Eco Hotels is an owner, developer and asset manager of The Eco™ and The Ecolodge™, three star premium and two star value brands. Directors believe, it is the world’s first carbon neutral premium value hotel brand of its kind.
The World’s First Carbon Neutral
Hotel Brand of its Kind
Eco Hotels’ objective is to become a leading owner, developer and asset manager of three star premium and economy brands in the BRICS and N11 economies, with India being the first target market, where the opportunity for growth is the greatest.
Eco Hotels has completed the development of the two brands with one prototype Ecolodge operating in Kochi, Kerala, India and intends to increase its operating inventory in excess of 15,000 rooms over 10 years by way of acquiring existing properties, refurbishing them to achieve carbon neutrality and also by rolling out new build portfolio using offsite modular building technology.
Eco Hotels is raising £5 million, as a Pre-IPO round, to increase its operating inventory to circa 400 rooms as Phase I of its expansion plan.
This will be by way of acquiring existing properties directly from the asset owners or by acquiring an existing hotel operating company. Directors have identified a deal flow of properties in the Western Region of India namely Mumbai, Goa and Pune where capital raised can be deployed immediately to increase the operating inventory. Directors have also identified target hotel operating companies of various sizes and rooms under management, which can be acquired within a short period of time.
The company has been incubated by Red Ribbon, a Mainstream Impact Investment firm headquartered in the UK and investing in Growth and Emerging Markets with an initial focus on India.
Key Strengths
Proprietary brands, The Eco™ and The Ecolodge™, which are well designed and suited for the market opportunities;
Exposure to high growth economies;
Strong market growth prospects;
Local insight into a market that has high barriers to entry;
Proprietary hotel development programme EBOT delivering turn key hotel development services; and
Experienced local and global management team.
Company Strategy
Eco Hotels’ strategy is to become a leading owner, developer and asset manager of three star premium and two star economy hotels in India, BRICS and N11 economies.
Growth is expected to be driven by:
- Scalability;
- Pipeline growth; and
- Maximising profitability of existing portfolio.
Phase I of the strategy is to acquire existing properties and convert them into 2- and 3- star hotels under the Eco Hotels brands.
Phase II is to purchase the land with planning permission and roll out new build modular hotels in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as identified by the team.
India
A Strong Force in the emerging world
The Market
Ranked as the 5th largest economy in the world, India is one of the fastest growing economies but is underserved by the hotel industry, especially in the economy and budget segments.
India only has 110,000 hotel rooms for 1.35 billion inhabitants whilst New York City comprises almost 115,500 hotel rooms for 8.6 million people*.
In 2017, business spending accounted for over 95% of travel and tourism contribution to GDP of India, meaning that most of the traffic occurred inside the country even though the country is becoming a popular destination for foreign tourists. In 2017, the country saw more than 10 million foreign tourist arrivals and it is expected to grow to 17 million by 2028.
Rapid growth of the Indian population and increasing tourists’ in-flow and a lack of 2 star and 3 star hotels turns into a large gap in the hospitality market and creates an investment opportunity in the hotels sector.
Alongside these, growing environmental issues associated with climate change as well as water and air pollution are generating interest in sustainable travel among tourists and domestic travellers.
Eco Hotels is strategically placed to capitalise this increasing and steady trend of responsible travel ensuring a topical approach to hospitality.
*Source: World Tourism and Travel Council, New York City Department of City Planning