With leisure travel back in vogue, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Ltd (MHRIL) is eyeing a promising road ahead over the next few months. It has laid out aggressive growth plans that include an expansion in the resort network and a surge in the member base.

The Mahindra group firm had recently reported a strong performance for the quarter ended September 30, 2021, with its resort income exceeding the pre-pandemic (quarter ended September 30, 2019) levels. Moreover, the standalone net profit grew by 20 per cent to Rs 40.6 crore, which was the highest ever second-quarter profit.

“The Indian operations delivered the best performance in terms of profit during the quarter. Moreover, the occupancy at our resorts recovered to 73 per cent, which is equal to pre-pandemic levels. Our cash position also improved to Rs 1,041 crore.

“We also saw a rebound in member additions that crossed the numbers reported in the September 2019 quarter. Therefore, we are definitely better than the pre-pandemic levels when we see parameters like member additions, resort occupancy, resort income, total income and the profits,’’ Kavinder Singh, managing director and chief executive officer of MHRIL, said.

Speaking to The Telegraph before the current Omicron scare hit the world, Singh said that MHRIL is now looking to increase the room inventory to over 5,500 by 2024-25. As on September 30, 2021, the company had 78 resorts across India and overseas, while its subsidiary Holiday Club Resorts Oy, Finland, a vacation ownership company in Europe, had 33 timeshare destinations and nine spa resorts in Finland, Sweden, and Spain.

Its total room inventory across the 78 resorts stood at 4,233 and they reported operational occupancy of 73 per cent during the second quarter of this fiscal.

Singh disclosed that the company will not only expand the current capacity but will also take the greenfield route.

For instance, it is setting up a new resort at Ganpatipule in Maharashtra and is expanding at locations like Kandaghat in Himachal Pradesh, Ashtamudi in Kerala apart from Puducherry and Goa.

While the company added 3,943 members during the July-September quarter against 2,681 in the year-ago period, it currently has a cumulative member base of 258,000.

He added that given its expansion plans, other strengths like offering an unmatched experience to the customer, the huge potential for vacation ownership in India, and a rise in discretionary spending, the company could see its member base quadrupling over the next few years.

Currently, Wyndham Destinations is the largest vacation ownership company in the world and it has a member base of well over 9,00,000.

Sounding optimistic about the company’s performance in the second half of this fiscal, Singh pointed out that one of the major trends that are being seen now is that people want to drive and that travellers have also begun to spend more on food & beverages.

“People want to create a family vacation, create a bubble with friends or extended family. They also want to do outdoor activities. All of these stacks are well in our favour since 80 per cent of our resorts are in drivable destinations. Therefore, barring a third wave, our performance in the third quarter (which is a seasonally strong quarter for the industry) will be better and we see a further improvement in occupancy over the second quarter. As regards the fourth quarter, we are in a wait-and-watch mode. However, we are well prepared to handle any rise in leisure travel," he added.