Indian conglomerate ITC plans to increase its hotel room inventory by 50% over the next five years, targeting to have 200 hotels with 18,000 keys, reported Business Standard.

It expects two-thirds of the new inventory to be in the managed portfolio by 2028. Currently, 50% of its inventory is in the managed portfolio.

ITC presently has 12,000 rooms spread across 131 hotels located in 80 destinations.

Its plans were announced at its institutional investors and financial analysts event held on 12 December.

ITC has a pipeline of 35 managed hotels with more than 3,200 keys.

Over the next five years, the company expects its premium hotel keys to comprise 45% of the total managed portfolio, up from the current 30%.

The company is exploring greenfield/brownfield projects via which it plans to add 300 rooms.

In the past 24 months, ITC has opened 22 hotels. The growth comes amid the post-pandemic boom experienced by the hospitality sector. ITC expects a surge in demand, particularly from foreign tourists, whose total figure is stated to be 85% below the pre-pandemic level.

ITC's hotel segment reported a record-high performance in the second quarter of this financial year, with revenues up 20.5% year-over-year to Rs6.75bn ($80.92m) and pre-tax profits up 53% to Rs1.33bn.

Its plan to increase the room inventory forms part of its Next strategy, under which it is looking to focus on increasing scale and profitability across business verticals, with investments planned in innovation, exports, and acquisitions.

ITC’s hotel brand profile consists of ITC Hotels and Mementos operating in the luxury category, Welcomhotel in the upper upscale, Stori in the boutique segment, Fortune in the mid and upscale, and WelcomHeritage in the heritage category.

Its hotel business, ITC Hotels Co., will soon be demerged.

In August, ITC’s board of directors approved the scheme of arrangement involving the demerger of the hotel business, with the listing of the new entity expected in a timeline of 15 months. This hospitality business will gain a licence to use the ITC brand name.

Meanwhile, the company also aims to scale up its food and beverage business, with the opening of new restaurants, reported ndtvprofit.com.

In the previous financial year, the company opened two restaurants and has three in the pipeline in the present financial year.