Southeast Asia’s Hospitality Heavyweights Turn to India for Their Next Chapter
Photo Credit: Anantara Jewel Bagh Jaipur Hotel Exterior Lawn. Minor Hotels / Jaideep Oberoi
Skift Take
Why should global giants have all the fun? Southeast Asian hotel brands are also diving into India’s boom, with culture, domestic demand, and experiential travel in overdrive, it’s far too hot a market to watch from the sidelines.
Southeast Asian hotel brands, once content to build density at home, are rediscovering India defined by culture, domestic confidence, and travelers looking for “more.” From Bangkok to Singapore, hotel groups are looking across the Bay of Bengal with a sense of urgency.
Lebua: Bangkok’s Lebua Hotels & Resorts, best known globally for its “Hangover hotel” fame, is one of the clearest examples of this shift. India has climbed into Lebua’s top-five source markets for its flagship property in Bangkok, and the company is now keen to tap into the Indian domestic market as well. Lebua is planning 11 hotels in the Indian states of Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, and Uttar Pradesh. What’s notable is where the brand wants to play: not in India’s metros, but in emerging leisure pockets where domestic travelers are searching for deeper, more curated experiences.
“India is a priority,” Narawadee Bualert, Lebua’s president and CE
