While the business travel and hospitality segment had been adversely affected by the pandemic, domestic leisure tourism did not slow down. Commenting on this, Kavinder Singh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited, predicts a sharp V-shaped recovery in the holiday season in terms of bookings in the days ahead.

He says, “We have delivered a strong performance this quarter surpassing pre-pandemic levels with high level of resort occupancies, and highest ever resort revenues, along with healthy member and room additions, despite Omicron induced uncertainty. Our focus on quality member additions along with creating unique F&B and outdoor experiences at our resorts has helped us deliver consistent growth on key operational and financial metrics.”

As for European operations, he adds, “Operations at our European subsidiary, Holiday Club Resorts (HCR), were impacted due to restrictions imposed by the Finnish government to curb the rapid spread of the Omicron wave. Restrictions on restaurant timings and waterpark operations impacted the performance of spa resorts and timeshare sales. Despite the restrictions, HCR increased their revenue and reduced their losses on a year-on-year basis.”

What also served Mahindra Holidays & Resorts best was its unique business model. “A good revenue stream for Mahindra Holidays is our annual subscription fee. “Annual fee is an important part to ensure that we keep our resorts maintained and we are able to take care of our operating expenses. As far as our annual fee collections are concerned, they have been robust in this quarter and grown on a year-on-year (YoY) basis. Even during the pandemic, the members continued to pay. While there were some delays, there was never a question of not paying,” Singh says.

Looking forward with a lot of confidence, Singh is hopeful that the future of travel and holidaying will only gather pace and look promising due to increased demand for domestic leisure tourism and pent-up demand for travel.

Mahindra Holidays & Resorts India Limited, India’s leading leisure hospitality provider, which operates the flagship Club Mahindra brand with a vacation ownership model, reported its standalone and consolidated financial results for the quarter ending December 31, 2021. It has 79 resorts in India and abroad, and its Finnish subsidiary, Holiday Club Resorts Oy (HCR) has 33 timeshare destinations and 9 spa resorts across Finland, Sweden, and Spain.

Key Highlights

• Standalone Financial Performance surpasses pre-pandemic levels
• Highest ever Resort Revenues in India since inception
• Consolidated Profit Growth – Q3 PBT ~3x and 9 months PBT ~6x YoY