Avani Ratchada Bangkok.
2025 will be another strong year for Minor Hotels as forward bookings across key destinations indicate sustained, robust demand,” Puneet Dhawan confidently tells us. As the Head of Asia for the hospitality group, he is relishing the opportunities and growth for Minor Hotels in the near future.
“We are set for double-digit expansion in 2025, targeting at least 10 openings in Asia. We also have a robust pipeline to support our ambitious expansion plans in the years to come, with 44 signed projects and another 58 under negotiations,” he adds.
Puneet Dhawan, Head of Asia of Minor Hotels Group.
Appointed to his position in July last year, Dhawan is currently spearheading the group’s growth in Asia and India. A seasoned professional with a 30-year hospitality career spanning Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
Chief of this is understanding the evolving needs of modern travellers. “Experienced-based travel and the increasing sophistication of wellness travel continue to grow especially since the return of travel post-pandemic,” he states.
“For experience-based travel, people seek to foster deeper connections to their destinations. And Dhawan opines that the group’s ability to connect guests to genuine places, people and stories is what will give them an edge for this year and beyond.
Anantara Layan Phuket is centred on wellness offerings.
How would you rate last year’s performance and growth for the company?
We are still to report our full-year results, but 2024 was a very strong year. In November, we reported our performance in the first nine months of 2024, which included an 11% year-on-year increase in core revenue and a 13% increase in core profit.
Expansion remained a focus for us in Asia, bolstering our presence in high-growth markets and supporting our cross-brand expansion strategy. In 2024, we opened the Anantara Ubud Bali Resort in Indonesia and the Anantara Jewel Bagh Jaipur Hotel in India. We grew our NH and NH Collection portfolios in Sri Lanka, Thailand and the Maldives too.
We are actively looking to expand our footprint across the country and could see hotels and resorts in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, as well as destinations such as Langkawi and Penang.
Are there any specific properties you are looking forward to this year?
The full opening of Anantara Jewel Bagh Jaipur Hotel in the first quarter of 2025 is particularly exciting. The 150-key property makes the debut of our flagship luxury brand in India. As an initial foray into the country, Jaipur is great for our experiential brand to highlight its regal heritage.
I am also very excited about the expansion of our NH and NH Collection brands into Asia. In Thailand, we opened an NH-branded hotel in Bangkok and an NH Collection resort on Koh Samui. The Anantara and Avani brands will also be expanded in China with multiple openings planned for this year.
A redesigned room at Anantara Bhoput Koh Samui.
A new Avani+ property in Vientiane, Laos, the nation’s capital, will also complement our existing Avani+ hotel in Luang Prabang. This addition will also complete the journey between the two cities now connected by the Boheme luxury river cruise offered by Mekong Kingdoms, which began sailing in December.
In the Maldives, we will grow our portfolio with the addition of NH Collection Maldives Reethi Resort. Set to open in Q4 2025 after an extensive renovation, NH Collection Reethi will be the country’s second NH Collection resort and our third resort in the Baa Atoll UNESCO Biosphere Reserve.
Is Malaysia an important market for the group and are there any new developments or expansions planned here in the near future?
Malaysia’s proximity to Thailand, our global headquarters, makes it an attractive place to grow our footprint as well as one of the biggest source markets for our properties in Thailand and across the region. Today, we operate two resorts in Malaysia – Anantara Desaru Coast Resort & Villas and Avani Sepang Goldcoast Resort – with more to come.
Avani Kota Kinabalu, an over 300-key hotel in East Malaysia, is scheduled to open in 2026. In addition, we are actively looking to expand our footprint across the country and could see hotels and resorts in cities like Kuala Lumpur and Johor Bahru, as well as destinations such as Langkawi and Penang.
Is the company focused on any specific destinations and markets in which it wants to further expand into?
Minor Hotels recently introduced the NH Collection in Koh Samui, Thailand.
At the start of 2024, our chairman, William Heinecke, set an aggressive target of over 200 new openings by the end of 2026. This growth would bring our total portfolio size to nearly 750 properties, including additions in every region. We expect the bulk of the development to come from Asia, targeting around 100 openings in the region.
Within Asia, Thailand will continue to be a focus for us. We also see plenty of room for growth in the fast-developing markets of China and India, where we have an underweight presence. There are many Asian markets where we have no presence that are ripe for expansion including Singapore, where we will open our first property in 2027, Hong Kong, Japan, and the Philippines.
