree of Life as we move ahead in the next years. Tatsats is consistently delivering on all fronts. Q3 revenue grew by 17% year-on-year, with an EBITDA margin of 26%. We only see this growth accelerating with newer airports coming in, as well as Tatsats is venturing into non-aviation business segments, which should help it diversify also the revenue base. Finally, strategic acquisitions, which is brands like Atmanthan and Rich. And I think these acquisitions underline our strategy. First, Atmanthan, this marks ISAL's foray into the niche, but fast-growing segment of integrated wellness in luxury hospitality. This acquisition was completed a few weeks ago, and we plan to add several new wellness slots and additional rooms in this segment. This property and this brand is projected to generate revenue of approximately 100 crores in F527, with strong margin characteristics aligned to the premium wellness positioning. Second, bridge. This represents a penetration into the boutique leisure space, a high-growth segment driven by experiential travel and curated stays. The definitive agreements have been signed. Acquisition is expected to be completed by March 31, 2026. This will also contribute approximately 100 crores in F527 and provide IHCL with a differentiated offering in heritage and immersive leisure destinations. In conclusion, IHCL stands today on the strength of a fully diversified business model across brands, geographies, formats, and platforms, enabling us to scale with profitability and resilience. We remain confident of delivering on our guidance of double-digit growth, supported by sustained margins, strong like-for-like momentum, and a robust pipeline that provides multi-year visibility. Our balance sheet remains healthy with gross cash reserves of over 3,800 crores, despite having built a few of our owned assets like Cochin International Airport Taj or Vivantha and Ginger in Ekta Nagar, investments into our core assets and our trophy assets like London or Taj Mel Palace in Kolaba or Taj Land's End. And as you would recall, in the last quarter call, when we talked about the rooms being out of order for the Taj Palace in Delhi, which was around 130 rooms which have been renovated. However, and having said that, we will continue to invest in our core competitive advantages, our iconic physical assets, our diversified brand-scape, and most, most importantly, our people. With scale, strength, and strategic clarity, we are well positioned to shape the next phase of growth and to continue delivering sustainable long-term value for our shareholders. Thank you for listening, and we will now open the call for questions.

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on their touch-to-on telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to please use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. Our first question comes from the line of Shaleen Kumar from UBS India. Please go ahead.

Hi, can I, can I, can I, yes, yes, yes, yes, hi, sorry. First of all, congratulations on a good set of numbers. Just to understand, we have a 9% REVPAR growth. Can you get a sense of contribution of ARR growth and slash occupancy?

We have given that, Shaleen, on a – this time, as we had promised in several calls, by brand, and because, you know, there is rev-par growth and rev-par growth, which is very different than mid-scale, and at what base we are talking about. So, growth in, firstly, let me go by brand, at Taj is at 8% at a base of 22,000. In Vivanta Selections and Gateway is 10%, and in Ginger is also around 9%. So, the majority of the growth is coming driven by average room rate, which, if we take everything together, comes to 7%, which accounts for the 9% REF-PAR growth. So, 7% is ARR growth.

Got it, sir. And so, if I can ask, like, how's the 4Q going on in terms of the REF-PAR? Any sense on that?

You see, I personally prefer to talk about REFPA, but I know that we always get the same question on REFPA. I think it would be fair to assume anything in a similar trend or even higher is definitely not lower. So it would be fair to assume approximately a double-digit growth number. If not, then it could be 9, it could be 8.8. But I think with a bit of tailwind that we're currently having, we could get anything between 9% to 10% REVPAR growth, but definitely you should expect a total revenue growth in a similar range as you have experienced in the past. So I would say 12% to 14% in Q4 as a top-line growth is realistic.

Okay, so you think REFPA growth of... Yes, sir, go ahead.

Yeah, go ahead, go ahead, Salim.

No, no, I was like pinning down. Till now, we are seeing double-digit REFPA growth, you said that?

Till now?

Yeah, so I was just saying that till now, quarter to date is actually comfortably above, comfortably in double-digit. We'll see how the quarter plays out. And because we have, you know, I think big events lined up in the next couple of weeks, So, we'll see how the quotas every month plays out.

Sure, sure, sure, sure. Sorry, sir. Just changing towards strategy, I would really like to hear about Atmantan. So, a few questions around it. What, any sense of its positioning, like, in terms of what are the key pairs it has? And in terms of your expansion plan, like, what kind of a CAPEX are you thinking you will be needing? And, like, does it need a bigger Kpex or a small Kpex, multiple location, et cetera? And so, and in terms of the returns and margins, if we can get some sense of that, because I think that could be a big sector going forward. So, if you can give some color on that bit.

In the short term, which when I say short term, I think the next three years or so, We expect to grow Atmanthan with the founders in a hybrid fashion. I don't think we will have all growth coming through owned. There is a lot of interest in Atmanthan brand. So if we did, let's say, four projects, at least two would be on a capital light model, and two could be owned by us. We would definitely want to have one additional asset in the West, And a minimum of one in Kerala. That takes us to three. And another one in south in the area of Hyderabad, because it has a lot of demand there and a very, very affluent base. And maybe one in the north or in the east, I mean, in the hill areas. So, but the order of priority would be like this, the West and Kerala being top priority, followed by the others. That's our three-year plan. We haven't gone and seen beyond that because the acquisition only completed less than four weeks ago.

Just to add, with the margins, we kind of disclosed the six-monthly margins when we did the announcement. So, they are comfortably above 40%, and for the full year, we expect it to be in high 40s only. So, I think that's something which we think we'll sustain over the next year as well. And the pipeline, we'll get more cut on the pipeline as we integrate and move forward, As to see which are the locations where we can sort of provide to, you know, to our content to expand. But that's a journey we have just started, like Mr. Chetwan said, so we will get more clarity in the next couple of courses on that.

All right. So just one last bit on that. What kind of CAPEX per project we need and, like, how big are these projects?

These are typically 25 to 35 acres kind of projects. So large land areas located outside cities, close to a big airport. Because a lot of clientele is also offshore from NRI clients or just foreigners. So you do need connectivity. And then, of course, the location has to be in a place where you can actually benefit from the whole wellness angle. So whether it's near or looking a mountain or a beach or close to a river, you know, so those are the typical locations. So legal locations, high end. And it's not actually CAPEX per room kind of a metric here because it's also how many wellness slots you sort of put in, how many treatment rooms you put in, and what kind of medical facilities you put in. This, as you know, is an accurate facility medically. It's a combination of all of those things which goes into CAPEX.

Okay. Got it, sir. All right, sir. Thank you so much. I'll join back the queue. Thank you. Best of luck.

Thank you. Thank you, Shadi.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Prateek Kumar from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

Yeah, good evening, sir. My first question is on your reported margins. So, we have like stable margins here on here. There's a mention of some one-off expense during the quarter in your slides. Can you quantify this one-off number and impact on margins with that?

It should be around 20 to 25 crores, Pratik. Of course, we've been on a journey of acquisitions. It obviously increases legal expenses. It increases technical expenses. It includes deal expenses, due diligence expenses. These are some of the one-offs, and some others are related to GST. And anything else you would like to add?

No, I think that are the big heads. GST particularly has been an expense which we think will neutralize in the next quarter. So, that will probably explain half of the impact. And then the deal expenses and some related to the marketing events which happened one-off in this quarter. So, I think all put together will be in the 20-25 crore zone. Adjusted for those, the margin would have been higher and the growth in EBITDA would be at least a couple of percentage higher.

I think as a strategy, I think if we are going to have in a quarter like quarter three on a consolidated basis, which includes, you know, also international assets margin close to 40 percent and on standalone 48 percent, we are happy with that. Our main focus will be to grow, scale profitably in all the new businesses that we have started and also asset manage the great assets that we have so that we can drive more and more revenue per square foot. So I think in doing so, all these things work in a certain way. The more we do for this long term, the more we displace in the short term. So like I said, Taj Palace, you take out the inventory, so there is a displacement that happens. Sometimes delays happen because of what you call grab in Delhi, that you have to stop construction, which is beyond your control. So there are things like this that happen. But if we can maintain margins close to 39-40% on consolidated in a Q3 and a 48 on a standalone, we are very pleased with that. We don't mind getting more, but then we would not be doing justice to the iconic assets and the positioning we have, which in long term will not help us to get those premium average rates that we are enjoying today.

All right. Just delving on this further, like in your opening remarks multiple times, you mentioned about steady margins. So we should be like looking at maybe higher revenue growth and maybe similar EBITDA growth, because we generally thought that there are like two line items like management contracts, which can drive your EBITDA margin expansion year on year. But we are looking at, I mean, while you talk about console margins as 40% is something which you desire. So your core margins or like non-management contract margin seems to be then probably lower year-on-year and management contract is like expected to be 70%. Is that the way we should understand?

No, I think typically it should be like this if you want to understand this. If the top-line growth in our kind of diversified portfolio is around 10%, then the EBITDA growth could be 15% and the PAD growth could be 20%. I mean, this is how, if you look at our investor presentation, which will show you this kind of a trend on quarter basis, You will see on standalone and on consolidated that the Q3 shows a 14%, 17%, and 20%. Now, there could be an improvement on that 17 and 20 if the revenue CAGR is 14. Similarly, if you look at nine months, it shows 13 and again 17. That's what I meant by improvement, but the PAT goes to 23 in that slide. Right. So I think this is the way to look at it that approximately you can add whatever the top line is, you could add another 10 percentage points or double that for the PAT and somewhere in between is the growth in your EBITDA.

Sure. Moving on to other questions. How are you looking at the New York assets now? There was like some news recent, I mean, two months back, you're looking to exit that situation. What update there?

Don't believe everything that is written. There is a very famous saying, you never eat as hot as it's cooked. We are very much there. We are operating it. The New York asset, for the first time since we have it, in the month of December, cost 100 crores in revenue. And we are, for the first time, in a lucky situation of cash profit. Even San Francisco has done well. You will see that in the details. Yes. It's very iconic Fifth Avenue. We would like to keep it. We are in negotiations. We would know more maybe by the next quarter call that we have as to where we stand, but definitely exit is not our preferred option.

Also, we have clarified that that was, you know, basically the news which was not true when that came out, in the sense that basically it said that we will get X billion dollars of money because we are not the owners of the asset. We have a lease right on the asset. So, that's what we are engaging with the owners of the asset.

Sure. I have more questions. I will get back to the queue. Thank you, Priti. Thank you.

Our next question comes from the line of Karan Khanna from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.

Yeah, hi. Good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. Firstly, Puneet, you spoke about targe bandstand. On slide 15, if I look at the revenue potential of the asset, is it safe to assume that you're building an ARR of around 38,000 to 40,000 at 78% to 80% occupancy at the time of stabilization? And can you reiterate the timelines for first year of stabilization? And when you're building these numbers, what kind of ARR growth are you penciling in here over, let's say, next five to seven years by when the asset should stabilize?

Both on occupancy and rate, you could go marginally higher. And the year of stabilization should, in such an asset, it does not take more than three years to stabilize. It all depends if we are able to complete by 30 or 29 or 31. It's very difficult to say that today because we are building a 164-meter-tall building and a part of the construction is in water. You know, there are things that happen in terms of climate and other things which are beyond anybody's reasonable control. So we do believe that given our experience of Taj Mahal Palace in Kolava and the kind of revenue it already does today, in seven years from now, we could have the same base as that what we have guided for, which is 1,000 crore plus as the revenue base for the full year of revenue. So, I mean, for the first full year of revenue and maybe going up 10% year on year to a higher number by the seventh year from now, which means four and a half years to build and another three to operate.

Sure, this is Al-Purin. Secondly, just shifting gears to this quarter, given that this was the first quarter after quite a while where the growth was entirely like for like. So, is 11-12% consolidated revenue growth something you expect to remain largely constant going ahead into 4Q and FI27 as well? And in the past, you used to talk about double-digit REVPAR growth and now double-digit revenue growth. So, are you now seeing the rate growth cycle close to peaking, especially given that even for cars, the REVPAR growth was around 8%?

That is not accurate. We said we still talk about very high REVPAR growth. That's why we said we'll start guiding by brand, and that's what we have tried to do it this time. The growth is there, and the growth is very robust. We feel, as I said during my opening remarks, 12 to 14% growth going forward, of which maybe, I can repeat only, 8.5 to 9.5% comes through RevPAR. A lot of growth will come from not like-for-like growth if you're going to open 60 hotels, and some of the growth will obviously come from F&B and other revenue sources that we have, whether it's a private membership club or it is doing the pedal court or the pickleball or whatever else we might be doing in terms of ancillary revenues, including our spa business. Given the kind of base that we have currently, if we get to 12-14% growth, our flow-throughs can be very high. We had certain costs, because if in a period of 3-4 months you acquire a few companies, then the due diligence costs, the travel costs, the legal costs, all these fees go up by a significant amount. We expect all this to settle down by this quarter, which is the Q4, and we will continue our growth journey. I'm not saying we will not, but in all these years, we did not acquire so many portfolios or brands as we have done in just four months alone, and opened at the same time two company-owned hotels, as I mentioned also before, in Ekta Nagar, one Ginger, one Vivanta, plus earlier part of the year, the Taj at Q4. Cochin International Airport. So, these are all startup costs that come in because before the hotel goes into renovation and you have a company-owned asset, it creates a startup cost, but happy to report that within the first 100 days, already we have had a breakeven on these assets.

I think both the assets which I opened last quarter are now a bit positive, and that's a good sign for the new assets which I opened.

Sure. And then lastly, just on the acquisition opportunities that are available, while Some of the recent acquisitions, including Atman, Bridge, Hospitality, etc., while certainly value accretive are still relatively smaller in size, given your current scale. So are you looking at any big-ticket acquisitions, and are you seeing viable opportunities that are currently available in the market?

If anything comes, we are well-positioned from having no debt and having cash to take advantage of that. But let's not forget those acquisitions that we did were mainly to consolidate and make our mid-market presence the strongest. So that posed our majority of the market share, more than 50% of the market share in flight catering businesses with Taj says that we achieved something similar in the mid-scale segment because with Taj, obviously, we are very, very strong. With a portfolio close to almost 150 hotels, more than 90 in operation. So, I think this is the reason we did that. We didn't do it because the ticket size was small, or the revenue was this, or the revenue was that. In a segment like Ginger, you need scale. And it took us 25 years to get to 70 hotels in operation, but within one year, we will get to more than 200 hotels in operation. And that's when you go through the presentation and you see the map of India, which I think my colleagues are pointing out, it's a slide 10 on the presentation. It will give you a very good snapshot of how and what ginger would look like and what to expect from it in the next 12 to 18 months.

Great. Thank you, Vineet. All the best.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question is from the line of Achal Kumar from HSBC. Please go ahead.

Achal, you are very faint. Can you speak up? We can't hear you.

Is it better now? Yeah, much better. Please go ahead. Okay, perfect. Thanks, Ankur. So basically, first of all, sorry, I joined a bit late, so kindly excuse me if you already answered the question. First question, I want to understand, what happened to your management fee? I mean, you know, so in the third quarter, management fee, actually, the growth was slow than what you reported in first quarter and second quarter. What's happening there? And then secondly, just to ask one by one, how do you see your wellness entrance now? And are you sort of intend to grow there? How do you see the wellness overall in the country doing? Thanks.

Yeah, I think the management fee for the quarter was about 15% growth, which is in line with our expectations. I think you know what happens when you look at from a quarter-to-quarter perspective. There are incentives go from one quarter to another quarter depending on the performance, the incentive fee. But if you look at our guidance on the next year's outlook, I think which is more relevant, I think you can see that we should end the year with a close to 18% growth on a YOY basis, and the next year should be similar. That's what we're guiding towards high teens growth on the management fee, given the strong pipeline of openings with large portion coming up in the first half, and that should really add to the management fee growth, plus the fact that whatever is open will stabilize, and you will have ref par expansion in the new hotels, which kind of get to higher occupancy as they stabilize. So, I think nothing unusual. It's just a normal business which moves up and down in a quarter. But overall, we think this will continue to grow at, you know, high teams for the next year, and then over a long-term period, big to high teams.

And on the wellness side, please?

On the wellness side, like we mentioned earlier, I think this has just closed the transaction, you know, just about three weeks, four weeks back. So, we are obviously excited with the partnership because it's an ideal fit from our luxury positioning. There is definitely a very strong interest to do add more Atmanthans. This is not going to be a brand which will get to like 100 Atmanthans, but definitely over the next, at 2030, actually at 2030, we should be looking at having three to five more Atmanthans. And that's the plan we will actually work on with the management team in the next couple of quarters. Put the strategy together for Atmantan. But, you know, organically itself, there is growth opportunity in the current asset, which will add both rooms and wellness lots in the next financial year and take the revenues close to about 100 crores in the coming year. So, you know, that should give us good growth. And plus, the margins for this business are very high. So, this is typically north of 40-45% kind of margin, Given that, you know, this is essentially a rooms-heavy business, although there is no concept of ARR and Refbar in this, but essentially when you sell a package, you're selling it as a combined thing for treatments as well as for stay, as well as for food and beverage. And as you know, the beverage here is really, you know, soft beverages, there's no hard beverage. So all of that put together gives you a pretty high flow-through on the bottom line.

Okay, and then if I may squeeze one more, basically, in terms of ARRs, so ARRs in most of the cities which are reported except Rajasthan were sort of in high single digits, while I think most of the peers have reported except Mumbai, I think Delhi, I think Bangalore, they reported very, very strong ARRs. So what's happening, you know, and I'm talking about the luxury hotels like Avila and all. So why, what's happening with Indian hotels, especially in those markets where ARs are reported very high by the peers?

Not really getting into what the peers have reported, but I think in general, if you see the growth on revenues across cities, it's a healthy mix. With most of them doing well, I think the only city which has grown slower was, you know, Delhi and Bombay, which was 7%, 8%. Because we had some one-off business in the previous year, which did not get repeated in Bombay particularly, and Delhi was, as you know, was impacted because of Taj Palace renovation, which is not out of the way, so we should see that uptake also in Q4. But a lot of markets have done well, whether it is Rajasthan, Bangor, Goa, Goa at 10% growth. So I think overall, you can see it's a pretty secular growth across the board.

So, Ajal, we can take it offline, but you should look at the base. You know, the base of Taj is very high. There comes a point that, you know, you cannot, when you are a small company with a smaller base, suppose you are like a 30 crore pat or a 50 crore pat, you say 10% more is 55. But if you are already at 1,500 crore per year, and then you have to add 10%, means you have to add 150. So, there's a big difference. We are still ahead in most of the markets, but we also have multiple brand presence, and multiple brand presence gives us scale, gives us that revenue, but also dilutes sometimes some of the metrics at a high level, if you take them. But if you took a hotel by hotel, the Taj Palace in Delhi is number one in its comp set, the Man Singh in Delhi is among the top two in the comp set, Taj Mahal Palace in Colaba is number one, Taj Land's End has always been almost number one, so it cannot be that. Others may be reporting maybe because they had a lower base, but on the STR statistics, I think most of our trophy assets are doing quite well and are always either number one or number two in any given market. And then obviously comes the size of the property in place. So if our competitor is double in inventory, then they may not be number one very easily, and if we are double, then it's vice versa. So, because there are so many shoulder days where you have to fill up the rooms. So, I think that is not the, generally the sector is doing well, everyone is doing well, and that is what has enabled us to do 15 consecutive record quarters. And I have no, nothing suggests today that Q4 will not be the same. There is nothing that suggests. Or Q1 as a start of the next year would be any different. I don't see that coming.

Right. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you, Phineet. I'll come back in the queue.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Sreetika with JP Morgan. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity. Just a quick question on the international RevFAR performance. Of course, last quarter also it was stronger. This quarter again, also showing up in the margin performance for the U.S. and U.K. entities. How much of it do you think is, you know, currency-driven? Is that a significant tailwind here? Are you seeing structural improvement in demand in these markets, and what kind of running do you expect in terms of, you know,

Very good question, because it's very interesting. You know, a year and a half ago, six weeks ago, everyone had written off San Francisco, And it's coming back. It's not at the same level as its peak used to be, but it's back by 75-80%, and the challenges of that market have, you know, kind of subsided, and there is a lot of improvement. So our REFPA improvement in San Francisco in Q3 is 50% versus the previous year, but the base had gone down so much that that 50% is good to have, but should have been maybe 60% or 70%. So we expect that increase to happen. New York, for us, has started doing much better than ever was the case for as long as anybody follows us. For the last five, six quarters, New York has improved both in top line as well as in bottom line. Cape Town is doing very well. One asset where we had the similar situation even now as we speak is London. We have invested significant amount of money in London. So as we speak today, the banqueting facility, the lobby, the lobby bar, the lounge is there, all is under renovation in some rooms also. So all that is expected to start coming back into operation between end of February and end of March, and that should give us a very big boost in definitely Q1 of the next financial year, Because, you know, that inventory will just come back now. So I think all four properties, you can expect them to do well. On management contract basis, Dubai has been performing well. Where we expect some improvement is in international is in Sri Lanka and in Maldives. They have not been doing that great. Those markets, you know, are a bit more, have been a bit more volatile for us. And otherwise, we are very pleased with the performance overseas. And one more asset to watch out definitely in Q1, not in this quarter of next year, would be that definitely Taj Frankfurt would have opened. And in the Q1, somewhere towards the middle or towards the end, we would also open our first safari at the Kruger National Park, followed by the second one in the same park in November of next year.

Understood. Thank you for the details. But how much of it is currency-driven that you have seen in this quarter specifically? And would it mean that we can see growth from these businesses inch up even higher in terms of Webpar in the next, say, two, three quarters? Maybe even go up to mid-teams of the Webpar node?

So, on the currency front, it would be about 1.5% to 2% impact, benefit of that, which flowed to the consolidated numbers on account, 1.5% on the refer of these hotels, not on the overall numbers. So, if this was 10%, basically it was 8% in local currency, it would be 10% reported.

Good, that's true. So, just on the domestic side, then, would it be fair to say that, you know, the kind of 7-8% REVPAR growth is something that is going to be a more normal trend going ahead for the next couple of years, or do you see, you know, any room for further expansion there?

You know, I've been saying it, I think, whether it's, I've said it many times, I say it again, anything between 8.5 to 10% over our portfolio is realistic. That's one. But for us, more important is the not like for like growth. We could be doing over the next year, at least 40 new hotels, which are not part of ANK Pride or other portfolio, which will come on top. So, I think our bad percentage growth plus F&B growth plus SPA plus chambers, you know, should definitely give us anything between 12 to 14 percent top-line growth. Ref-par is only one metric.

Also, in India, it is much lower. I mean, it's not like the Western world as compared to where the revenues are.

The international world, 60-80% in the Western Hemisphere, your revenue is driven by RefPAR in India, depending on which brand, but let's take an example of Taj, is less than 50% is driven by RefPAR. Does that answer? Thank you, sir.

Yes, thank you. This is very helpful. That's all from my side.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Akash Gupta from Nomira. Please go ahead.

Hi, am I audible? Hi, sir. Congratulations on great performance. My question was for slide 21. For the standalone ARR growth was roughly 6% on a year-over-year basis. I think that is slightly on the lower side. I just wanted to know your thoughts around that. And then when we say in FY27, we are going to do roughly 8% to 9% REFPA growth, how much of that would be driven by ARR on occupancy? Because I think we are already at peak occupancy.

Sorry, I had asked Ankur to answer, but I want to answer this. You see, Q3 is undisputedly the best quarter ever that we have had for as long as people follow hotel business. Your REFPA in this quarter is already at such a high level, there is only so much more you can drive on terms of that like-for-like, because we are like an iconic hotel company with being there for a long time. So, if you look at, on the consolidated side, in the same slide, you see the room revenue growth at 11%. So, you're only looking at standalone, and standalone has some of those assets that we own, but that does not include assets like Rambak Palace, which is on management. We have Umed Bhavan Palace, which is also on management. The rates there in the peak in Q3 get close to 1 lakh rupees. So, that is the difference in how we report. So, somewhere we get a benefit on the percentage, and in other places we get the benefit through the management fee income. So, in the case of standalone, Jai Mahal Palace in Jaipur is included, but Rambag is not. Harimahal in Jodhpur is included, but Umedh Bhavan is not. The rate in JML is less than half of Rambag, and in Harimail is also less than half of Omid Paran. That's why we came up, you know, eight years ago when we first guided, we came up with the most iconic and most profitable. Most iconic, because we have these iconic assets, which we have to always, you know, kind of polish and keep them as the crown jewels of the company, and most profitable, because JML profitability is far higher to us in the income from JML than Rambag has. So, it depends how we read these numbers, because everything that we have in standalone may not be our best asset.

Understood, sir. Thank you so much. That was my question.

Thank you. The next question comes from the line of Samit Sinna with Macquarie Capital. Please go ahead.

Yes, thank you very much. A couple of questions. First is, Preet, you were talking about 12% to 14% revenue growth for the fourth quarter. Did you say that 12% to 14% should continue into the next year as well? And if yes, then it should. Okay. Okay. Absolutely. That includes the 300 crores of acquisitions, correct?

That includes that, yeah. Not like for like growth is an important component of our life life.

Right, right, right. Absolutely. The second question is, can you talk about, you know, the renovations that you undertook at some pretty marquee properties? Please, what's the experience plan? How much increase in ARR or occupancy are you seeing that you can attribute to the renovations? And if you can also tell us if you have other renovations planned through this year or how much of a visibility you have, that will at least help us, you know, at least understand, model it out.

We have to spend approximately, we have guided on that before also, approximately 1,000 crores in CapEx, which includes routine and new, and also renovation or expansion. For example, we have done the Taj Mahal Palace in Kolaba, the Chambers, or we did the new restaurant, Loya. We are going to do an Italian out there. We just finished the two floors in Taj Palace. The rates have almost doubled versus two years ago. So post-renovation, not just of the renovated rooms, but of the entire hotel. It's pushed the entire hotel ahead. Same things we have noticed in London in terms of first comes displacement, but then comes the other monies. Man Singh is a very good example. Man Singh, despite 89% increase in rent and 250 crores in renovation, it actually makes more money on absolute amount now than it ever made in the, you know, When the rent was only 17.25%, that's Taj Mahal, Delhi. And our chamber's membership fees has increased 5x in the last eight years and is going to double very soon because of all the investment that has gone into the new chambers that we have built in the West End, the renovation in Lansdowne, the renovation in Kolaba, the ongoing renovation of the chambers in London. So all these things obviously create future income streams, which are very high margin businesses also, and give us a lot more stability, which is not dependent on any form of cyclicality.

Got it. Okay. That makes sense. Just, you know, one final question. How about CapEx? You give us the number for this year. Has that number changed for, let's say, the next three or five years, or is it still as going as per plan?

I think we can only talk about next year because we have more visibility on that. But broadly speaking, I think it will be in a similar zone as what we're going to do this year. So maybe plus percent, plus minus 5 to 10 percent. That's what we think we'll end up doing in cash flow, cash out for next year on KBICS. I think long term, it could move up a little bit in, let's say, two, three years from now as the bank's time project starts to scale up. So I think that's what it will be. But I think the good thing is that our operating cash flows are far ahead of these numbers. So we will not have any problem of funding these capital expenditures. In fact, we left cash to figure out how to spend. And that's something which we continue to look at in attractive opportunities on the inorganic side.

Got it. Okay. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, sorry.

Sir, yeah, thank you. I think we can now close the call, but I'll let you go ahead first.

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. That would be our last question for today. Puneet, sir, would you like to proceed with any closing comments?

Yes. So thank you, everyone, for joining the conference call. Thank you for your questions. Thank you for your interest. And we look forward to interacting with all of you during the quarter and, of course, definitely post-announcement of our full-year results. We remain optimistic about the outlook, and the first six weeks of the fourth quarter gave us definitely the optimism that is needed to say that we are on a good track of what you have witnessed In the last foregone 15 quarters. Thank you very much, everyone. Have a wonderful evening.

Thank you. On behalf of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you all for joining us. You may now disconnect your lines.