Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to the Q4 and FY 2025 Earnings Conference Call hosted by Chalet Hotels Ltd. This conference call may contain forward-looking statements about the company which are based on the beliefs, opinions, and expectations of the company as of the date of this call. These statements are not the guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict. As a reminder, all participants' lines will be in listen-only mode, and there will be an opportunity for you to ask a question after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during the conference call, please signal an operator by pressing 70 on your touchtone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sanjay Sethi, MD and CEO of Chalet Hotels Ltd. Thank you, and over to you, Mr. Sethi.
Thank you, [Seijal]. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for joining us for today's call. I'm delighted to have with us our Executive Director, Shwetank Singh, along with Nitin Khanna, CFO, and Ruchi, who looks after investor relations on this call. In these dynamic times, we are navigating through a VUCA environment which is amplified by the current geopolitical situation in the subcontinent. Please rest assured that we are closely monitoring the situation and have enhanced security levels at all our hotels, office buildings, and project sites. We are committed to assessing any potential risks to our business, assets, and people, and have implemented contingency plans across all our hotels. While the current peace on our borders may seem fragile, the industry midterm macros remain robust, driven by a favorable demand-supply arbitrage.
I'm thrilled to announce today that our board has approved a definitive term sheet for acquiring a 15-acre beachfront land in Bambolim, North Goa, for developing an approximately 170-room luxury hotel over there. This will be Chalet's second project in the sought-after holiday destination, reflecting our belief in Goa's long-term potential. The Indian hospitality sector continues to benefit from strong tailwinds, with average room rates reaching levels not seen ever, and healthy occupancies. Aside from the last one week, domestic air traffic has reported double-digit growth, signaling a significant upswing in business travel demand and experiential consumption. At Chalet, with a focus on luxury to upscale segment, we are well-positioned to leverage this trend and expand our leadership in existing and new markets.
It's with immense pride that we share that FY 2025 has been our strongest year to date, with Chalet Hotels delivering standout performances driven by robust business fundamentals, strong operating efficiencies, strategic acquisitions, and timely inventory additions. In Q4, we acquired The Westin Resort & Spa, Himalayas for INR 5.3 billion, strengthening our position in the high-growth leisure, spiritual, and wellness market. Despite a soft start to the last year due to the model code of conduct, we witnessed a sharp rebound in demand beginning Q3 FY 2025, driven by a strong recovery in corporate travel, MICE, weddings, and other social events. This momentum continues into Q4, culminating in a year of record revenue and profitability. We achieved the highest-ever average room rate or ARR of INR 14,345 at portfolio level, with a robust 21% increase year-on-year. Our highest-ever quarterly RevPAR of INR 10,909 was an additional bonus.
Our hospitality segment revenue grew for the quarter by 20% to INR 4.6 billion, with room revenue rising 27% year-on-year to INR 3 billion. Backed by a strong grip on costs and efficient operational execution, we have delivered a high flow-through with hospitality division, recording an EBITDA of INR 2.2 billion, a jump of 22%, and a margin of 48.5%, up 60 basis points year-on-year. On a consolidated basis, the revenue for Q1 for Q4 stood at INR 5.4 billion, with EBITDA of INR 2.6 billion and an EBITDA margin of 47.8%, the highest ever in any quarter in the company's history. For the full year, I'm pleased to share that hospitality revenue stood at INR 15.2 billion, while EBITDA climbed to an all-time high of INR 6.8 billion. EBITDA margin for the period for the hospitality division was 44.7%. A short update on the projects and pipeline under development.
Pleased to share that in Bengaluru, the market continues to demonstrate robust performance, and we have operationalized earlier this month an additional 121 rooms at the Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield, bringing the total inventory at the property to 512 rooms, making this hotel the largest hotel in the city, and it aligns with our strategy of working with scale. We are encouraged by strong demand trends in the micro-market and look forward to the performance of the expanded inventory in the coming quarter. The Duke's Retreat Kandala is undergoing the final stage of upgradation and repositioning. As I mentioned, last quarter, 73 rooms are in operation, and by the end of this month, the banquet floor and the rooms above will also come into play.
The resort will ultimately have 145 keys upon completion, and we are working on ensuring we deliver 100% of the project within H1, hopefully earlier than the end of H1. Goa continues to progress well. It's our Delhi airport, and the building is now visible after three basement completions and ground floor completions here on the first floor there. We should sort of look at completing this maybe in quarter three of last year, early part of the quarter three of last year, next year. Our luxury beachfront resort at Varka remains on track and is scheduled for completion in FY 2028. The second commercial car, the Westin Powai Lake Complex Cignus 2, is progressing on schedule and is expected to be completed in FY 2027. On our project area, I'd like to update you that there's been an unexpected delay due to changes in the NGT regulations in the center.
This has impacted several projects within the radius of 5 km from the national park, and these projects have been moved to the center for site clearances. At our Koramangala, Bengaluru project, we have obtained the OC now for all nine towers, which are now being readied for handover. Sales, which commenced in October 2023, have gained strong traction. As of 31st March 2025, only 27 units remain unsold. Including legacy sales, we have now sold 92% of the total inventory. In parallel, the development of two new residential towers and one office block is progressing well. Our progress on sustainability continues to be well-recognized. Chalet was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, this time with a high score of 67 in February this year. We now rank sixth within the global hospitality communities and the highest hotel company in India.
We also earned a B score, which is a high score actually, in the CBP assessment for both climate change and water security. Additionally, our green footprint now covers over 3 million sq ft of our portfolio. Ladies and gentlemen, we continue to be on the path of a strong growth trajectory. The tailwinds for the industry, combined with Team Chalet's steadfast focus on depth, experience, and costs, set us on an exciting path for the next few years. As we step into a new financial year, we remain committed to setting new benchmarks in operational excellence, project execution, and sustainable and value-according growth. With that optimistic look, I now hand over to Nitin, who will walk you through the financial highlights in finer detail, and then the three of us will take your questions. Nitin.
Thank you, Sanjay. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Quarter four FY 2025 marked yet another quarter of record-breaking performance for the company. For the first time, our consolidated revenue crossed the INR 5 billion milestone in a single quarter. Notably, on a same-store basis, the hospitality business achieved a significant milestone by attaining a 50% EBITDA margin for the quarter, another first for the company, and a new benchmark in operational efficiency. Annual revenue from the hospitality business surpassed INR 15 billion for the first time, reflecting solid growth and sustained momentum. Let me now take you through the financial updates for the quarter. In the hospitality segment, ARR has jumped 21% to cross INR 14,300. This was led by strong growth across geographies, especially the Bengaluru and Hyderabad markets, along with the newly added resorts in the portfolio. Occupancy remained stable at 76%, a rise of 30 basis points year-on-year.
This, in turn, drove a 21% increase in RevPAR to INR 10,909, hence crossing the INR 10,000 mark for the first time. On a same-store basis, that is, excluding the Duke's Retreat Kandala and the newly acquired The Westin Resort & Spa Himalayas, occupancy stood at 79.4%, and RevPAR continued to grow by a robust 23% year-on-year. As a result, our room revenue grew by 27% year-on-year for the quarter, while the hospitality segment grew by 20%, which stood at INR 4.6 billion. We have been diversifying into different micro-markets with varied cost structures. While we navigated, I'm pleased to report that we have maintained sharp focus on cost control strategies and maintained our industry leadership in margins. EBITDA margins for the quarter for the hospitality division were 48.5%, showcasing strong flow-throughs led by our focus on cost efficiencies and regular asset management interventions.
On the rental and annuity front, our revenue for the quarter jumped 75% to INR 619 million. We clocked an exit run rate of INR 210 million per month in March 2025. The EBITDA for the division was at INR 498 million, with 80% margins. As Sanjay highlighted, we have made significant strides in the leasing velocity. As of today, we stand at an overall committed leasing of 77% and leased space of 71% of the available inventory. Coming to the updates on the residential projects, we have sold an additional 23 units during the quarter. At the end of FY 2025, we have now sold 92% of the project inventory, and we have reached the last leg of sales for the project. Flats in phase one, which comprises nine towers, are ready for handovers. The majority of our new sales are for the final two towers, which are currently under construction.
For the quarter, our blended selling rate shows a slight moderation to INR 19,800. Overall collections during the year were INR 3.9 billion, and we have outstanding receivables of INR 4.1 billion as of 31st March 2025. Consolidated revenue for the quarter stood at INR 5.4 billion, a growth of 27% year-on-year. Consolidated EBITDA was at INR 2.6 billion, with a growth of 36% year-on-year and a margin of 47.8% for the quarter. Consolidated PBT for the quarter was INR 1.6 billion, a robust jump of 60% year-on-year. The PAT for the quarter was at INR 1.2 billion, a strong jump of 50% year-on-year. Now, coming to debt, during FY 2025, the company deployed about INR 11 billion on CapEx and strategic acquisitions, the highest we have ever done in a single year. These investments are expected to be value-accretive to our business over the next three to four years.
As of 31st March 2025, the net debt of the company stood at INR 19.9 billion. We maintained a liquidity position of INR 3.6 billion in the books. During the quarter, we allotted INR 750 million of listed non-convertible debentures for the first time, and the instrument rated AA- with a stable outlook by CRISIL at a coupon of 8.35%. This instrument provides us with another cost-efficient channel for fundraising and helps us with diversifying our capital structure risk. Overall, we closed the quarter with an average cost of finance standing at 8.4%, a reduction of 47 basis points from March 2024. In the last board meeting, the company has taken board approval and will be seeking shareholder approval for NCD or commercial paper or any other market-linked debt instrument up to INR 10 billion. This is an enabling resolution with an objective to keep funding lines available based on future strategic requirements.
Capital work in progress, along with assets to be operationalized, stands at INR 6.7 billion as of 31st March. The company follows a prudent approach towards allocation and actively investing to unlock the next phase of growth. We have budgeted for capital expenditure under the current plan of around INR 23 billion to be deployed over the next three years, which will be largely funded through internal accruals. We will continue on our growth trajectory, and we have a robust balance sheet to support further strategic growth opportunities. With this, let me open the floor for Q&A.
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and one on their touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and two. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of [Sameet Sanha] from Acquire Capital. Please go ahead.
Yes, thank you. A couple of questions. The first one is, the industry has obviously seen a lot of investments, many international players coming into the market. What is Chalet's right to win in that sort of a situation as the competition for real estate, labor, everything continues to go up? Secondly, in terms of the infrastructure environment, it seems like there's going to be a few more cuts this year. Can you talk to us about what sort of leverage do you have to those rate cuts? Can you bring down your finance costs as those rates go down? Thank you.
Thank you, [Sameet]. I'll take the first part of the question. Look, [Sameet] is on the asset-owning side of the business. There are not too many people who are actually investing in new hotel projects at multiple hotel projects in one company. From the institutional investors, there are not too many. On the brand side, of course, there are many, and therefore it is a crowded brand space. Given that the demand and supply gap continues to be favorable for investments in hospitality going forward, and we have a visibility of the next three to four years where the arbitrage will be positive on the demand-supply side, we believe we stand very well. The other thing that holds us well is our cost-to-build has been far more efficient than most other people, and our operating costs have been tighter than most other people. Two or three reasons for that.
We put in a lot of effort in designing hotels. Every square foot is accounted for, and one metric that we look at closely is gross built-up area per room because that, in the denominator of return on capital employed, is stuck with you for life. We need to get that right in the first instance. I think that will hold us very well going forward because we've done this efficiently. New projects too, we're focusing hard on this. Even on our cost per square foot, we are marginally better or, I should say, more efficient than many other developers. Between the two, the denominator is well catered to, our operating and asset management capabilities keep the numerator high, and therefore we are able to deliver high return on capital which will allow us to invest more going forward with the balance sheet side going. Nitin?
Yeah, on the leverage side, my current cost of capital is 8.4%. We looked at resetting the rates. In April end, we are around 8.35%. We are also expecting some resets to set in in the month of May as well. We are expecting May end will be around 8.32%. I hope that answers your question on the leverage part.
I think you also said that there'll be some resets by the RBI. Are you positioned well to?
Yeah, yeah. The same reset has happened because of RBI, yeah.
Okay, one final question if you can sneak that in. In which case, can you talk to us about the seasonality in that business and what sort of RevPAR you get at 60% occupancy? What is the kind of occupancy dilution for this property that you expect in fiscal 2026?
We do not see any occupancy dilution in the ramp-up phase. It is an early growth cycle. So we are actually expecting a positive growth on the occupancy side. If you look at the slide number, I think this is three or four, occupancy last year stood at 43% with an average room rate of INR 26,500. In the later part of the year, we have actually seen rates going north of INR 26,500, closer to about INR 27,000 and INR 28,000, and occupancy will grow. We probably have a week or two, given where we are in the last situation with the border front, that we may lose this time, but I think we will catch that up. Shwetank, you want to add anything else?
Yeah, just to add to that, there is, in terms of seasonality, the only period is pretty much a year-round destination. The only period which sort of drops off a little bit is during the rainy season. It is a couple of months when the rains are a bit heavy and the approach to the hotel becomes compromised to some extent. Other than that, we are a fairly year-round destination there.
Sameet, just one question. In our view, we bought this asset at 11 times one year forward.
Right. Okay. Thank you very much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, in order to ensure that the management is able to address questions from all the participants, please limit your question to two per participant. If you have a follow-up question, I would request you to rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Karan Khanna from Ambit Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah, thanks for the opportunity and congrats to you on another strong quarter. My first question, in light of the recent geopolitical developments, if you could talk a bit about how are the occupancies and the ARR trending, particularly in the past couple of weeks? More importantly, we've also seen a lot of global countries having issues with private advisories as far as travel to invest control.
Sorry to interrupt, sir. I would request you to please use your handset. Your audio is not clear.
Yes, is it better?
Yes. Thank you.
Yeah. Sanjay, in light of the recent geopolitical developments, if you could talk a bit about how the occupancies and the ARR have been trending, in particular in the past couple of weeks, if you could bifurcate that across the leisure and the business portfolio. More importantly, with the share of foreign guests increasing to about 39% in FY 2025, if you could comment a bit about what were the numbers in the fourth quarter and what are the kind of developments that you're seeing on the foreign tourist arrival front, in particular, given we've seen a lot of these global countries having issues with travel advisories as far as India is concerned. Also, if you could talk a bit about the social booking calendar, the next two or three weeks are quite heavy as far as the social MICE is concerned.
Are you seeing any cancellations over there as well?
Thank you, Karan, for your kind words in the beginning. Look, it has been a volatile last couple of weeks for everyone. To say that we know what's going to come out of it, definitely, I think we'll be fooling ourselves. It's volatile. It seems to be settling down, but as I said in my opening statement, it's still fragile in terms of the peace that we're holding on the border. To answer your question on the impact on the business, I can give you a bit of an insight into this. Basically, we are trending in May year to date, a month to date, at 12% growth over last year. We are, from our internal targets, about 9% below the number that we had set ourselves to do when we set our budgets in January of this year.
While we continue to have growth, and we've been through now six, seven working days under this situation and four weekend days in this situation. It has affected us for 11 days. I think despite that, if we are getting 12% growth, we should be pretty good.
Sure. Is there anything, just to follow up on this? Any thoughts on the sort of the social calendar also and any cancellations that you're seeing for the rest of the quarter?
We've seen some cancellation on the MICE segment, which were due to happen in that last week or early this week. The others are on wait and watch, pretty much like we are on wait and watch. We believe that if we get through this week, eventless, we should be fairly good. We might have lost a couple of weeks, but that's the only loss. Our growth trajectory should continue within that. The foreigners have a slightly longer time to recalibrate their travel plans. Domestic travel happens with a shorter lead time. So foreigners may take a little longer coming back. To answer one other question that you asked, 42% of the total room nights that we had were through foreign guests for the summer.
Sure. I think in light of these developments and in the past, I mean, you've spoken about double-digit ramp-up growth expectations for the industry in the next couple of years. Do you still expect that, or do you think that FY 2026 could be a bit of a challenge perhaps? I think FY 2027, FY 2028, possibly will be the same thing. What kind of resistance are you seeing on rate hikes from your corporate clients?
I'm pretty confident that double-digit ramp-up growth should be a challenge.
Sure. Just to follow up, and this will be my last question, given the positive view on the upcycle in the near to midterm, and then given the kind of leverage you have on the balance sheet with the sub-INR 2,000 crore and the [three-egg debt to EBITDA] , going forward, given you're somewhere in the middle or potentially close to the peak of the cycle, would you be more aggressive in terms of acquiring assets instead of going ahead with greenfield expansions? More importantly, what would be the strategy in terms of growth going forward because you're already at 20% mix of major assets in your portfolio with the new Goa acquisition?
Sorry to interrupt, sir. We have lost the connection to the management. Please stay connected while we reconnect them. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the connection for the management again. Please proceed.
Yes.
We lost the connection, but Karan, I heard your question. Look, balance sheet is strong. Our intent is to grow rapidly. We have quite a few projects in hand, both greenfield and, as you've seen, we've acquired four hotels in the last few years also. In terms of where the future growth is going to come, whether it's going to be greenfield or ready asset, I think it's depending on opportunities. We expect both to happen. We also see some opportunities that may arise that have come up in the group developments in their office complexes. If some of those work for us, we will look at that aggressively, in which case it could be either land lease or shell lease.
Great. Thanks, Sanjay. I'll come back to the queue. Thank you and all the best.
Thank you. Participants are requested to limit their question to two per participant. If you have a follow-up question, I would request you to rejoin the queue. The next question is from the line of Archana Gude from IDBI Capital. Please go ahead.
Hi, sir. Thank you for the apology. Congrats to the management team for another strong quarterly performance. I have two questions. My first question is on Goa market. In one of the media briefings, the industry leaders spoke about Goa being a laggard market compared to the rest during Q4. If you can help us, our internal assessment of demand-supply scenario for the next two, three years in Goa would be helpful.
Thank you, Archana. Look, we believe Goa is a very deep market, and it has both very strong mid and long-term potential. That is where we are betting big. One land parcel in North Goa, one in South Goa, both beachfront, seafront properties, very nicely landscaped out, both in the range of 170-190 rooms. I think we get a very strong foothold when we finish developing these properties. In terms of the trends, while we have seen some degrowth in some of the segments in Goa and for some months, you have got to remember it comes off a very high base. On the better properties, which are beachfront properties, we have actually seen the opposite; we have seen growth with them even now. With that in mind, we have confidence that we will—so we are putting in enough phases about, to be conservative, about 4.5% rate growth.
That's true for our feasibilities. I see no reason why Goa will not grow at double-digit ramp-up growth going forward too.
Sure, sir. Secondly, on the margin trend, this 46% EBITDA margin for FY 2025 on a light-to-light basis is very commendable. Considering that resource revenue contribution was just at 6% in this year, is it right to assume that there is room for EBITDA margin improvement as the resource revenue goes up at concern level?
Yes, true. There are quite a few of our projects which are either in an early stage of sort of ramping up. This includes Port Edward Marriott [and Ravelry]. It includes the Westin Himalayas. It also includes the Duke's Retreat, which I can share that we are hardly doing any business right now, but when it kicks in, it's coming very strong. The rates at Duke's have been very comfortably at INR 15,000-INR 16,000, and we believe get see value for money in that. Going forward, that should also add. There are three properties which are in ramp-up phase. The rest of them are fairly sort of mature. I think the only other ramp-up that will happen is for the additional 120-odd rooms that we are adding in Bengaluru. This is an overview.
Sure, sir. That was helpful. Thank you so much and all the best, sir.
One additional point. The 4.7 Vashti also has about 20% of its inventory, 33% of its inventory out of action as we speak. All of that will come back when this has already been approved.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Jinesh Joshi from PL Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. Sir, my question is with respect to our second hotel in Goa. I think we have mentioned that the total acquisition price is approximately INR 136 crore, but I believe that predominantly pertains to land. Can you share what is the overall key per key, including land, and what is the comparable ARR of similar properties nearby and any indicative timeline of completion?
Completion will take about three years from the time we get the approval. We expect to get the approval in the next six to nine months' time. In terms of average room rates, the competitive market is operating at about between INR 18,000 and INR 21,000. This is the position at the upper upscale luxury positioning. It will complete in that price range. Occupancies continue to be high for Goa overall in the low to mid-70%. All points us towards good value. Remember, these hotels will open about three and a half years from now.
To further add, we will position it if we were to compare it to our own Varka property and how we are looking at it. We would expect a premium of about 10%-15% on the rate with respect to the Varka property. Therefore, we are not averse to doing a slightly higher CapEx here per key in order to give the right product positioning to this hotel.
Interestingly, I just wanted to understand the context behind enabling the distribution beacon for the foundries via NTDs and CTs. I think collectively put together, the amount is roughly about INR 12.50 billion. I think in FY 2025, our EPF was roughly about INR 9.50 billion. I think we should generate heavy cash in FY 2026 as well, which perhaps can maybe fund our key pick requirements. If I also heard you right, you mentioned that our key pick requirements will be met by internal approvals. In that context, any specific reason for this enabling resolution to raise more money via debt?
Sir, thank you, Jinesh. If you remember, in the last board and in the last earnings call, we had taken an approval of around INR 600 crore of the debt to be raised through NCDs. Now, this is an enabling provision. Enabling resolution for INR 1,000 crore. We will look at any debt instruments, including NCDs. The amount of INR 250 crore is actually included in this INR 1,000 crore. These are not immediate requirements, but this will be used as and when required for any strategic reasons. So you're right. Our CapEx, whatever we have declared, the CapEx requirements will be met through our internal accruals.
Understood. Sir, one last question from my side on the Koramangala project. I think if I heard you right, you mentioned that we have received the OC, and 92% of the inventory is already sold. I believe one of the requirements to kind of start revenue accretion was getting the OC and having more than 90% of the inventory having sold out. We have achieved those milestones, but I do not see any revenue accretion happen. Can you just explain by when it will begin?
Jinesh, the collection is 90%. The condition was the 92% in terms of collection of flats which are going for possession. The second condition is actual handover of possession. The actual handover of possession is starting in quarter one. Probably by July, we will be handing over possession and recognizing revenue in our books as well. There will be material recognition of revenue is what we believe in this current quarter.
Understood. Thank you. Thank you so much, sir, and all the best.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Prashant Biyani from Elara Capital. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thank you for the opportunity and congrats on a good set of numbers. Sir, can you just highlight about the occupancies for MMR region, specifically JW and Westin Powai?
I'm sorry. Could you repeat that question, please? I'm so sorry, Prashant.
Yeah. I was saying, can you highlight the occupancies and rates for MMR region, specifically for JW, Sahar, and Westin Powai, how it has been on a YoY basis?
For the year or for quarter four?
For quarter four.
Look, we try not to give individual occupancies and rates because rates become, in a sense, price-sensitive information to the competition. The occupancies at Sahar were 83%. I'm happy to share that much. And Westin was about 76%.
April onwards, are you seeing any impact on occupancy in JW due to Fairmont?
No, we haven't felt any impact of Fairmount as yet. I think, in fact, it's become complementary to our business because both the hotels have large banquet halls, which allow us to do large events, and sometimes we end up sharing the business. We already had, I think, two events where big events where both hotels had a common client. And so far, no impact. I mean, 83% occupancy, rates looking very healthy. Sahar rate grew 11%. Slightly impact. Not too much.
Sure. Sir, I was just comparing the timeline for commencement of Hyatt Regency earlier. I believe there's some delay of around 12 months-18 months if I compare the timeline from last PPT versus Q4. What is causing this delay?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay. Just to clarify, there's actually been a regulation change. The approvals that were coming through from the MOEF locally out of Maharashtra have, because of the NGT, where if you are within a 5-km radius of a protected forest, which in this case would be the national park, it means that the file will actually have to move to the center for approval. Basically, the file is caught between the center and the state as of now. Because of the change, there's a lot of load that has come through to the center. There is some delay in getting the approvals. It's just that from informal numbers, we hear that there are about 200 projects in Mumbai alone that have been impacted.
Okay. Sir, on the broader strategy of acquisitions, would you have an outer target of how much debt-equity ratio you would want to have or any outer target for inorganic growth that you would like to do, so many of acquisitions here or something like that? I know currently these things can't be fixed as such, but in general, as to be preemptive, something is there lined up maybe in the next month or a year time frame for a margin purpose.
Prashant, we are a growing company, and we believe there is a lot of headroom for growth going forward. The markets seem to support growth. Whilst I think someone had mentioned that we are at the peak of the cycle, I do not believe we are at the peak of the cycle yet, at least three or four years out from that. We will keep our gunpowder dry on our balance sheet to any opportunities on acquisitions, whether they are mergers or acquisitions or greenfield land parcel acquisitions. We will continue to grow at a pace to get us to that 5,000-room mark between operating and pipeline in the next year or so.
Sure.
Can you go ahead to that, sir? Okay. Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Webber Molly] from Yes Securities. Please go ahead.
Congratulations, sir, on a good set of numbers. I actually had a question regarding Mumbai market. Terminal 1 will be shut from November onwards. That terminal alone used to cater to around 10-15 million passengers per year. What kind of impact do you foresee from the shutdown of Terminal 1?
We are expecting a positive impact. Hotels in Terminal 2 have been told that 5 million passenger capacity will be shifted to Terminal 2, and the balance will go to the Navi Mumbai Airport as the vendor opens. We are actually expecting a positive outcome of that. Our hotel runs a very short distance from Terminal 2. Also, what will happen is that the Navi Mumbai Airport opening, we believe two things are going to happen. One, the cargo aircraft will be split now between both the airports, which will free up passenger carrying capacity more because the constraint is not terminal so much. It is the landing capacity that hinders growth from Mumbai. We believe that there will be a positive impact on the second airport opening. People who have traveled to the mainland side will use the Navi Mumbai Airport.
People who have a business in the main city or, sorry, in the island city will land at T2. So positive on that aspect.
Understood. My second question was on your rental and annuity business. You mentioned you are at a committed occupancy standard, 7%. When can this occupancy be expected to reach above 90% or so?
Look, we met some of the stated deadlines earlier. I hesitate to give new dates. We are within that two- or three-quarter range now, roughly, that we'll get to 90%+. Rates have been higher than we had shown earlier. To some extent, the gaps have been made up by rates. Because office leases are typically longer leases for eight, nine years, once we get to 90%+ occupancy, it stays pretty stable at 90%+ comfortably.
Great. All right, sir. Thank you so much for answering the questions.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please limit your question to one per participant. If you have a follow-up question, I would request you to be joined with you. Next question is from the line of Abhay Khaitan from Axis Capital. Please go ahead.
Thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. My first question is on the ARR growth. We see that the strongest growth has been seen in the Hyderabad and the Bengaluru market. The growth is actually higher than what we have seen across the industry. I just wanted to understand what are the factors that have enabled such a strong growth in these cities for the hotel? Do you think this is sustainable going forward?
Yes, this is very sustainable, I'm sure, Abhay. I'll tell you two, three things that are happening. Bangalore was a late starter to go back to normalization post-COVID. It's now sort of come back to its own, frozen pre-COVID numbers. After that, the capacity addition that we've done in Bangalore will again help us immensely because Mondays to Fridays is largely sold out. The rates have been very strong. Because the new supply has been limited, we expect the rates will continue to grow in both markets. Hyderabad has been a pleasant surprise to everyone for the last one and a half years. It continues to stay strong and robust. Again, on Hyderabad, the supply is limited. A couple of announcements have happened, but they're in early stages of planning. We're at least three, four years out.
Okay. Thank you. If I can squeeze in just one more. What we have seen is that the last three major announcements that we have seen from the Chalet side have been on the two dislocations, two in Goa and one in Rishikesh. Whereas we see that the recent surge in ARR growth and the supply-demand mismatch that we have been talking about is mostly focused on the big cities. Can we assume that is there a physical shift for the company to shift more towards the leisure locations? Because historically, we had more assets in the metro cities and focused more on the business travelers. Do we see that strategy and do we see the strategy going forward as well?
What we've done was, in fact, last about three or four years back, we stated our strategy that we'd like a small play in the leisure side of the business. We were doing diversification on three, four fronts. One was this geographical diversification, and we were de-risking our business from one or two geographies by expanding the geographies. We've done that in Delhi. We've done that in Rishikesh. We've done that in Pune. And so on and so forth. And Goa now. The other diversification was a category or segment of target audience that we were addressing. That's where the leisure resorts came into play. We had stated that we'd like ideally 20% of our portfolio to be in the leisure space. We are clearly much below that right now.
We believe that we'll be able to take better advantage if we have both sides of the segments catered to. Finally, we have the asset class diversification. That is where we did two things. We revived the residential project, and we expanded the size of the project for our office portfolio, which office portfolio will tend to give an annuity income and EBITDA, which will support us through any risk of down cycles ever in future. We have done that for life now. It is material. Nitin mentioned earlier, our exit income in March was INR 21 crore. That is going to grow pretty rapidly in the next few quarters. As we add more office assets, we are hopeful that we will hit overall income north of INR 450-odd crore from the announced pipeline of offices that we have.
These diversifications overall were the strategy, and we are executing the strategy.
Okay. Thank you. Thank you for answering.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Raghav Malik from Jefferies Group. Please go ahead.
Yeah, hi. Thank you, sir. Thank you for the opportunity. Just a follow-up to the previous participant's question. You highlighted that 9% is the kind of impact on revenue target basis, the recent developments, the cross-border situation. I mean, is it possible to sort of bifurcate that even qualitatively between MMR and outside MMR? Is there any revenue impact we have seen?
I can't give you exact numbers, but I can tell you that Bengaluru and Hyderabad have got impacted the worst because of the nature of the target audience, which is foreign travelers coming into the hotels for IT, ITES, and GCC businesses. Leisure has taken a halt also. You see Hotel by Marriott in Powai and the Rishikesh Hotel or the Himalaya Hotel getting impacted on transient as well as some group business. Group includes weddings. No major cancellation on wedding till date, but we lost some conferences, which was due to happen just last week.
Okay. Got it, sir. The execution on the Airoli project, you mentioned that what is the new kind of start date of start that we can expect from doing that?
Yeah. Difficult to put a date on it because it's lying with the central government. I don't see the starting for another six months at least. Right, Shwetank?
Yeah, yeah. Six months is the minimum we should expect here.
Okay. Got it. Thank you. And congrats.
Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of [Mrza Gurdeepalam] from Kotak Bank. Please go ahead.
Yeah. I just want to check with you a bit about the.
Okay.
We're not in that direction. Any sense that would you want to pursue more growth opportunities as they're coming our way? Will the 5,000 keys be comfortably supported by the balance sheet at the pace that you're looking to do? Just some sense on how you're looking because the way we see it, Chalet is obviously being most aggressive amongst the players in terms of adding new assets. How does the balance sheet support and how are your medium-term targets that are related to that number of 5,000 keys?
Thank you, [Mrza]. Yeah. Look, I think the internal accruals are getting stronger by the day. That in turn is extending the balance sheet. We are also keeping our gunpowder dry in way of future credit facilities if required to prop up any acquisition opportunity that we get. We've also worked on our business development team is also working on opportunities on the locations that we've identified as potential high-growth locations going forward. We would like to be very, let me put it like this. We see many more of the new now coming up for big city business attack going forward. That's where we're likely to focus on. I think we have the bandwidth through our balance sheet management capabilities, execution capabilities, and the India opportunity are strong. Support this strategy for us.
You need not necessarily start at 5,000 keys if you are already at 4,500 with all of the BD that you've done in the last sort of 12 months or so?
5,000 was a holding number because I was asked that question. I did say that it will be within the next year or so.
Yeah. Okay.
Does that answer your question?
Yep.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Alia sgar Shakir from Motilal Oswal Financial Services Mutual Fund. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for the opportunity. I had a question on some more color on the network growth. I mean, if I see a couple of numbers running here, occupancy for business versus resorts, of course, your resort occupancy is maybe at a lower level, maybe because your hotel probably a couple of days have come diligently. I mean, when I explain that further into your FTA versus domestic travel, the resort segment has very low foreign and income. I mean, if you can just give some color in terms of the scope of network growth coming from the resort space and whether you think that the improvement in foreign travel within the resort space can give you more room to improve your network over the next two years.
Thank you, Alia sgar. Look, the resort network performance has three or four current dynamics to it. One, the two hotels to acquire, the resorts of Kotak and Marriott Rishikesh Himalaya, are in the early years of ramp-up. So what we see growing there is occupancy-led growth, holding the rates or maybe growing the rates at 4%, 5%, 6% so that we can get ramp-up growth, which is comfortably in the double digits. That will be our strategy going forward. The current geographical situation is not affected because we are talking about March 31 numbers. This did not start then. We expect that the coming season for weddings is going to be extremely strong. We expect a massive pickup on both these locations there. The second element to the resort side was Duke's, where we have a very small inventory without the banquet facilities.
From Mondays to Fridays, Duke's will have to rely on MICE business. As that comes into operations, say by end of this month or early next month, we will have that capability to fill out the Mondays to Fridays also. Within this, I think our resort portfolio is starting to rise and advance.
Got it. Also, the foreign travel point that I was highlighting, of course, I know in the current environment that could be challenging, but the scope of growth is far because of that segment being very small in your resort business.
Resorts are unlikely to have a large element of foreign travel. It will remain in the low single digits. From resort to resort, it may differ. Overall, it stays in the low single digits. We do not expect any foreign travelers coming.
If I can just add in one more detail on your leverage. You did mention that you are focused on 5,000 rooms and trying to drive that with some leverage. Just, I mean, wanting your thoughts from the point of view that while we still believe that we are away from the peak, in terms of keeping some room so that if there are any contingencies that we saw in the last couple of weeks, we are not, I mean, at a very high leverage. What are your thoughts on that point?
Sure. Alia sgar, you're right. We need to be cautious. What we've done is taking enabling resolutions to keep the balance sheet capability for growth available to us. We are not going to jump into the deep end of the pool right away.
Understood. Very clear. Thank you so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, please limit your question to one participant. The next question is from the line of Saurabh Jain from HDFC Life Insurance. Please go ahead.
Good opportunity. I just had one question. Can you comment on the performance of the resort that you acquired in Rishikesh, which is Westin Resort and Spa Himalaya? I'm seeing that you did about 70%-80% of revenue in effect. Can you comment on the EBITDA and the numbers of about INR 13 million in Rishikesh? I'll just confirm the Rishikesh build-up on that.
Saurabh, we don't give individual hotel numbers because it becomes sensitive competitive information, and it sort of creates a problem. We used to do that several years back, and then we were told, "Why are you giving away your individual hotel numbers?" Let me share two things about that resort. It is in its third year of operation. As we promised earlier, we are repositioning the resort from a Kotak to Marriott to Marriott. The work has just started, and we expect by October, November, Shwetank?
Yes.
Let's say November to be safe. We will be in a position to reposition Marriott, which will position us differently on the competitive set and allow us growth. Our wedding segment is strong there. Wedding season will start, and we expect that to do well.
On the revenue growth number, because that you've already disclosed in the presentation. Any growth numbers in terms of how you're growing in effect, consider the revenue growth number would be helpful.
It is just basically 10% is the revenue growth.
Does that answer your question?
No.
We have lost. Take your time. Take your time. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the connection for the management again. Please proceed.
This again seems to be having a problem with the line, Saurabh. What we were saying was that we had double-digit growth on the resort. From our perspective, we had looked at buying this at about 11-12 times one-year forward EBITDA. It is largely within that range now.
Your comment on that peak rate level, you had close to about INR 2,000 growth on the effect. Significant capacity is pending for FY 2026 and 2027. Just your comment on what is the peak effect you see?
Peak debt, we'll come back to you in a bit with the numbers. We've just added this new project in our pipelines. We are also waiting to see what the cycle for payout suspense will be for Airoli because that will impact the peak debt. If it's spread out a little longer, then the peak debt will remain low. We are now conscious of the fact that we'd not like to be, we'd like to be south of 3.5x for sure. In fact.
Thank you. [Harithan Chopthro], I will request you to regenerate you for your follow-up question. The next question is from the line of Shaji from Nuvama Management Ltd. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for letting me. So regarding, is it to assume that Varka and Bambolim both will be under the Duke's flag?
No, not true.
Okay. Let's say on the leisure side, how do we work out in terms of the peak profitability in this case? Will it be better than what your city hotels are in?
What happens is two-three dynamics for leisure hotels. One is they're stable compared to business hotels. One is business hotels are typically larger, and you get the benefit of scale on their cost side. Leisure hotels are typically smaller in the range of about 120-280, 200 rooms max. You do not get that much of benefit of scale. The average room rates are typically higher in leisure hotels. Occupancy is typically slightly lower in leisure hotels. On a blend, the RevPAR in a mature leisure hotel is higher than most city hotels. Costs are also slightly higher. If you noticed, our leisure portfolio, the number of employees per room is significantly higher. Therefore, on a blended basis, our employee per room has shifted to 1.01 or 1.1. Those costs have to be carried through.
We expect leisure hotels to be largely in the range as an overall portfolio, maybe a percentage or two lower than the business hotel average. Again, we expect our leisure portfolio to be less than 20% of the total portfolio. I've been corrected. The room ratio now blended is 1.01.
One minor thing. This is regarding your cancellations between how much forward booking is affected? Because only Q1, or we are seeing it's a Q2 also getting hit?
So far, we know May is affected because of cancellations from May. June as of now, no strong indications of cancellations. I think one or two groups have been affected. For now, we don't have any further information. We don't see any impact in Q2 if we come in the coming week or so.
Thanks a lot, sir. All the best.
Thank you.
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kaustubh from ICICI Direct. Please go ahead.
Yeah. Thanks for bringing this opportunity. My question is again on the cancellation. You mentioned that around.
Sorry, Mr. [Chopthur]. I would request you to please use your hand, sir.
Is it better?
Yes, sir.
Yeah. Thanks for giving me the opportunity and congrats for a good set of numbers. My question is again on the business you have lost for the last 11 days. Is there any chance of some of this business getting covered up in the coming quarters? Whatever expectation is in terms of the growth we have been looking in cities like Bengaluru and Hyderabad, is it fair to assume that the consistent growth in these markets would help to cover up some part of business you have lost in the last 10-11 days?
Kaustubh, you're getting as good a line on this. I haven't watched the news for the last one and a half hour. We know the world changes. We don't know what's happened in that last one and a half hour. The piece seems to be holding. Our Prime Minister sent a very strong and clear message yesterday. I think the intervention by U.S., if any, we don't know whether that's true or not, has clearly sort of brought sanity to the region. We continue to hope that we will not have any other incursions or interactions between the two countries and so on. If that happens, we see no reason why June won't come back as strong as before.
Just to add to that, Kaustubh, particularly in the MICE segment, while we have had some cancellations, a lot of them opted for pushing it forward, not necessarily cancelling it completely. There is clearly an opportunity space being available, of course, because just having the content inside. Space being available, they are not actually fully cancelled. They have just been pushed forward, right.
Just in addition to that, US is signing deals with the countries now, trade deals. It is expected it will get signed with India soon. What kind of business opportunity or, in a sense, indirect business opportunity are you expecting from this deal signing to happen?
Kaustubh, in our foreign traveler mix, U.S. is 60% of the foreign travelers. Companies based out of there, if they get better trade conditions, and we can see that India seems to have got some preferential treatment on that, though we're still waiting for the final wording, will be competitive. Therefore, we expect the businesses to grow. If those businesses grow, we expect to get a lot more room nights from that segment.
Thanks. Thanks.
The rate looks now should be a positive.
Thanks, sir. Thank you. Thanks so much.
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, given the time constraint, the management will be available for any pending questions offline. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Sethi for closing comments.
Thank you. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining us today. It has been a very exciting quarter for us. I think that only doubles the excitement that we have for the next three or four years with the growth in the portfolio, stabilizing the assets, and rolling out really high margins in the portfolio. As we get better going forward, we will expect hospitality margins to grow. We will definitely expect the office margins, rental margins, to then contribute significantly to growth of the consolidated EBITDA margins. Thank you again. Have a great day.
Thank you. On behalf of Chalet Hotels Ltd, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us, and you may now disconnect your line.