In a sector long defined by independent operators and regional players, scale has often been hard-won. Olive Hospitality, the hospitality arm of Embassy Group, has now crossed the 100-hotel milestone across India, marking a significant moment not just for the company but for the country’s evolving hospitality landscape.
The achievement comes with another announcement. The company has formally transitioned from Olive by Embassy to Olive Hospitality, signalling a move away from a single-brand identity toward a broader, multi-brand hospitality platform. In doing so, it is positioning itself as one of India’s fastest-scaling asset-light operators.
With 4,472 keys signed across 20 cities in 10 states, and 2,178 keys already operational, Olive’s footprint now stretches from metros to pilgrimage centres and leisure hubs. But beyond the numbers, the company says its growth story is rooted in how India travels today.
Reading the New Indian Traveller
Olive was founded on a simple observation: India’s accommodation market was fragmented and overdue for institutionalisation. Independent hotels dotted every city, yet few operated within a standardised, scalable framework.
Over the past few years, travel patterns have shifted sharply. Business trips have become shorter and more frequent. Weekend leisure breaks are common. Religious tourism continues to grow. Extended stays have found a new base among professionals and digital workers.
Today’s traveller expects consistency, intuitive design, seamless technology and clear value, regardless of whether the destination is Bengaluru, Tirupati or Shimla. Olive’s strategy has been to respond to that expectation with a structured yet flexible platform.
Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all proposition, the company built a layered brand architecture.
Olive Hotel addresses contemporary business and leisure stays. Open Hotels caters to flexible, value-led stays across metro and emerging markets. In a notable partnership, the company also operates Spark by Hilton in India, bringing a premium economy hospitality offering in collaboration with global major Hilton.
This segmentation reflects a deliberate attempt to match product to demand, rather than force demand to fit product.
The Pandemic Pivot
The road to 100 hotels was not linear. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the hospitality industry globally, forcing closures, cost cuts and a reassessment of expansion plans.
For Olive, that period became one of recalibration.
At a time when much of the sector slowed down, the company strengthened its asset-light model, accelerated technology adoption and streamlined operations. It sharpened its understanding of which markets showed resilient demand and how operating structures needed to evolve.
That experience shaped what the company describes as a “high-tech, high-touch” philosophy. Centralised revenue management, digital systems and design-led standardisation form one side of the model. On-ground responsiveness and operational flexibility form the other.
The idea is to deliver consistency at scale without losing local nuance.
In practical terms, this has meant building shared capabilities in procurement, design, technology and revenue management while allowing properties to respond to local market dynamics. The rebranding to Olive Hospitality reflects this structural shift toward a unified hospitality ecosystem.
A Pan-India Footprint
Today, Olive Hospitality’s presence spans a wide geographical canvas.
In Karnataka, it operates in Bengaluru, Chikkamagalur, Murudeshwar and Mysore. Goa properties are located in Calangute and Baga. Maharashtra includes Pune, Nashik and Mumbai. In Andhra Pradesh, the portfolio covers Vijayawada, Guntur, Vizag and Tirupati. Telangana includes Hyderabad, while Tamil Nadu properties are in Mahabalipuram and Chennai.
Further north and west, Olive has expanded into Rajkot in Gujarat, Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, Jaipur in Rajasthan and Shimla in Himachal Pradesh.
The spread underlines the company’s belief that opportunity lies not just in established metros but also in pilgrimage circuits, tier-two cities and leisure destinations.
Building an Institutional Platform
Commenting on the milestone, Kahraman Yigit, Co-founder and CEO of Olive Hospitality, said the 100-hotel mark validates a long-held conviction.
“Reaching 100 hotels is a strong validation of our belief that hospitality in India must be both institutional and intuitive. As Olive Hospitality, we are building an integrated ecosystem that combines multiple brands, shared capabilities, and deep traveller insight. This foundation allows us to scale with discipline while remaining agile across markets and formats,” he said.
The emphasis on being both institutional and intuitive reflects the balancing act facing many new-age operators. Institutional implies process, governance, technology and scale. Intuitive points to design sensibility, guest experience and an understanding of changing behaviour.
The asset-light approach has also played a central role. By partnering with property owners rather than owning assets outright, the company can expand rapidly without heavy capital deployment. This model has gained traction in India as developers look for professional operators to run hospitality assets efficiently.
The Road Ahead
Crossing 100 hotels is a symbolic moment, but the real test lies ahead. As competition intensifies, especially with global chains deepening their India presence and domestic brands consolidating, sustaining growth while maintaining consistency will be crucial.
For Olive Hospitality, the rebranding signals intent. It is no longer just a single brand operating under a developer’s banner. It is positioning itself as a platform, integrating operations, procurement, design, technology and revenue management within a scalable framework.
In a country where travel demand is expanding across segments, from corporate corridors to temple towns, such platform-led models may define the next phase of hospitality growth.
The 100-hotel milestone is therefore less a finish line and more a marker in a broader journey toward building an organised, technology-driven and insight-led hospitality ecosystem in India.
