Kerten Hospitality announced its entry into India — one of the world’s fastest-growing travel and hospitality markets. A cornerstone of the group’s next phase of global expansion, targeting 1,000 keys in the first phase of its India launch, this move introduces Kerten Hospitality’s distinctive blend of bespoke lifestyle and community-focused hospitality to Indian shores for the first time. India represents a strategic growth market for the group aligned with its long-term expansion plan of entering high-growth destinations at a time when lifestyle-led demand starts to pick-up speed.
The announcement comes on the back of one of the most successful years in Kerten Hospitality’s journey. The group closed 2025 with a 55% increase in operating revenues, 69% growth in GOP, and a 44% rise in management fees year-on-year, a performance driven by geographic diversification, disciplined expansion, and sustained demand from owners and investors for its differentiated lifestyle hospitality platform. Building on this momentum, the group entered 2026 with the signing of 1,000 new keys in January alone across the Middle East, Africa, and other high-growth markets. With 60 projects now in the pipeline across three continents and 12 proprietary lifestyle brands, the India entry represents the group’s most significant new market move to date.
With the Indian hospitality market projected to reach USD 55.67 billion by 2031 at a CAGR of 14.76%, the country offers a compelling platform for a brand built on experience-led, locally rooted hospitality. Kerten Hospitality’s community-first philosophy aligns naturally with India’s evolving traveller, one who is young, digitally savvy, and increasingly drawn to immersive, culturally authentic experiences over conventional hotel stays.
At the heart of Kerten Hospitality’s offering is a simple but powerful conviction: today’s travellers, whether on business or leisure, seek genuine experiences, not interchangeable hotel rooms that could exist in any city in the world. Its “bespoke-at-scale” model has already delivered strong results across the Middle East, Europe and Africa. In each market, Kerten has demonstrated that local identity and institutional-grade management are not competing priorities but complementary ones.
Kerten Hospitality’s owner-first philosophy sets it apart in a crowded market. Rather than imposing rigid brand manuals, the group works with flexible brand guidelines, empowering asset owners to bring their vision to life while benefiting from the group’s global operational expertise, recruitment infrastructure and marketing platform. Indian asset owners can choose from Kerten Hospitality’s suite of proven, scalable concepts of three proprietary brands: The House Hotel, a bespoke luxury offering rooted in local culture; Cloud7 Hotels, a design-led lifestyle hotel concept, and HOSME, where affordability meets social hospitality.
To lead this expansion, Kerten Hospitality has established a dedicated India office and is actively working with asset owners across key destinations to bring its portfolio of hotel brands to the country.
Commenting on the Group’s focus on the India market, Marloes Knippenberg, CEO, Kerten Hospitality, said, “It’s well known that India is one of the most dynamic travel markets in the world, with robust tourism fundamentals and an increasing appetite for lifestyle-driven hospitality experiences. As travellers increasingly seek destinations that combine culture, design and community, we see significant potential for innovative hospitality concepts that reflect the spirit and diversity of the country.
At Kerten Hospitality, our business model is based on developing destinations that go beyond the realm of traditional hospitality, bringing together culture, creativity and meaningful guest experiences. We are already seeing a strong demand from developers and owners and will soon be able to cater to the vast diaspora of Indian consumers with Kerten-managed properties across the country.”
Kerten Hospitality has a footprint of sixty lodging projects across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. After establishing a strong presence in the Middle East, Kerten has recently signed hotels across markets including Italy, France, Turkey and Morocco. The group’s portfolio spans hotels, serviced residences and mixed-use lifestyle destinations designed to combine hospitality, culture, wellness, dining and social experiences in ways that reflect the character of each location.
