Pride Hotels is looking to launch its initial public offering (IPO) by December, with the issue size expected to be around Rs 1,000 crore, as the hospitality chain accelerates expansion across leisure, wedding and corporate events and pilgrimage destinations, CEO Satyen Jain said.

“We have opened nine hotels in the last 12 months. This is the ninth in Indore,” Jain said.

The expansion has taken Pride Hotels‘ portfolio to 40 properties, including eight owned hotels and 32 managed properties. The company has also signed contracts for another 32 hotels, which are expected to open over the next one-and-a-half to two years, taking its portfolio to about 72 properties, PTI reported.

“Our focus is on four segments — going deep in the markets where we are already present, targeting large wedding and MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Conference and Exhibition) hotels, entering new leisure destinations and expanding in pilgrimage,” Jain said.

Among these, pilgrimage destinations are emerging as an attractive opportunity, given the strong potential for repeat business.

“Unlike a holiday destination… in pilgrimage, if you believe in that particular God, you will keep going multiple times in a year. So there are a lot of repeat customers,” he said.

Puri, for instance, is seen as a promising market as it attracts both religious travellers and wedding-related business, he added.

To support the expansion, the company is also looking to increase the share of owned properties in its portfolio, Executive Director Atul Upadhyay said.

Beyond pilgrimage, Pride Hotels expects leisure travel to benefit from rising per-capita income, better air and highway connectivity and changing consumer preferences. Jain said younger consumers are increasingly prioritising experiences, with the frequency of holidays also rising.

“People are taking much more holidays and its frequency is going up a lot,” Jain said, adding that younger consumers increasingly prefer “creating experiences” over acquiring things.

Against this backdrop of expansion, the company is also preparing to tap the capital markets.

“Pride Hotels plans to launch its IPO by December, with the issue size remaining around Rs 1,000 crore,” Jain said.