As premium chains Indian Hotels which operates the Taj and Vivanta properties, and Hotel Leela have announced plans to expand into the mid-market segment as their luxury offering face increasing competition from foreign chains such as Marriott International, Starwood Hotels and Intercontinental, Royal Orchid Hotels is not to be left far behind in the race as per a Reuters report.

"As things emerge, we will be adding categories of hotels so we are planning to add a couple of new brands. These will be in the mid-market space," Managing Director Chender Baljee said in an interview. "In the five-star segment we have the Royal Orchid brand, in four-star, Royal Orchid Central, and maybe a notch below that we are planning to put another brand," Baljee said, adding a new brand is likely to be launched in the next two months.

The Bangalore-based group operates 18 business and leisure hotels across 11 destinations including Bangalore, Pune, Jaipur and Mysore. The firm has hotels coming up in Delhi, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai among others, and plans to add over 700 rooms across the country this fiscal, Baljee said.