Suryaveer Singh, newly elevated Chief Executive Officer of Trance International Hotels & Resorts, plans to take the hotel management company’s portfolio to around 30 properties over the next five years, with a strategic focus on the largely underserved four-star resort segment outside major cities and towns.
Singh, who co-founded Trance International Hotels with his father and veteran Taj Group hotelier Veer Vijay Singh in 2015, said the company sees significant opportunity in developing and managing quality resorts in markets that have traditionally received limited attention from large hotel operators.
A graduate of École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) and a qualified wine sommelier, Singh began his international hospitality career with Four Seasons Hotels, working across its properties in Beverly Hills, Bali and Bangkok. He subsequently joined the family business in 2015 and has been involved with Trance Hotels’ operations for the past 11 years.
“We felt we can best contribute to the Indian hospitality sector by launching a brand of our own which is more targeted towards the four-star segment,” Singh told HospitalityBiz India in his first interaction following his elevation.
Built primarily through management contracts, Trance currently manages seven hotel assets, with two more in the pipeline. Its portfolio spans two properties each in Hyderabad and Pune, and one each in Jodhpur, Angul in Odisha and Goa.
Singh said the next phase of growth would focus on organic expansion and sustainable luxury, while maintaining a strong emphasis on operational efficiency. The company is looking at leaner operating models, including dual roles within its workforce and tighter payroll structures, to reduce operating costs and shorten the gestation period for hotels to become profitable.
“We want to be known for quality properties rather than just quantity,” he said, adding that the company is “not in a major race” to expand indiscriminately.
Technology will form another pillar of the company’s growth strategy. Singh said. Trance Hotels’ plans to increasingly deploy artificial intelligence and technology-led sales methods to make its sales force more efficient and improve guest-centric functions.
With seven properties currently under management, Singh sees the four-star resort segment as the company’s core growth opportunity, particularly in locations away from established urban hospitality markets. Trance Hotels, he said, is open to all sorts of opportunities – greenfield, conversion and lease models – as it builds towards its 30-hotel target.
