new delhi, April 7 -- India's luxury hotels are exploring ways to capitalize on their brands by going beyond room bookings and food and beverage sales. Chains such as Taj, Marriott, Leela, Oberoi and Sarovar are increasingly moving into branded residences and serviced apartments to diversify their offerings. The trend, which has been around for a few years, gathered pace in FY26, with at least half a dozen projects signed and launched across Mumbai, Gurugram, Noida and Greater Noida as hospitality companies looked for more asset-light revenue streams tied to real estate. Indian Hotels Company Ltd, which runs the Taj brand of hotels, signed an agreement to manage 74 Taj serviced apartments with the Gulshan Group in Noida last month. The development on the Noida Expressway will include a five-star hotel, with the developer investing Rs.1,000 crore. Indian Hotels already operates residences through Taj Wellington Mews, which has 80 fully furnished apartments in Colaba, Mumbai, and 112 apartments in Chennai. Branded residences, on the other hand, are privately owned homes linked to a hotel brand, offering concierge and other services. There's a significant upside for hotel management companies, which can earn an upfront fee for branding a residential development, in addition to recurring income from management and services in both these and serviced apartments. "What's happening now is tokenization," said Ajay K. Bakaya, chairman of Sarovar Hotels and director of Louvre Hotels India. "In many of these projects, the hotel brand's name is used to sell the units, and that comes with an upfront fee, usually around 3-5% of the sale value, which is very significant. After that, if it is a serviced apartment format, the hotel can operate it much like a hotel apartment." He said developers are increasingly selling individual units while using a hotel brand to market the project and, in some cases, operate it. Bakaya said such deals have picked up in the past two fiscal years. Sarovar itself has signed a project for 400 serviced apartments in Greater Noida and a similar 191-room project in Ghaziabad. "These become a great extension of the hotel business. The marketing, operations and distribution are all familiar to hospitality companies and give hotels another way to earn beyond rooms and food and beverage," he said. In July, Kalpataru and Ahluwalia Contracts tied up to build Westin Residences Gurugram, a 20-acre, Rs.2,000-crore project. The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts expects its luxury residences in Mumbai, to be ready by the end of 2026. Consultants said this is a win-win. "For hotel companies, branded residences open up a new revenue stream beyond rooms. They earn through brand fees, commissions on sales and recurring service income, while staying asset-light," said Akash Datta, managing director for South Asia at hospitality consultancy HVS ANAROCK. "Branded units can command 30-35% higher prices than non-branded homes (for developers). In many cases, what they make during the project's sales phase can rival the lifetime earnings of a traditional hotel management contract." Industry studies, according to HVS ANAROCK, show that almost three-quarters of branded residential developments in India are linked to non-hotel brands. But hotel companies are increasingly entering the segment. Other recent and existing collaborations include Four Seasons with Provenance Land, Mumbai and Trident Residences by BI Luxury Residences in Delhi with the Oberoi Group....