Minor Hotels seeks franchise-led growth in Colombia

Minor Hotels, the Thai group that owns the NH chain, wants to expand its presence in Colombia through hotel management agreements or franchises. Its plans include introducing the luxury brands Anantara and Tivoli and exploring mid-sized cities with NH and iStay. For now, this remains a growth strategy: the company has not announced any signed contracts to put it into practice.

Two routes to expanding the portfolio

Óscar Restrepo, Regional Managing Director of Minor Hotels for Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, outlined the company’s plans in an interview published by Valora Analitik on 3 October 2026. He described portfolio expansion as a medium-term project and identified two possible approaches: hotel management agreements and franchise agreements.

For Colombia’s franchise sector, the news is the explicit inclusion of franchising among the group’s expansion options. This does not, however, mean that all future properties will operate as franchises: hotel management agreements are also under consideration.

The timing is equally important. Restrepo said that nothing had been signed for the short term. The plans should therefore not be interpreted as confirmed openings or commitments to enter any particular city. The company has described which brands it considers suitable for growth, but has yet to present specific Colombian projects under this strategy.

Distinct plans for luxury hotels and mid-sized cities

The proposal has two strands. On the one hand, Minor Hotels aims to introduce Anantara and Tivoli, luxury brands that Restrepo believes could fit its Colombian portfolio. On the other, it is considering extending its geographical reach with NH and iStay, which he identified as options for the country’s mid-sized and smaller cities.

This distinction helps clarify the scope of the announcement without treating it as a list of planned openings. The ambition goes beyond adding hotels under a single brand: it combines the possible introduction of new names with a search for markets suited to other brands in the group.

The interview did not identify which Colombian cities might host Anantara or Tivoli, or which locations were being considered for NH and iStay. Nor was a specific contractual model assigned to each brand. It is therefore not yet possible to say which would expand through franchising and which through hotel management agreements.

An existing base of 14 hotels in Colombia

Minor Hotels currently has 14 hotels in the country. Bogotá accounts for nine; Cali has two, while Medellín, Barranquilla and Cartagena have one each. This distribution highlights the capital’s importance within the group’s Colombian presence.

The intention to explore mid-sized cities points towards a broader geographical footprint. However, the announcement sets neither a target for additional properties nor a timetable for national expansion. The verifiable starting point is the existing 14 hotels and the stated interest in expanding the portfolio.

Elsewhere in the Andean region, the company also has one hotel in Quito and another in Lima. Globally, it reports more than 640 hotels, resorts and branded residences across 66 countries, including both operating properties and projects under development. That portfolio figure therefore does not refer solely to properties already open.

International projects and what they mean for Colombia

The group does have named luxury projects in other markets across the Americas. These include Anantara Ushuaia Patagonia Resort in Argentina, with 60 rooms and an opening planned for early 2028; Tivoli Mérida Residences in Mexico, scheduled for early 2027; and Anantara Miami Resort & Residences in the United States, planned for 2030.

These developments provide context for the brands Minor Hotels wants to bring to Colombia, but their dates do not constitute a timetable for the country. The key distinction remains the status of each initiative: specific international projects have been named, whereas Colombian expansion remains an ambition with no signed contracts announced.

Practical takeaway: anyone assessing franchise opportunities should distinguish between an interest in expansion and a concrete offer. In this case, the next step is to establish which projects are formalised and which of the two proposed contractual models they will use.