tl;dr – Minor Hotels lowkey built quite the portfolio.
Recently, I’ve been profiling few hotels chains that I would make interesting acquisition targets. In this post, I wanted to discuss Minor Hotels, a chain that I feel doesn’t get enough attention. Let’s dive in.
A Brief History of Minor Hotels
Minor Hotels was founded in 1978 by William Heinecke. The chain is currently led by CEO Dillip Rajakarier. Based in Bangkok, Thailand, Minor Hotels operates over 550 hotels in over 55 countries. Initially, Minor Hotels focused on homegrown growth, spinning up brands like its leading luxury offering, Anantara. Over the years, the majority of the portfolio’s properties have come through well-timed acquisitions. For example, over 50% of Minor Hotels’ properties were acquired through its acquisition of Spanish NH Hotels Group in 2018.
Minor Hotels currently has twelve different brands across the luxury, premium, and select tiers. Those brands are Anantara, Wolseley Hotels, Minor Reserve Collection, Colbert Collection, Elewana Collection, Tivoli, Avani, NH, NH Collection, nhow, Oaks, and iStay.
Many Minor Hotels participates in the GHA Discovery loyalty program, a program which I was able to status match to Titanium, its highest tier, last year.
Why I Think Minor Hotels Makes for a Compelling Acquisition?
A few reasons.
First off, the geographic distribution. Minor Hotels has a significant presence in many markets, really almost everywhere outside of North America. That’s been by design and is much of the reason the chain has been able to grow so much under the radar. (Recently, the brand did announce its first Anantara property in the United States.) Notably, about a 10th of Minor Hotel’s portfolio is located in South America, a region where many of the major chains popular with North American travelers have limited footprints. The fact that the would-be acquirer would not be walking into significant overlapping coverage might be enticing in and of itself.
Secondly, Minor Hotels has done a good job with segmentation. It’s has one true established luxury brand in Anantara (that has a slight lean into wellness). It recently announced its second luxury brand in the Minor Reserve Collection. Wolseley will also join that conversation soon. Did I mention that Minor Hotels comes with a ready-to-go safari portfolio? Elewana – Minor Hotels owns 50% of it. Lol, what?.
We’ve seen the investment major chains are making in establishing safari offerings. That has to be enticing. Avani, nHow, and NH Collection and Colbert Collection – its new lifestyle brand where food is front and center – are mid-tier-to-upscale brands. NH Hotels & Resorts, Oaks, and iStay are all midscale or economic options that provide travelers with familiar, affordable accommodations in various locations. That’s attractive segmentation. Why is segmentation important? Because in a world where large chains are already driving brand fatigue (Hilton might have 36th brands now), a would-be acquirer would have the flexibility to convert a large portion of the portfolio, as opposed to keeping (and thereby adding to the bloat) all of the acquired brands.
Third, Minor Hotels is experiencing rapid growth and performing well financially. Aiming to exceed 850 properties by the end of 2027, the group experienced 32% profit growth in 2025 and is focusing on scaling luxury brands and increasing its presence in North America, Asia, and the Middle East, alongside its strong European portfolio. If you read my Rosewood and Nobu pieces, then this will sound familiar. An acquisition that already has future growth baked in is likely to be a lot easier sell to any needed investors.
Fourth, because Minor Hotels uses the GHA Discovery loyalty program, there are low switching costs. Loyalty programs are big money makers for both hotels and airlines. Being able to onboard 550 new properties to an established portfolio could deliver massive value to a chain’s existing customers, and in turn the chain itself. Funny enough, we’ve seen just the opposite take place – via the same Status Match story I linked above. From my Marriott status, I matched with Rotana, which then joined GHA Discovery. Going from a homebuilt loyalty program to GHA was pretty seamless (it’s been handled well). That gives me reason to believe that off-boading GHA Discovery for an established loyalty program might also be reasonably painless.
Finally, the sheer numbers vs. value argument. Minor Hotels boasts 550+ properties. As a comparison, that’s roughly a third of the number of existing Hyatt properties today. Some analysts put Minor Hotel’s value at $3 billion today. Sticking with the Hyatt example, currently valued at ~$15.5 Billion, if Hyatt were to pay a premium (let’s say $5 billion for Minor Hotels), it would pay ⅓ of its value to increase its portfolio by another ⅓ of its current size. That doesn’t feel unreasonable at all.
It will be interesting to see if any of the larger chains attempt a move on Minor Hotels.
