SAMHI Announces Majority Investment in RARE India, its first asset light and experiential leisure investment

SAMHI Hotels Limited announces a strategic acquisition of a 70% stake in RARE India, enhancing its portfolio with heritage hotels and experiential stays.

06 Mar 2026 14:23 IST

New Update

Gurugram, 6th March 2026: SAMHI Hotels Limited a prominent branded hotel ownership and asset management platform in India, today announced that its board has approved the acquisition of majority stake of 70% in RARE India (“RARE”), one of India’s earliest and largest platform of heritage hotels, retreats and experiential stays. SAMHI expects to enter into definitive agreements by May 2026, marking SAMHI’s entry into the experiential leisure segment through an asset-light platform investment.

In parallel, SAMHI and RARE have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding for an affiliation with Marriott International to leverage Marriott’s global distribution strength and loyalty ecosystem. Under this affiliation, RARE would have exclusive rights to operate its portfolio of hotels under the Outdoor Collection brand by Marriott Bonvoy across India, Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, with distribution across Marriott’s worldwide channels. SAMHI expects to enter into definitive agreements with Marriott after the acquisition is complete.

Together, this relationship positions RARE to evolve from a representation platform into a fully integrated B2C distribution and experiential brand platform. RARE will continue to be operated independently by its Founder and team, who remain committed to curate and nurture its distinctive community of heritage and experiential property owners. This partnership allows SAMHI to go beyond borders and expands its portfolio to ~100 hotels in a combination of assets under ownership and affiliation model.

A Legacy Platform with Differentiation and Scale

Founded in 2003 by Shobha Rudra, RARE India (https://www.rareindia.com/) is one of India’s earliest curated experiential hospitality platforms. RARE India has a portfolio of 67 hotels with 990 rooms with a presence across 15+ states in India and international presence in Nepal and Bhutan.

Over two decades, it has built a strong reputation for:

Deep focus on responsible tourism, local employment and authentic experiences.
A carefully selected portfolio of heritage palaces, wildlife lodges, retreats and boutique properties
An enviable community of hospitality entrepreneurs and travellers, who appreciate authentic and responsible tourism.

In an increasingly crowded marketplace of homestays and villa aggregators, RARE stands apart through its legacy, curation discipline, and philosophy-driven growth model. The partnership will enable RARE to accelerate growth while preserving its selective standards and community ethos. There is a very large community of owners and travellers, who are willing to pay a premium to be away from the ordinary, they will continue to prefer to be RARE. This provides a tremendous opportunity for the community to keep growing.

A Strategic, Asset-Light Adjacency for SAMHI

SAMHI’s commitment is expected to be ~INR470mn which includes primary infusion in RARE India and a small part towards part purchase of shares from existing holders. The primary capital contribution will be deployed towards creating value through strengthening management capabilities, technology and distribution upgrades, and expanding marketing and brand reach to support RARE’s next phase of growth.

Consistent with its time-tested strategy, SAMHI has identified value in an underappreciated operating platform with strong brand equity and growth potential. The investment represents a significant divergence from the valuation of asset-light platforms investments globally and in India. This marks SAMHI’s first asset-light platform investment in leisure hospitality enabling meaningful participation in a high-growth segment without altering its core balance sheet strategy of scaling its business hotel portfolio in India’s key office and gateway markets.

The structure ensures a small capital exposure with asymmetrical return potential as the strategy is asset light, and significant long-term upside driven by distribution expansion, technology integration and brand strengthening.

Management Commentary

Commenting on the development,Ashish Jakhanwala,Chairman & Managing Director, SAMHI Hotels Ltd., said:
“This investment in RARE India is a strategic adjacency that strengthens our platform without distracting from our core focus on business and gateway markets. RARE represents a combination of legacy, credibility and scalable asset-light potential. With a strong proven founding team, an irreplaceable community of owners and the proposed affiliation with Marriott, we believe RARE can emerge as a leading B2C brand in experience-led tourism. Importantly, this is a small financial investment but with asymmetrical return potential – consistent with our philosophy of discovering value in underappreciated opportunities.”

Ms. Shobha Rudra, Founder, RARE India, added:
“RARE India has always been built on relationships, trust and a shared commitment to responsible tourism. This partnership with SAMHI allows us to remain true to our philosophy and continue to preserve and build the RARE community of hotel owners and discerning travellers. Together, we aim to strengthen the foundation of the RARE community and scale our impact.”

Rajeev Menon, President, Asia Pacific excluding China, Marriott Internationaladded:
“India’s experiential and heritage-led hospitality segment represents a significant long-term opportunity. RARE has built a distinctive portfolio rooted in authenticity and responsible tourism. Through this collaboration, we look forward to extending our global distribution platform and Marriott Bonvoy ecosystem to a highly curated collection of unique stays. Together with SAMHI and RARE, we aim to unlock incremental demand and broaden access to immersive travel experiences across India and the region.”