Sarovar Hotels will open Nepal’s largest hotel with 304 keys under the Royal Tulip brand in the first half of 2025. This will be among the 15 hotels that it will open this year in India and overseas, said Ajay K. Bakaya, chairman of Sarovar Hotels.

On Wednesday the company announced a collaboration with Nepal-based Massif Hotel to operate the country’s biggest hotel near Tribhuvan airport in Kathmandu.

At present the largest hotels in Nepal by number of rooms are The Soaltee and Hyatt Regency which have 284 and 280 rooms respectively.

Along with mountaineers and pilgrims, the hotel also hopes to attract business travellers from India and South East Asia. “The room rates in Kathmandu are lower than India and that makes it more attractive for weddings or events,” Bakaya said.

Sarovar Hotels added 27 hotels in 2024 adding taking the total count to 135. Around 55 per cent of its existing portfolio is under the mid market Portico brand.

In 2025 it plans to open another 15 hotels. These will also include properties in Somaliland and Uganda in Africa. Currently it runs hotels in Kenya and Zambia.

A 156 key hotel is also under development in Sriperumbudur near Chennai under the Sarovar Portico brand. This will be the company’s third owned property after Chandigarh and Roorke. All other properties are managed on behalf of owners.

“We anticipate a revenue growth of 12-13 per cent year on year for CY 2025. This growth will be driven by the ramp up of new properties leading to increasing occupancy and higher average daily rates,” Bakaya added.