NEW DELHI: Roseate Hotels & Resorts plans to open three to four hospitality projects annually starting this financial year as the boutique luxury hotel chain shifts towards managed properties, pilgrimage destinations and adjacent lifestyle businesses, chief executive Kush Kapoor said speaking exclusively to Mint.
The expansion marks a structural pivot for the group, which has largely built and operated its own assets over the past decade. It is now preparing to enter the managed hotel segment, target boutique acquisitions and gradually build a 50:50 mix of owned and managed properties. The move comes as larger hotel chains accelerate capacity additions, creating both competitive pressure and, according to Roseate, openings in the boutique luxury segment.
“The idea is not to be the biggest but to have the best hospitality. A lot of brands are expanding massively right now and somewhere quality starts diluting," Kapoor said.
The expansion will be funded mostly through internal accruals, he added.
The company operates eight hotels across India and the UK and is preparing to open its first managed hotel next year in Uttarakhand. It is also scouting acquisitions of boutique hotels across metros and leisure destinations. Locations under consideration include Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad, along with leisure assets in pilgrimage-led markets such as Varanasi, Ayodhya, Vrindavan, Tirupati and Katra.
Kapoor said the company is targeting smaller luxury formats even in high-footfall religious destinations. “We are not looking at 400-500 room hotels. We want smaller luxury boutique properties even in pilgrimage destinations,” he said.
Roseate plans to add one or two owned hotels and one or two managed properties annually. It will continue to avoid franchising, joint ventures and minimum guarantee arrangements despite industry-wide experimentation with capital-light models.
India’s tourism story is at an inflection point. Consultancy HVS Anarock estimates domestic travel crossed 4.5 billion visits in 2025, while hotel performance continued to strengthen with average room rate growth of 8-10% and RevPAR (revenue per available room) growth of 10-12%. Against this, Roseate remains a relatively niche boutique luxury player, competing on design-led experiential hospitality rather than the scale-driven expansion strategy seen across larger hotel chains.
Its Aerocity hotel, Roseate House, has seen room rates grow 15-20% annually in recent years, Kapoor said, with occupancies between 80% and 85%. The company’s resorts are clocking average daily rates of ₹25,000-28,000 with occupancies of 75-78%.
“The opportunity in India’s luxury hospitality market is far more favourable today than it was a few years ago. Roseate has already demonstrated its investment appetite through international hospitality assets. But scaling beyond owned hotels will require management contracts, an asset-light route that allows faster expansion without significant capital expenditure. The key question now is how the market responds to Roseate as a hotel management company,” said Rattan Keswani, former deputy managing director of Lemon Tree Hotels and president of Trident (The Oberoi Group).
Luxury demand
Kapoor said Roseate would continue selectively acquiring hotels in strategic locations. For metro luxury hotels under the Roseate House format, investments start at ₹1.5 crore per key, while luxury resorts can cost up to ₹70 lakh per key. Acquisition targets in leisure destinations are expected to remain in the 30-50 room range, while metro properties could go up to 100-150 rooms.
While Roseate Hotels & Resorts and parent Bird Group have largely kept acquisition values undisclosed, one of the few publicly traceable deals was its 2025 acquisition of Beechfield House in Wiltshire, UK, reportedly completed off a guide price of £4 million. The company has expanded its UK luxury portfolio through acquisitions of boutique heritage properties including Roseate House London, The Roseate Reading and The Roseate Villa Bath, while also investing in developments such as its upcoming 248-room hotel at Noida International Airport in Jewar.
Its strategy has centred on smaller high-end assets rather than large-format hotels, reflecting its focus on premium and heritage-led hospitality.
He said Indian luxury travellers were increasingly willing to spend more on quality and personalised experiences. “Indian consumers today are very smart. They are ready to spend more provided you genuinely take care of them,” he said.
Adjacent businesses
Alongside its hotel expansion, Roseate is positioning itself as a broader luxury lifestyle platform spanning hospitality, food and beverage, co-working, entertainment and residential management.
“This is the golden period for hospitality in India. For the next 15-20 years, the opportunity is massive if brands maintain quality and keep innovating," Kapoor said.
The company recently launched its first high-street retail concept, ‘Mithai by Roseate’, a bespoke café at Worldmark 6 in Aerocity, and is expanding its café business with two more outlets under its existing ‘Roasted by Roseate’ brand. It also operates co-working spaces and what Kapoor described as India’s largest ice-skating rink at Gurugram’s Ambience Mall, with plans to expand the format to two more cities in north and west India.