Royal Orchid Follows Indian Travelers Beyond the Metros, From Pilgrim Towns to Branded Homes

Photo Credit: The Iconiqa Hotel in Mumbai. Royal Orchid Hotels Indian hospitality company Royal Orchid Hotels, which runs over 126 hotels, launched its branded-residence platform Iconiqa Living on Wednesday with 130 units in North Goa. This launch extends Iconiqa, the group’s one-year-old upscale lifestyle brand, from hotel rooms into homes. President Arjun Baljee called it “the front end of a home and the back end of a hotel,” a bet that Indian travelers will pay for hotel-style service where they live. Service and personalization will ultimately matter more than design in branded residences, he said. The launch is also proof of a broader reshaping of Royal Orchid’s portfolio as demand spreads into pilgrimage towns, wedding destinations, leisure markets and smaller centers of commerce. The group now spans mid-market Regenta hotels, a planned 125-hotel Hampton by Hilton rollout and Iconiqa, which has grown into four formats within a year. The strategy, Baljee told Skift, is to build around where