SAMHI secures 1,700-room pipeline as domestic guests drive Q2

SAMHI Hotels Limited secured an approximately 1,700-room pipeline through FY2031 as domestic travellers accounted for about 80% of room nights sold in Q2FY27, when same-store revenue rose 12.6% and occupancy reached 78.6% in the quarter ended September 30, 2026.

How large is SAMHI’s room pipeline?

SAMHI has secured a pipeline of approximately 1,700 new rooms through FY2031, according to management, which said its focus is now to deliver those projects on schedule. The company also expects to open the W Hotel in Hyderabad in the next fiscal year, marking a change after several quarters in which reported growth was largely generated by same-store performance because no new inventory had opened.

Management said the pipeline is being assembled through conversions, turnarounds and long-term leases rather than expensive acquisitions. It cited work in Bangalore as an example of the conversion and turnaround approach, while identifying Noida and Hyderabad as examples of long-term leases. Management also said it adds assets only in core markets and at a discount to replacement cost, though it did not disclose project-level room counts, capital spending or opening dates for the full 1,700-room pipeline.

The planned additions can be compared with SAMHI’s sustainability-report coverage of 31 hotels and 4,899 rooms across 11 states in FY2025-26. The disclosed 1,700-room pipeline is equivalent to about 35% of that 4,899-room base, based on the figures in the release. This indicates the scale of planned inventory expansion, but does not establish how many rooms will open in any individual year before FY2031.

How did domestic demand support SAMHI in Q2FY27?

Domestic travellers accounted for about 80% of SAMHI’s total room nights sold in Q2FY27, and management described this group as more resilient amid geopolitical instability. Same-store occupancy reached 78.6% in the quarter, up from 75.0% in Q2FY26, while revenue per available room, or RevPAR, rose 14.3% year on year.

The RevPAR increase reflected a 9.2% increase in average room rate, or ARR, alongside the higher occupancy level. SAMHI reported same-store revenue growth of 12.6%, above its stated long-term guidance range of 9% to 11%. Management characterised the roughly 80% domestic room-night mix as support for its confidence in Indian travel demand, but the release does not provide separate revenue, room-rate or occupancy figures for domestic and international guests.

The quarterly measures show that both pricing and occupied-room volumes contributed to same-store growth. Occupancy was close to 80%, while ARR growth was 9.2%, producing the 14.3% RevPAR increase. The distinction matters because the 1,700-room pipeline is a future supply plan, whereas Q2FY27 operating progress came from hotels already in the portfolio.

What did SAMHI report for revenue and profitability?

SAMHI reported total income of Rs 342.7 crore in Q2FY27, up 15.6% from Rs 296.3 crore in Q2FY26, while consolidated earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, rose 12.0% to Rs 123.8 crore. Comparable EBITDA grew 21.3% excluding the effect of a Goods and Services Tax, or GST, regulatory change that was not present in the Q2FY26 base period.

Reported consolidated EBITDA margin was 36.1% in Q2FY27, down from 37.3% a year earlier. SAMHI said the GST impact reduced the margin by 300 basis points, or 3 percentage points, and put the margin excluding that impact at 39.1%. It further said growth in upscale inventory not affected by the GST changes could improve operating margins to about 40%, which is management’s expectation rather than reported guidance.

Reported profit after tax, or PAT, fell 58.8% to Rs 41.1 crore, despite the increase in profit before tax, or PBT, before exceptional items. The comparison was affected by exceptional gains of Rs 3.9 crore in Q2FY27 and Rs 84.1 crore in Q2FY26. The current-quarter exceptional item was a gain on sale of Hosur land, while the prior-year period included a reversal of impairment on Navi Mumbai land and a gain on sale of Caspia, Delhi.

What do SAMHI’s debt and cash-flow figures show?

SAMHI’s net debt was Rs 1,457.9 crore as of September 30, 2026, compared with Rs 1,450.7 crore at March 31, 2026, while trailing 12-month EBITDA was Rs 477.7 crore. Net debt to EBITDA was therefore unchanged at 3.1 times across the two dates, but the ratio adjusted for growth capital improved to 2.2 times from 2.4 times at March 31, 2026.

The effective interest rate was 7.8% at September 30, 2026, compared with 7.9% at March 31, 2026 and 9.2% at March 31, 2025. Net annualised interest was Rs 125 crore at September 30, 2026, down from Rs 127 crore six months earlier and Rs 190 crore at March 31, 2025. SAMHI reported free cash flow of Rs 82.7 crore for Q2FY27.

Management expects the second half of FY27 to be operationally stronger and said incremental EBITDA should increasingly translate into free cash flow while interest outflows remain stable. It said internal cash generation should increasingly fund future growth investments. That outlook is forward-looking: the release does not quantify the cash required for the 1,700 rooms or specify the share of the pipeline to be financed internally.

Conclusion

SAMHI’s Q2FY27 disclosure combines operating growth at existing hotels with a larger inventory plan. Same-store revenue rose 12.6%, occupancy increased to 78.6%, and domestic travellers contributed about 80% of room nights, while total income grew 15.6% to Rs 342.7 crore. The approximately 1,700-room pipeline through FY2031 creates a stated route for future growth beyond same-store demand.

The next disclosed milestone is the planned opening of the W Hotel in Hyderabad in the next fiscal year, alongside management’s objective of delivering the broader pipeline on schedule. Investors can assess whether H2FY27 becomes operationally stronger as management expects, whether free cash flow follows incremental EBITDA, and how GST effects and upscale inventory influence the reported 36.1% EBITDA margin.