Developing and operating hotels on the Indian island archipelago of the Maldives requires a unique array of skill sets. But one C-suite of hoteliers based there, Atmosphere Core, say they now have the knowledge, experience and global connections to expand the firm and its three resort brands to the Indian subcontinent.
Shrikant Dash, deputy manager and director of corporate at Atmosphere Core, said the firm, which operates eight resorts in the Maldives, is not hampered by legacy systems.
“Our business model of being a management company, our integration of ownership and our [management team’s] finance background have over the years helped to create the right structures,” he said of developing resorts in the Maldives, approximately 500 miles south of India.
“Multiple owners [for each project] permit better development,” Dash said, adding most of those owners are high-net-worth individuals, in part attracted by the ease of getting profits out of the country.
He said development in the Maldives is a unique challenge.
“Everything is imported. Everything. And developers must understand logistics, which you cannot underestimate,” Dash said. “One figures this out when you are physically on the island you are developing. On a virgin island, there are no people. You literally jump in the water to start the work. There is no jetty, no drinking water, no employee accommodation or food.”
That means logistics and the sequencing of those logistics are radically different than in most markets.
“Landscaping, the master planning, they are different, and then how do you go about building it?” he said. “There are large variables, but putting expertise into place is much quicker. A project will take between 18 to 24 months, and once you start you cannot stop.”
Another headache is that everything a new resort needs must be imported, but that can be a plus in terms of sustainability goals.
“Having no plastic on any island means you do not have to dispose of it. Ultimately, our model is all about building trust,” he said.
Dash said investors hail from the Maldives itself but also from nations such as Mauritius and Sri Lanka, which are relatively close and are people who understand the Maldives’ mostly luxury offering. Most resorts have their own personal atoll, or island.
He added Atmosphere Core has also put in the time to foster global connections and distribution.
“We have exclusive partnerships in countries where we put in the effort to foster them,” he said, adding that 70% of guests come from tour operators.
Dash said that the Maldives has lower hotel supply than many think, but executives at Atmosphere Core always knew it would expand out of the islands.
“We have a solid base and good talent, a good reputation and worldwide distribution. We have a whole suite of things, and as our reach is global, we can start developing systems and networks by default. We feel now we can plug and play,” he said.
Stretching Its Wings
With that approach, the company will expand into Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, Dash said, adding Atmosphere Core has “hotel pieces that can be adopted and delivered into other markets.”
“We always start with the question, and this includes our hotels in the Maldives, ‘Why do people wish to come here?’,” he said.
For Bhutan, guests likely would travel there for more of a spiritual reason, he said.
The plan is for Atmosphere Core to have 25 properties by 2025 opened or in the pipeline. Its active pipeline has eight hotels, all of which are outside of the Maldives.
In Sri Lanka, the firm has selected the southern resort of Tangalle as the site for its first hotel there, while an urban new-build hotel in Kolkata, India, is to open in the first quarter of 2024.
“We came in halfway with that asset. … In India, the scale is so vast, you do not get out as much as you would think you would, and 90% of tourism in India is domestic,” he said.
Dash said approximately 20% of his guests are repeat business, and he has met some who have checked in seven times in the past three years.
Brands and Lift
Atmosphere Core’s portfolio currently comprises eight hotels in three brands: Ozen Collections, with two hotels; Colors of Oblu, with four; and Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts, also with two.
The company was founded as Atmosphere Hotels & Resorts, which is now a brand under the umbrella of Atmosphere Core. That change happened just this year.
Its debut resort, Atmosphere Kanifushi Maldives, with 162 villas, opened in December 2013. The first Colors of Oblu-branded hotel, Oblu Nature Helengeli, opened in November 2015 with 142 villas. Ozen Collection launched in December 2020.
Dash said the Maldives continues to be popular, even if it remains expensive.
“It is easy to convert guests to the idea; then you just have to get them to us,” he said, adding that developers and guests have been heartened by “sensible government policies, visas on arrival and the country’s open-sky policy.”
He said British Airways now does not fly to the Maldives only in winter, and Virgin Atlantic will begin this year flying there between October and March.
Airlift has increased to the main airport in Male, and there are now international airports to the south and north of the island chain. He said that 15 or so airports on resort islands now have international status.
“Guests have a different view of the Maldives. It is a bucket-list destination, and the principal question is, can I afford it or not?” Dash said.
He said that the country does have other segments of travel in the inhabited islands, which he added is a different experience.
Arrivals are a 50-50 mix from the East and West, and Russians are still arriving, he said.
The top three incoming markets are, in order, the United Kingdom, Germany and India. U.S. arrivals are increasing despite the Maldives being a lot further than similar destinations in Hawaii and the Caribbean.