Royal Orchid Hotels Limited (ROHL) is undergoing an evolution — one that combines innovation, brand clarity, and capital discipline. The opening of the group’s 291-key upscale lifestyle property, ICONIQA Mumbai, has not only expanded its footprint but has also brought about a complete change in the way the company approaches hotel development, brand identity, and partnerships.
“We’ve done hotels in a certain manner, and now we’re suddenly entering into an upscale lifestyle segment, which is something we’ve never done before. There’s a lot of unlearning and relearning happening across the organisation,” said Arjun Baljee, founder of ICONIQA Hotels & Resorts and President, Royal Orchid Hotels Limited (ROHL), starting the virtual conversation as to the kind of milestone the group has crossed and its significance on the whole hotel group.
Opened in September, Iconiqa Mumbai marks ROHL’s foray into the upscale lifestyle segment. The property, with its distinctive design and experiential focus, represents a major shift for the group.
Unlike traditional five-star hotels, Iconica deliberately avoids such categorisation. “We’ve never used the word five-star anywhere in Iconiqa,” Baljee said. “Even the way guests enter is different — you walk into a bar, not a lobby. It’s a vibrant space where people want to come after work, meet, or just unwind.”
From an AI-powered gymnasium to an inclusive rooftop poolside bar concept, the property’s design philosophy, according to Baljee, is about “breaking the mould” of conventional hospitality. “Every space has been thought of differently. Unlike other hotels, we don’t have a traditional hotel coffee shop. That doesn’t exist for us. So, we did a modern Indian restaurant that has indoor-outdoor spaces, it has privatedining, it has a cafe space. So, it’s an interesting multi-dimensional, multi-purpose, modern Indian and Indian restaurant space,” he explained.
A disciplined approach to expansion:
While Iconiqa has lifted the morale of the whole company as it presented a big bang entry to the financial capital of the country, the new business model of flexi lease-cum-ownership has also evoked interest and excitement in the hospitality landscape of the country. Although it is initial months and Baljee and his team are keen to see how the “guests interact” with the new product, they are also excited to see the business model proved its mettle in the Indian hotel landscape.
“We are constantly in discussions with potential partners,” said Baljee, adding, “The idea is to structure models that work for owners but stay aligned with our financial discipline.” However, Baljee said that they are not in a hurry as owners and products must meet a “similar value system.”
“We are in no rush to replicate the brand indiscriminately. We need to find the right opportunities,” said Baljee. “But one thing we will not compromise on is return on capital employed (ROCE). Every decision we make has to meet a firm ROCE metric.”
He added that several potential landlords and investors have expressed interest in the Iconiqa model, given its cost efficiency and return profile. “We’ve told our investors explicitly — return on capital is non-negotiable. That will remain the central pillar of any future partnership,” he asserted.
Rationalising the brand portfolio:
Alongside launching Iconiqa, ROHL has also embarked on a major brand rationalisation exercise. The goal, Baljee said, is to ensure each brand has a clear identity and delivers a distinct guest experience.
“At the end of the day, each brand needs to stand for something. Customers must know what they’re going to get,” he informed. The Regenta brand now represents neighborhood hotels — small, tech-driven properties with outsourced F&B.
Meanwhile, a new boutique luxury brand — Crestoria — is being introduced, with the first property set to open in South Goa this December. “Crestoria is our boutique, resorty type of brand that we are doing. Crestoria, the word comes from creating stories. The Goa property will be a cute, 40-key, extremely high-end, experiential resort property,” Baljee informed.
Drawing a parallel with similar brands in the boutique experiential space, Baljee said that Crestoria will be “sensibly priced and accessible to the vast majority of Indian travellers.”
Enhancing the Loyalty base:
Last year, ROHL also launched its loyalty programme, which Baljee describes as one of the most “simple and transparent” ones in the industry so far. With a current base of 6.5 lakh loyal members, Baljee hoped to take it to a 1 million customer strong programme in the next one year.
“For us, loyalty points should directly equate to money — not fairy magic beans,” he quips. “You earn in our programme and you can burn anywhere — buy jeans, Amazon vouchers, whatever you want. It’s real value for our customers.”
Citing the recent partnership between Marriott Bonvoy and Flipkart, Baljee said that even big brands have started “validating:” the model one way or the other.
A future driven by clarity and capital discipline:
As ROHL steps into its next phase of growth, the focus remains clear — rationalise the brand portfolio, build distinctive new brands, and forge capital-efficient partnerships. He said that the company has grown from a sub-100 group to 120 operational hotel company over the last 12 months.
While the company has a strong pipeline, he said that the guiding mantra is financial prudence and strong focus on ROCE led development. “The reality is, we’ve taken a big bet with the Mumbai hotel. Now, we must be prudent about where we spend and ensure that every initiative meets our financial and experiential goals. That’s how we’ll build a sustainable, modern hospitality group.”
As major hotel companies in the country are aggressively pursuing a “house of brands” strategy, through strategic acquisitions and alliances, ROHL also wanted to build a diverse yet cohesive brand architecture.
“Through that strategy hotel companies can buy locations where they can stick their flag on and bulk up their own brands. That creates good network effect; it creates huge amount of synergy; it creates choice for the customers. It’s clearly worth looking at. Now, the house of brand story is immensely powerful.
With five clearly distinguishable brands in its portfolio, ROHL also looking at big growth and expansion of brands.
“We will continue to expand both organically and through partnerships,” Baljee concluded.
