EIH Limited (EIHOTEL) Q3 FY2026 Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and thank you for attending this virtual meeting. I'm pleased to welcome you on behalf of EIH Limited and SKP Securities to EIH Limited's Q3 FY '26 result webinar. We have with us Mr. Vikram Oberoi, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer; and Mr. Vineet Kapur, Chief Financial Officer. Friends, this virtual meeting is being recorded for compliance reasons. During the course of the discussions, there may be certain forward-looking statements. These must be viewed in conjunction with the risks that the company faces. We'll have the opening remarks from Mr. Oberoi, followed by a Q&A session. Thank you, and over to you, Vikram.

Thanks, Navin. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Actually, we'll follow our normal format, which is that Vineet will make a brief presentation. Some of you may have already seen it. And then we'll go to any questions that you may have. So with that, if I could hand over to Vineet to make the presentation, if I have any additional comments while Vineet is making the presentation, I'll add those. Thank you very much for attending. And over to you, Vineet.

Thank you, Vikram. A very good morning to all the people on the call. Thank you for attending our investor call for Q3. Let me move to my part of the presentation. So the first slide talks about the industry performance for Q3 as well as YTD. Occupancy was at 66% to 68%, which saw a nominal growth in Q3, while ARR grew by 9% to 11%, this was -- that resulting in a good and a healthy RevPAR. This was in spite of the flight disruptions we saw in the month of December. While the Q3 was impacted, overall, when we see the YTD 9 months performance of the industry, the industry was almost flat to last year in the same rate of 61% to 64%. While the ARR grew at a healthy 8% to 10%, resulting in a higher RevPAR. This is in spite of the fact that currently in the current year, we saw quite some disruptions in every quarter. In Q1, we got impacted by Operations Sindoor. We had the Middle East conflict, which resulted in occupancies -- lower occupancies. In Q2, we had a long monsoon season, which led to quite a heavy rainfall as well as floods in some areas of India. And in Q3, we got impact -- the first week of December got impacted by the flight disruptions we saw in the Indian market. Nevertheless, in spite of that, though the occupancy was flat, we saw an increase of ARR at the same time that resulted in a healthy RevPAR growth of 9% to 11% versus last year. Coming on the next slide on the operational performance for the company. In terms of our competition, EIH continues to maintain leadership over the competition set. So 13 out of 15 hotels are ranked first and second in the STR benchmarking. So we continue to lead in all the parameters, including NPI, including on the ARRs as well as on the RGI as compared to the competition. Coming -- then this slide is reflecting the RevPAR growth of the Oberoi brand, which falls in the Luxury segment. The Luxury segment saw a growth of 9.1% in Q3, while Oberoi Hotels had a growth of 5.4%. The growth of Oberoi Hotels was lower, mainly on account of the fact that we had opened new hotels, Oberoi Rajgarh, as well as Oberoi Vindhyavilas got added during the year and they are in the ramp-up stage, both for occupancy as well as ARR and therefore, we saw a little slower growth for the Oberoi brand in Q3. There was also some impact of occupancy, which due to the price disruptions we saw in the month of December, leading to higher-than-normal cancellation. We almost saw 26% higher cancellations in the first 2 weeks of December, which impacted the occupancy. And that resulted in a lower RGI for Q3. Nevertheless, if you look at on a YTD basis, we continue to lead the industry in the Luxury segment. We saw a growth of 6.7%. We continue to be in the growth of 11.9% on a 9-month basis, with a very healthy RGI of 183 versus 175 last year. Moving to the next slide. This slide is reflecting the RevPAR growth of Trident brand, which was in upper upscale segment. This industry segment saw a growth of 8.6%, while Trident Hotels had a growth of 12.5%. So we show a healthy growth in this segment versus the industry. And very healthy both in terms of Q3 as well as on a YTD basis, a healthy growth of RGI of 173 versus 167. While on the RGI Index, for 9 months, we were just flat to last year in this industry segment. If we further look into the Q3 ARR occupancy trends, our occupancy was lower than last year, mainly got impacted by the new addition of hotels, especially Oberoi Rajgarh and Oberoi Vindhyavilas. In December, occupancy was lower for the same reason, which was mentioned. The first 2 weeks, we saw a higher impact of cancelations on account of the flight disruptions we saw in the Indian Aviation space. While at the same time, despite of the lower occupancy, we have seen a very healthy growth of RevPAR, with saw 11% increase on a product, higher ARR for the quarter. Looking at the city-wise performance on RevPAR. So we have seen growth in all the cities, except Shimla and Chandigarh was a little bit nominal growth versus last year. We saw a very healthy increase on RevPAR for Bhubaneswar as well as Hyderabad, which was due to on account of MICE events, which were done in these hotels, a few -- both corporates as well as social. And therefore, led to a higher RevPAR growth in these 2 cities over and above the normal average. Even the international hotels saw a good increase of 11% on RevPAR growth, driven both by occupancy as well as ARR increases in most of our internal hotels. Coming on the next page, on room revenue trends, we are almost seeing the same trend as last year. No major change from a trend perspective. The segment mix remains similar to last year. We have seen growth of direct segment over the last few years -- couple of years, but that more or less has plateaued and the percentage mix or the segment mix remains same in current year versus last year. I'll shift now to financials. The financial performance both for Q3 for stand-alone and consolidated. We'll start with the consolidated performance. We ended the quarter with a revenue of INR 910 crores, which was a growth of 9% over last year same quarter. EBITDA grew at 6%, was lower than the sales revenue growth due to change in the business mix, mainly on account of the OFS growth, which grew much more faster as compared to the loss of airport business, lounge business we had in Mumbai. Due to that, the mix -- the EBITDA growth was lower, while the revenue grew at 9%. The PAT growth was -- the PAT number was lower versus last year same quarter, mainly because of onetime impact we had because of the change in the wage code of roughly INR 30 crores, which we got impacted in the month of December for the quarter as compared to the last year. So that's the exceptional item we had in the month of December. On the stand-alone, the revenue growth was higher. The growth was in the range of 12%, while the EBITDA growth was at the same 8% versus last year. The same reason mainly on account of change in the business mix where our EBITDA growth was lower. And again, here on the stand-alone performance, we got impacted by the change in the wage code, which was the impact of roughly INR 29 crores in Q3 in the quarter. The funds position, cash, I think we continue to drive higher funds in the company. Last quarter, we got a benefit because of the operational profits we have been making over the last couple of quarters. Also, we got onetime cash inclusion -- onetime cash refund from our Mashobra settlement, which was in the range of roughly INR 115 crores, which added to our cash position. The current -- so it's pretty good cash reserves currently to expand -- to support our further expansions, both organic as well as inorganic. Coming on the Q3 financials in details. We saw the revenue increase of 9%, which I had mentioned in my earlier slides. EBITDA grew at 7%, while the PAT was lower on account of the onetime impact, which is here of roughly INR 30 crores, which came in the current year -- last quarter. The PAT got impacted, and we degrew by 9% over last year. Same thing on -- if you look at the 9 months performance in consolidated growth at 7%, while the EBITDA grew at 4%. Bigger impact on PAT because of 2 exceptional items. One exceptional item was the loss of case in Mashobra, where we had an impact of INR 109 crores in Q1 with an additional impact of INR 30 crores in Q3 because of the wage code. Due to that, our PAT is actually down by 20% versus last year. This list out the awards and accruals -- accolades, which our hotels have received. Our hotels continue to be recognized for the exceptional quality and service. So there were quite -- there were some key awards, which were won in the last quarter. Just pointing out to India's Best Awards 2025, both for best leisure resort as well as the best hotel as well as for restaurants, which we received. Shifting to our expansion plans and the upcoming projects. We continue to grow our pipeline, the development pipeline. As of the current quarter, we have a healthy pipeline of 30 properties with almost 2,450 keys, which we are going to add in the next 3 to 4 years' time. Rajgarh has already moved to our -- has moved from this list and moved to our list of hotels already in place. In the current quarter, we have signed new contracts based on -- mainly on the managed contract side. We have added Oberoi Kabini, we have added Oberoi Hampi as well as Coorg and one hotel in Oberoi Cairo. So overall, 4 hotels being added in this quarter, all of them are managed. And the number of keys is almost 280 keys being added for the current quarter. And these all will come over the -- all will get added during the coming next 3 to 4 years' time line. This is -- we already had mentioned -- we had already mentioned opening of Oberoi Rajgarh Palace in our last quarter call. So this is the few snaps of our hotel. The hotel currently is in the ramp-up stage, and the initial response is very positive, looking at the comments coming from the guest and the bookings we have seen so far. So coming on the business footprint, we have 3,800 -- total of 4,209 keys, out of which 3,801 keys are in India and 400 keys are in international. So our total of 4,209 keys, owned are 3,338 while managed are 871 properties on a total company level. And that's it. With that, I end my presentation. And over -- back to you, Navin.

Thank you, Vineet. Thank you, Vikram. Friends, we now open the floor for the Q&A session. [Operator Instructions]. Take the first question from Deepak Saha.

So my first question is on the Bhubaneswar market, if you can share some color, I mean this 19% growth is phenomenal. So what exactly driving this? Is the overall -- anything -- any one-off that you're seeing? Or you think this is more of a sustainable kind of a thing for this particular market? This is the first question.

In Bhubaneswar, we've seen actually growth in all segments. It's not just MICE. MICE has been the strongest segment. And I think this year, relative to -- if you have a look at the same time last year, there was a change in government there and perhaps that's had some impact as well. So for the new -- I'm assuming that, but we've seen -- so let me just stick to the fact we've seen the growth in all segments.

Got it. And secondly, if I see your Bangalore market, while rest of the other players and overall, the market is growing very fast, we are doing kind of a high single digit. So anything that you would like to callout for Bangalore market because that overall market is growing double digit. And I think we -- so anything that you would like to call out there?

So in Bangalore, we're still on STR relative to our comp set, we're still STR1. But I think Bangalore, one of the issues, and this is my personal perspective on it, is that the Bangalore Hotel is an older hotel. We've upgraded Food and Beverage there, and that's shown good results that happened a couple of years ago. And we will be upgrading the room product as well this year. So some -- in the coming financial year. I think that's something that is required in order to maintain our competitiveness in that market, is my personal view.

Got it. So my next question is to Vineet, sir. Sir. If we see 3Q FY '25, we had a sales growth of 8%. On that base, this year, 3Q FY '26, we have a sales growth of 9%. And you called out during the call that -- during your opening remarks that in the month of December because of cancellations of flights, we had almost 26% higher cancellations. So what is quite surprising? I mean, although we have certain cancellations, but nobody called out, rest of your peers, nobody called out any meaningful impact. So is this the reason -- is this one of the meaningful reasons we have seen kind of say 8%, 9% kind of a growth or some of the businesses which we concluded like Mumbai Lounge business, then my understanding is Kolkata is neither way -- was either way, not there on last year's base, right? So is this the cancellation really weighing heavy on our numbers? Or there are any other reasons? Just trying to understand why we are trading that 9% kind of a growth for this particular quarter compared to our peers, yes?

You're right. One is, of course, the impact what we got because of the lounge business, which is not there versus last year. Though we have compensated with a good growth in OFS to some extent, the loss of the lounge business, but profitabilities are impacted. From an occupancy perspective, though we [indiscernible] but effectively, some of that were booked prior. We were able to offset some of it with other bookings, but not to the whole extent. So that were the 2 reasons, I would say, which impacted us in December on the last quarter.

And may I just add to that is that hospitality in India in the segments that we operate in, and it may apply to other segments as well. You see a -- traditionally, you see a sharp rise in foreign business coming in during the winter months. And a fair amount of that is driven by Leisure -- within the Leisure segment. So this is business that is coming in through overseas, travel agents to operators and destination management companies in India that book foreign business on an itinerary, either FIT Group or series. And the propensity for the international traveler to pay is -- or the elasticity to price is -- it's fairly inelastic demand. So even if you raise prices, demand is still strong. And what we have seen this year is that we've increased our pricing. And when your contracted pricing goes up, you have to maintain your flexibility and bar pricing is limited because you don't want to undercut key travel partners that support you. And so our rates have gone up and what we have also seen is that there has been some decline as a result of that in the domestic market, where the domestic market is obviously more sensitive to price increases.

Got it. One last question, Vikram, in a similar context. If we see Mumbai market specifically on the South Bombay side, we have Trident, Nariman Point where almost 120 keys we renovated last year. And this year, if I'm not wrong, Oberoi Mumbai also quite meaningful number of keys, out of probably 200 keys, 40 keys we renovated, right? Now given the general perception is once the keys are renovated, your ability to attract higher prices go up probably with the initial trade-off of lower occupancy. So now what is the early response out of these renovated keys because I see your occupancies at overall level has gone up, though I understand addition of keys have happened, but does the fact that this particular quarter, you probably preferred higher rates on the Mumbai market, this is why a little bit of a lower occupancy also played out? So just your response on the overall renovation that we have did -- we have done, what is the overall response initially?

So you're absolutely right. We renovated 4 floors last financial year, which hasn't happened this year. That's roughly about 120 keys. And what I also want to point out is when you renovate or renovate 4 floors because this involves a noisy work, it involves taking additional floors out of use, not for the entire time but for when the noisy work is happening for roughly about 50% of the time, you don't want guests to be disturbed. So your room inventory gets compressed, not only from the floors you're renovating, but from the floors that you're taking out not to cause disturbance to guests who are staying in the hotel. That -- all that supply has come back in -- so this is largely at Trident Nariman Point to a smaller extent like you mentioned at the Oberoi Bombay, where we did one floor at a time, we renovated 2 floors, but it was one floor at a time. And that was done actually this year, not last year. We renovated 2 floors, the 10th and 11th floor at the Oberoi Bombay this year. And the intent is to do another 4 floors in the coming financial year. And we'll obviously do that in the slow months. But again, I want to point out that you have to take out additional rooms so that guests don't get disturbed. What we've seen at Trident Nariman Point is on the renovated rooms, we get a higher rate. And the [indiscernible] RevPAR based on each category of room. So signs are encouraging. And we will be doing some floors at the Trident Nariman Point in the coming financial year as well. And it's really important we do this -- sorry, I'm not answering your question right away, but I'm just trying to give context. It's very important that we upgrade our product in order to remain in a leadership position in the markets that we operate against our comp set. So this is something that we believe is necessary. Now to answer your question, we've seen very strong demand at Trident Nariman Point and equally strong demand at The Oberoi Bombay. Occupancies at The Oberoi Bombay have fallen slightly relative to the same time last year because we had shifted to the extent possible, guests, when the hotel is full at Nariman Point to the Oberoi Bombay. So it may not be an apple-to-apple comparison. And like I said, we are charging a premium for the rooms that we renovate both at the Oberoi Bombay and Trident Nariman Point, and guests have been completely accepting the rate increases for those renovated rooms and suites.

Just a follow-up, sir, on that...

Deepak, may I ask you to join the queue? There are other participants. We'll take the next question from Abhishek Shankar.

So I think in your previous presentations, you used to give the EIH-owned hotels data as well, along with the all domestic plus managed hotels. So is it possible to give the ARR and occupancy for EIH-owned hotels for the quarter and the previous quarter, that is last year?

I do not have the data currently, but I can...

We can share it with you, Abhishek. No problem whatsoever. And I apologize we haven't given that information, but we're happy to share it with you.

Okay, sir. Yes. And one more question is like I think in Q1, we had spoken about the Mashobra property, right? I think there was some discussion about some rebidding process that will happen because there might be -- the hotel might come back and then there might be hotels who would -- companies who would like to manage the property again. So what's the status on that? Is there any rebidding process that is starting there again?

Nothing has been announced by the government at this point.

And we are still running the hotel under O&M contract. So that's still going to continue till March, and we are hopeful that, that will extend further.

Abhishek, maybe you can drop me an mail with the data that you need. We will get in touch with the management and revert to you. We take the next question from Vaibhav Mulay.

Congratulations on a good set of numbers. My first question was on Oberoi Grand Kolkata. We had mentioned that hotel once was shut down in August 2024, 50 keys would be operational within 18 months. So I wanted to check whether the time line still remains intact and the hotel would be opening at least 50 keys in the coming March or April?

No, actually, it's 15 months from -- sorry, 18 months from the date that the hotel we stopped taking any business, which was -- the last date was May, if I'm not mistaken -- March, sorry, March. So it's 18 months from March, which will be in August, September of current year.

So how many keys would be opening in August?

As of now, the same, what we said earlier.

50 keys?

Correct.

My second question was on our overall expansion pipeline. We have increased the rooms in Trident Hebbal to 300, from I think, 250 earlier. Any particular reason for that? And secondly, the overall Oberoi Makaibari, Darjeeling property earlier had 120 keys, which has now been reduced to 25 keys. It's a managed property. So I just wanted to understand the changes in the keys for these properties.

Yes. So I'll answer Hebbal first. We believe that there is potential demand for that -- for the increase in the number of keys, and that's why we've done that. It's a simple reason is that. With Makaibari, I'm sorry, I don't have the information in front of me. but Makaibari was always a 20-key hotel. So I'm not sure where you read 120 and if you did...

I think in the last presentation, we have mentioned 120 keys, could be typo.

Yes. So we'll need to -- it was never 120 keys. There wouldn't be demand for an Oberoi Hotel at the rates that we have for 120 keys. So I apologize that maybe an error and we'll look at that.

Possibly that could be a error.

That could be an error. I apologize. We will look at that. I'm sorry if we've made an error.

No worries. My last question was on our Oberoi Flight Services business. Could you share the absolute revenue and the growth year-on-year for this business that we have achieved in Q3?

I'll just share the exact number for Q3.

Do we share those numbers? Yes. Okay. All right.

Let me [indiscernible].

But can I just say once thing while Vineet is looking at the numbers. So we used to operate the lounge at Bombay and that was a very high revenue and very high margin business. Fortunately, we've been able to offset the revenue side, in fact, exceeded the revenue business through the Airline business. So we have compensated for that, but margins in the airline business, you'd appreciate are not the same as they are for the lounge business. Lounge business was, if I remember correctly, an EBT of over 50%.

Yes. So for the OFS business for Q3, the revenue was INR 135 crores. We saw almost an increase of 25%, 30% versus last year.

We'll take the next. Deepak Saha has a follow-up question.

Sir, just a follow-up on this. So excluding the Lounge business that we had, any color you'd like to give? What would be the adjusted growth on the revenue side, if we adjust for the lounge business that we had last year?

If it's a like-to-like comparison, it's, if I remember correctly, 13.9%. Let me just confirm that number to you. I'm going by memory.

Like-to-like -- I'll just give you -- only you are looking only for Q3, like-to-like?

Yes. Only Q3, Y-o-Y, what would be that adjusted number? It would be helpful if you can give the revenue EBITDA side. Secondly Vikram, sir, you mentioned about Trident Nariman Point further you do renovation next year. So I missed on the total number of keys you're looking for renovation next year and is it right to assume that probably preferably the renovation would be first half of next year? So that we are back on the ...

We will not be able to give that information. It's still in a -- work in process. We're still deciding on that. In terms of your other point, which is your -- on a stand -- on a Y-o-Y basis, taking all the impacts which we had on brand, of course, brand was -- there is no [indiscernible] impact, [indiscernible] Mumbai and the other things, including the Wildflower Hall, we have grown 14% in Q3 as against the 9% growth what you saw earlier.

We'll take the next question from Madhav Agarwal.

Sir, I wanted to know your hotel-wise performance in your international hotels. So if I see on a blended basis, international, the blended RevPAR you have mentioned to be 11%. But this includes managed hotels as well, right? So like what was the -- how is the performance for hotels and Bali, Lombok, specifically for these 2 hotels, if you can comment?

So on the international front, I think we have done well for the quarter as well as on a YTD basis. On -- if I really look at hotel-wise performance, except for Bali, all of our hotels, whether it's Lombok, Mauritius, Sahl Hasheesh or Marrakech, they have really grown versus last year. Bali has been almost flat to last year performance.

Okay, okay. And for the flight catering business, what are the margins currently? You mentioned the revenue to be INR 135 crores, right? So approximate, if not exact, approximate margins that you generate in this business, EBITDA margins?

Sorry, we don't share those numbers, and also tracking-wise, from a regulatory perspective, we only have one segment which we normally track and report.

Vikas, do you have a question? Vikas Ahuja? Okay, in the meanwhile, there are a couple of questions posted on the chat board, can I take those, please?

Yes, absolutely, Navin, please.

This is from Amit Agarwal. Good morning, Mr. Vikram. Very less information is provided regarding our Airline business. How much turnover did we see this quarter? How much business we lost because of airline disruption? And how do you see it shaping next 6 months? Can you let us know how much we get from domestic route versus international?

So I don't have all the figures with me and what I'd suggest is whatever -- if you could just, Navin, send us this and whatever information we can provide, we will provide. We may not be able to answer all those questions for the reasons that Vineet just explained, but we'll endeavor to provide the information to the best extent possible.

Amit, may I request you to mail your questions to me, and we'll forward them to the management? Okay, his second question is regarding Wildflower Hotel. Since the shares have been transferred to the government for how long do we -- are we still managing the property? Any time line for it going for re-auction?

We haven't been informed of the time line for re-auction. So I can't answer that question. But we continue to operate the hotel.

[ Mehul Shah ], can you help me with the ARR and occupancy for owned hotels?

Owned hotels? Okay. We will provide that.

Yes. And I again, apologize for not including that in the deck. We'll make sure we do that next time. We'll do it later.

Vineet, we have the numbers now or we'll get back to the participant?

We will get back to the participant.

Mehul, to you, to please drop me a mail. Tarun Rathi asks, any plans on utilizing Bhubaneswar idle land and any plans for opening a hotel in Puri? What is the update on Oberoi Grand reopening, that Vikram just answered? Are we including sports facilities also in restoration of Grand?

So let me answer the question for Bhubaneswar. Bhubaneswar is a -- it's a relatively smaller hotel. It's been there for many, many years. And the market is different there. [indiscernible] There is we are -- once we present this to the -- this is part of [indiscernible] once that is present to Board and approved by the Board and information is shared with the stock exchange, of course, we'll make that available on investor call as well. That's as far as Bhubaneswar is concerned. In the Oberoi Grand renovation, we will be expanding on the Spa and the Gym. But there are no additional dedicated sports facilities that we're adding at the Oberoi Grand. Of course, the product will be completely upgraded. Room inventory is, as you know, coming down, to approximately 200 and room sizes will be substantially increased. So the 200 [indiscernible], which is about 50 keys in rooms and sports. So overall product will go under a significant change, not dissimilar to what we did at the Oberoi New Delhi. And the Oberoi New Delhi, when it reopened, has seen a shock, it opened in a few years ago, but it saw a sharp increase in performance with -- and with EBITDA increasing by a very, very large amount. I don't want to give the percentages, but it was a significant repositioning of the hotel, which was reflected both in top line and in bottom line performance.

Thanks, Vikram. Mehul, you have some queries on Oberoi Grand, can you just mail them, please? Ketan Salvi, sir any plans of expanding into private clubs either under Bay Club or Trident Club across key cities in India with sports and F&B as the key offerings?

Currently, it's just the Bay Club.

We come back to the participants. Madhav, do you have a follow-up question?

Yes. Yes. So sir, I wanted to know some color on the Mumbai market. So this quarter, we have seen the Mumbai, the RevPAR, you have mentioned 7% right? This is on the back of like you have renovated 120 keys in Trident Nariman Point and in Oberoi also. So -- and then there is a 7% RevPAR growth. So like am I reading it incorrectly? Or like is it that in the Mumbai market, the ARR growth is slowing because that is what we are seeing in the HBS data as well that -- in this quarter, the ARR growth was the slowest. So your comments on this?

So actually, I think, see, RevPAR is revenue per available room. And I think when you're looking at that, certainly for us, you should keep in mind that there were 120 keys that were not available, that were being renovated, let me be more precise. And a further floors above and below taken out of service while the noisy work was happening, which is roughly for half that time -- half the time period of the renovation. So, when you're looking at previous year's data, the base is completely different. And RevPAR is again based on per occupied room. So room inventory was down. Therefore, obviously, your RevPAR will go up because you have fewer rooms to sell and you run higher occupancies. And hopefully, higher rates as well. So I wouldn't say that it is an apple-to-apple comparison at least for Trident Nariman Point. It absolutely wouldn't be. And just because the [ 585 keys are back into room inventory that weren't there previously. It was operating on a much lower key count. And RevPAR -- if there's a renovation, which is of greater than 3 months, if I remember correctly, hotels have the opportunity to take room inventory out. So you reduce your room inventory by the number of rooms that are unavailable. If it's for shorter than 3 months, you can't do that. And we, of course, follow STR rules precisely and strictly.

Got it, sir. And sir, for the Navi Mumbai market, any plans in the pipeline, whether if you're looking for any opportunity, so it will be a managed hotel only or owned hotel also you're looking?

Sorry, I heard the first part. So I'll answer the first part. Navi Mumbai is -- we would really like to have a presence in Navi Mumbai. And our efforts will be focused in trying to achieve that objective. And as soon as we do, we would add it to the list of hotels. Your second part of the question, I'm so sorry, I couldn't hear it. So could I request you to repeat the second part?

And just -- I wanted to know it will be like owned hotel you're looking or a managed property?

We're open to all options. So I can't really comment whether it will be owned or managed or perhaps even a JV, I can't comment. But we would like to have a presence in Navi Mumbai. It's an important market and no effort will be spent to have a presence there either through the Oberoi or through Trident or through both brands.

We'll take the next question from Shruti Khopade. Can we go for the next round of follow-up questions? [Operator Instructions]

Navin, may I just say one other thing that we are -- we have limited time. We have -- actually, we're right in Bombay, as I mentioned, and this is the time of our budgeting. So we have a budget meeting for next financial year for our Bombay Hotels. So we will need to take a hard stop, what time is it?

Maybe around 12:15, we can...

Sorry?

12 to 12:15...

12 to 12:15 and -- if that's all right.

[Operator Instructions] We'll take the first follow-up question from Abhishek Shankar.

So there are various media reports that I've been seeing that this AI Summit that's coming up in Delhi in February. There is a significant rise in the prices of hotels. I just want to understand the trend as in is it really that the hotels are sold out and the prices are so high, and do you see any spillover demand that is going on to Gurgaon as well? Because I think there is one Trident Gurgaon in your portfolio. So I just want to understand the market because Delhi market has been slightly flat for some time, the industry-wide I'm saying.

Yes. Yes. The Oberoi New Delhi has done very well for the 9 months. We -- the hotel has performed very well with growth over previous year. So that's comment number one. There has been a spillover to Gurgaon. And I know that has happened both at Oberoi and Trident for us, perhaps for others as well. I can't comment on the others and the overall Gurgaon market. Rates have been very high. And in fact, this has received quite a lot of negative publicity, as you would have seen in the press. And the hotel association has responded on behalf of all the hotels on this. So I would not like to add anything further, but please refer to the Hotel Association response, HAI's response, and that applies to all hotels in -- that are members of HAI in Delhi.

Rajiv Bharati, go ahead.

So I have a couple of questions. First of all, I remember back in Jan, Feb until April, we were doing 20% RevPAR on the domestic portfolio, including managed. And that time, you had commented that we will keep on doing the similar kind of hikes in the subsequent part of the fiscal as well? I mean I thought you were actually taking leadership on the price hike side. That has kind of fizzled how it seems, and especially when I see December performance where we have RevPAR has only grown 5%. One, what transpired? And second thing, are you going to see that momentum again picking up in, let's say, in the current spots?

So I think, number one, I think we would be perhaps coming to the wrong conclusion on the propensity to drive rate. Our view is right or wrong that for the quality of hotels that we operate, our prices are -- we should be demanding higher prices. If you go to any major city in the West, where a lot of our guests come from Europe, North America, rates are extremely low in India. And also the rupee has devalued as well. So it makes it even cheaper in terms of what our overseas customers are paying. We will continue to drive rate. And I wouldn't come to any conclusion based on what you see in Q3. There's so many factors that could cause variations in demand. Airlines has been mentioned. I know, unfortunately, India has received or North India has received a lot of negative publicity on pollution levels in the north of India, and that doesn't help travel. Countries they've even given warnings on travel to India because of pollution. So there's so many factors that impact this. I don't know if I should be making a statement, but February is a time and all indications are that February would be a very strong month for us, as I would imagine, it would be for the industry.

I also like to highlight, Though we have -- we said it's -- overall revenue growth is 7%, if we look at on an apple-to-apple basis, our growth in Q3 was 14%. And I had already highlighted in my presentation, the RevPAR growth was around 11% in Q3. Despite of the fact that we had some disruptions in December. So it's not that considering that, I would also add to the fact that our occupancy at least for our company is already in a very high range. So on that base, growing year-over-year with the same rate, would be difficult, but we still continue to see a very healthy rise both in occupancy as well as ARR, which we foresee to continue moving forward.

That's really helpful. On 14% growth on a like-for-like basis, have we seen operating leverage on the hospitality side because that doesn't seem to be the case, at least on the printed margin what you have shown? I'm sure there's a flight catering impact there. But have you seen margin impact -- margin growing there or it's lower?

So margin, we are seeing growth even in that segment in terms of whatever ARR growth comes in, that helps us in margin growth.

So you're saying the entire growth is purely because of the dilution from the flight catering business. Is that how we should read it?

The margin mix, definitely -- segment mix definitely impacted us in Q3.

Sure. Sir, lastly, once thing on renovation. So your Jaipur and Cochin is also -- I think you are putting up for renovation on the Trident side. I think it's there somewhere in the slide, there are some closures which are going there?

Jaipur is definitely closed for renovation. That's also has an impact. Brand is closed for renovation. Cochin it's not closed for renovation -- the 2 hotels that are closed for renovation are Grand and Jaipur.

Can you just help with what are the per key renovation costs in, let's say, in [indiscernible] and Trident right now? Just for thumb rule because this seems to be an ongoing exercise.

There's no thumb rule. It really depends on what you're doing. So it really depends on the extent of the renovation -- and therefore, there is -- it could vary so significantly. If it's a soft refurbishment, it will be significantly less if you're ripping out bathrooms, redoing flooring, redoing windows, it would be significantly more. So I'm afraid it would be -- I'd be ill advised to give you numbers. It really depends on what you're doing as you'd appreciate.

We'll take the next follow-up from Vikas Ahuja.

So I just have one question. So obviously, as we have highlighted on a cleaner basis, RevPAR is even better. So we have seen -- we have observed a pickup in Q3 after a relatively slower Q2. And with the current tailwinds such as World Cup, AI Summit and given our strong presence in Delhi, is it reasonable to expect momentum to strengthen further from here onwards?

Difficult to comment on that, Vikas, but that's what I mentioned before. The sector looks -- the outlook seems positive with the events happening and as well as the growth what we are seeing in all the segments, including Indians demanding the Luxury segment side, we are seeing a good demand from that perspective. The outlook looks positive.

Yes. And February, traditionally for hotels are a very strong month. I mean, February is a very, very strong month for hospitality. And this February, fortunately, is looking that way as well. So -- and what I don't know what others are doing or will be doing. But I would imagine that will be -- we won't be unique in that position. It will be for us and others in February.

If I can ask one more, and this is related to Delhi as a region. I mean, we have 2 now big conventional centers there; YASHOBHOOMI, Bharat Mandapam and that is what is leading to such big conferences also coming in. And if you look at the supply there, there has hardly been any addition we have seen over the past few years, plus there's a lot of commercial space, which is getting added to the airport. Do we think that the -- in terms of the growth among cities, it would be one of the -- could be one of the best performing in next few years? Or you think this pollution issue will kind of derail the story?

I can't -- I don't have the ability to comment on that. And my guess will be as good as yours. So I'd rather not speculate on what it will be. But I think there's a great benefit to tourism employment, especially in the unstructured labor markets with weddings, events and also in this prominence for global -- when there's global participation. It helps bring India on the map, whether it's sports, whether it's meetings. So I think these events really not only help hotels and hospitality and travel, but they also help with employment. They help with India's perception overseas. And the more events we can do, I think all parties benefit from this. So really, we'd applaud these events taking place. And we hope, if anything, they will continue to increase over a period of time.

Vaibhav, do you have a follow-up question? Vaibhav Mulay.

My question was on our expansion pipeline again. Can you share the status of development in terms of how many greenfield projects have we received the approvals where the construction has commenced and the expected time line for completion of the construction for our greenfield projects, which are on our books as well as on the subsidies?

Yes. I don't know if we provide that level of detail. We'll have a discussion internally. And if we can provide that level of detail, we'll be happy to. But at this point, number one, I don't have that information in front of me. But we'll certainly consider this, and if appropriate, include it going forward. Would that be all right? Is that okay?

Sure, sir. Sure, sir. Just related to this, we also have a 7.6 lakh square feet of retail space coming up in Hebbal. So would you be able to provide what kind of possible monetization that can happen from the leasing of this area?

I think, again, we do have those numbers. I don't want to disclose them. But I think my suggestion to you would be to see what Grade A commercial space rents for in Bangalore. And I hope we'll be able to get a premium on that at Hebbal.

Vikram, a couple of questions again on the chat board. Amit Agarwal. One more question regarding the new hotel, Naila. Naila Fort being opened in Jaipur on 15th of this month, any details of the management or ownership of this property?

Yes, absolutely. This is actually -- it's not a hotel. It's a luxury residence. It's 4 bedrooms, and you can -- and it's -- although it's 4 bedrooms, it's a very large space, then multiple areas, large gardens, a pool, 4 bedrooms, multiple living rooms, multiple dining rooms, gym, et cetera. And -- but it's -- you have to take the whole of Naila Fort. It's not rented out individually. And the -- our price for that is INR 12 lakh. And this is -- the ownership of Naila Fort is OBHL, Oberoi Hotels Private Limited. May I just add one other thing, Navin, which is perhaps important is in -- Naila is the first luxury residence, and this is something that we believe is important for our guests, guests who want a more private intimate experience, luxury residences at the very high end, which Naila is. Work -- we are exploring a second opportunity again, in a location where we already have hotels or a hotel. And I hope on the back of Naila and the second one when it gets announced, more owners will approach us for managing their luxury residences but we will only manage very high-end luxury residences and Naila is a perfect example of that, as will be the second one.

Shruti has posted her question. Sir, can you please comment on the employment benefit -- employee benefit expenses? Has it increased by around 11% on a Y-o-Y basis in Q3 FY '26, which is more as compared to revenue growth of 9%? Any further guidance for that?

Yes. That includes the employee growth will be on account of the new hotel additions we have done. This includes the Oberoi Rajgarh as well as Wildflower Hall, which we are operating the hotel. So the increase will -- the headcount or the employment cost increase will increase with normal attrition as well as the increase on account of these 2 new hotels, which have been added to [indiscernible].

Ketan has one follow-up question. Sir, what is the sale in -- fee of foreign tourists to Indian tourists in our revenues for Q3? And how does it compare to pre-COVID? Can you share the percentages, please?

Yes. We don't disclose the mix between our Indian guests and our international guests, both in terms of contribution to occupancy and revenue.

Thanks, Vikram. [Operator Instructions] There are no further questions.

Navin, I'd just like to add one other thing that maybe is important. At an entity level, of course, it is what it is. But it really also varies across location. So for example, in Delhi, the number of international guests who stayed with us, both in Delhi and Gurgaon is higher or significantly higher than, let's say, a location like Chennai. So -- and those variations are significant.

[Operator Instructions] Rajiv, please go ahead, but just keep it short because we're running out of time.

Sir, just one clarification. The 14% number includes the Mashobra impact on the stand-alone number, right? I mean if you were to strip that out, then the number is basically 7% on a like-for-like basis on a stand-alone basis?

[indiscernible] You should be -- you should be able to.

So the number includes the impact on account of Mashobra. If we exclude that, the percentage would be roughly around 10% to 11%.

Now I'd like to hand over the webinar back to Vikram for his closing remarks. Vikram? You need to unmute yourself, Vikram.

I apologize. Just wanted to say thank you, Navin, for your support in organizing this call, and thank you for the participants. This year has been a year which has had some ups and downs. And -- but despite that, I think our industry is doing well. We continue to do our very best to provide our guests with an exceptional guest experience. And we believe by doing that, they not only pick us over other hotels, but also willing to pay a premium, and we continue to focus on that part of what we do. We also are focusing on our growth. And as and when the additional hotels -- hotel either management contracts or others, we will share that with you. And we remain optimistic about India and the potential for India. I think tourism has many advantages for our country that helps create employment across India. So in areas that are more remote, people like to go and see beautiful places, untouched places, unsoiled places. And industry is slower to move there whereas tourism creates employment in those locations very quickly. And I think as a country, we continue to focus on tourism and significant employment opportunities. I think everybody benefits. It's not just the tourism sector that benefits. So I remain optimistic, and I thank the government, both at a central level and a state level to promote tourism, drive employment. I think one area where we should be doing more is really promoting India overseas. And I'm confident that, that will also start to take place that has taken a major step backwards. But I'm confident that we will see a change in that, too, for the reasons that I have mentioned, the benefit it brings to our country, our foreign exchange earnings, et cetera. So thank you very much, and I continue to remain optimistic about our industry and its potential.

Thank you, Vikram. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Mr. Oberoi. Thank you, Mr. Kapur, for taking time out to interact with the investors, and we look forward to hosting you again for the next quarterly webinar. Thank you, and have a wonderful day.

Thanks so much, Navin. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Thanks a lot.