Karma Group, an international chain of luxury hotels is focusing to expand further into the India market. The group currently owns and operates four properties in Goa and one in Rajasthan and Kerala each.
Speaking about their expansion plans John Spence, Founder of Karma Group said, “As Karma Group, we have grown to 27 resorts across Europe, Australia and Asia, but India still remains an extremely crucial market. With four properties in Goa and one each in Rajasthan and Kerala, we are re-focusing on India and have exciting expansion plans on the cards, which include setting up two more properties a year, for the next five years. We want to do more in Goa as we think it’s a tremendous space with enormous potential. We also want to explore both North and South India. Going beyond Kerala, we are nurturing expansion plans along the East coast like Pondicherry, Chennai and Coorg.”
The group witnesses healthy loadfactor across all its properties in India. This year due to the floods in Kerala, the occupancy has gone down in the particular state. Spence added, “Occupancy has been extremely good in the India properties this year. Depending on the time of the year, the average occupancy is 80 per cent. This year the rainfall was particularly heavy and for Kerala the occupancy did suffer. In general our occupancy is been well headed, we were extremely pleased with not the number of guest but also with the quality of the guest primarily the people who stay in our resorts were old club members. We are not a private members club than we are a vanilla hotel company; hence RevPar is not what we use too so much. We plan to open two more properties India owing to the positive response.”
Events are one of the forte for Karma Group, across all its properties the group organises various events and entertainment activities which draws a lot of travellers.
Speaking about the entertainment and events Spence said that events are an integral part of the business. He further said, “One of the key developments is the introduction of Karma FM, a 24 hour radio streaming facility available across resorts, on the app and the website. Curated and hosted by a main DJ of Karma, the content is well-received. We are expanding the beach club in Bali with an intention to have our customers enjoy the best as we double the area. The investment will also include a uniquely fashioned swimming pool, sushi bar, DJ booth on the beach. For Karma Sanctum in London we have entered a joint venture with Iron Maiden. We are also expanding the roof top bar to incorporate a larger list of events.
The group is also crafting a speciality inhouse wine to further enhance the guest experience. Also Karma is entering the Glamping segment.
Speaking about the new products Spence added, “We will be unveiling the wine crafted by Karma soon. The wine is made in the Medock, well-known as a wine growing region of South France. We have also introduced an event named Glamping where we are incorporating tents, yacht at our resorts. We have recently signed a contract to take this on the road. We will be taking these too few of the festivals in Chella, United States and in England. The idea is to have a mobile Karma resort during the festivals. People will have the opportunity to stay in the glamping units and have an experience of Karma through the spa areas and more during the festivals. You can buy from an option of two tickets.”
