SynopsisIndian Hotels Company Limited anticipates a year-long recovery for its Dubai hotels due to the Middle East crisis, though domestic business remains robust. Despite this, the company is on track for 12-14% topline growth, driven by its expanding capital-light management fee business and a strong pipeline of new hotel openings globally.ETMarkets.comIndian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) expects the fallout from the Middle East crisis to weigh on its Dubai operations for several more quarters, even as the company's domestic business continues to post strong numbers, according to Managing Director and CEO Puneet Chhatwal.Speaking to ET Now ahead of an MoU signing, Chhatwal said hospitality and travel-related businesses are typically slow to recover once a regional crisis hits, even after the immediate disruption eases. He estimated that IHCL's three operational hotels in Dubai could take close to a year to return to the rate levels the market was commanding before the crisis. Business travel, he added, would lag behind leisure travel in any recovery, since corporate trips and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) activity typically take longer to resume than personal travel.One silver lining, Chhatwal noted, is falling crude oil prices, which could make travel more affordable and support demand recovery. He remained confident that Dubai's market would eventually bounce back given the UAE's financial reserves and the emirate's central role in the broader Gulf economy.On track with 12-14% topline growth guidance Away from the Middle East, IHCL's core business appears unaffected. Chhatwal said the company remains on track with its guidance of 12-14% topline growth for the year, and could even see an additional 100 basis points of upside once the regional disruption eases — a notable claim given the company's already-high revenue base. He pointed to a roughly 73% jump in the domestic RevPAR (revenue per available room) premium as evidence that the home market remains resilient.A key growth driver, according to Chhatwal, is IHCL's capital-light management fee business, which grew more than 20% last year and has scaled to roughly ₹700-800 crore. He expects that segment to cross ₹1,000 crore within the next year to year-and-a-half, helped by a steady stream of new hotel openings under brands such as Taj and Ginger. IHCL opened 36 hotels last year and 30 the year before, and is targeting more than 50 new openings this fiscal year — translating to over 5,000 new keys, with roughly 20 expected to open in the first half and more than 30 in the second half, consistent with the company's historically stronger H2 performance.You Might Also Like:Looking further out, Chhatwal said IHCL's development pipeline stands at around 32,000 keys to be delivered by 2030-31, a figure he described as matching the company's current room count under operation — a rare position, he said, that gives management confidence in its long-term growth guidance.Taj expansion to nearly 100 hotels globally, another 50 in the pipelineOn the premium end, Chhatwal pointed to Taj's continued expansion to nearly 100 hotels globally, with another 50 in the pipeline, alongside newer luxury brands Claridges Collection and Brij. Recent international openings in Frankfurt and South Africa's Kruger National Park, along with two new Bhutan properties, have been well received, he said.IHCL has also been active on the acquisition front, taking controlling stakes in Claridges Collection, Atmantan, Brij Hospitality, ANK and Pride Hospitality. Chhatwal said the company's integration approach has focused on retaining the founding teams behind each acquired brand, calling it an investment in talent as much as in assets and properties.You Might Also Like:Read More News on(What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2025, Share Market on Budget 2025 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .) Subscribe to ET Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today. Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price...moreless(You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)Read More News on(What's moving Sensex and Nifty Track latest market news, stock tips, Budget 2025, Share Market on Budget 2025 and expert advice, on ETMarkets. Also, ETMarkets.com is now on Telegram. For fastest news alerts on financial markets, investment strategies and stocks alerts, subscribe to our Telegram feeds .) Subscribe to ET Prime and read the Economic Times ePaper Online.and Sensex Today. Top Trending Stocks: SBI Share Price, Axis Bank Share Price, HDFC Bank Share Price, Infosys Share Price, Wipro Share Price, NTPC Share Price...moreless