Category Archives: Hotels

The Fern Hotels & Resorts has opened The Fern Ranthambhore Forest Resort, in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan. Overall the brand count has extended to 67 hotels across the country and in Nepal and Seychelles. The Fern Ranthambhore Forest Resort offers 46 cottage rooms, a swimming pool, volleyball & badminton courts, elegant lawns, restaurant and a bar.Suhail Kannampilly, the CEO of the company said, “We are very happy with the company’s growth. We are increasing our presence in key leisure destinations as well which is a very good indicator of the company’s overall progress”Green Valley Restaurant at The Fern Ranthambhore Forest Resort offers a panoramic view of the surrounding nature and the swimming pool. The dining room is decorated in a simplistic, feel-good style and offers cuisines ranging from traditional, authentic to contemporary favourites.

Welcomhotel will launch its new property in Amritsar property November 1. The hotel is located close to the airport and just a short-drive away from the Golden Temple. The hotel is centered around a colonnaded mansion, the erstwhile Sandanwalia Haveli which traces its origin to the early 1900s and has been restored with all the modern amenities.

Lords Hotels and Resorts has launched Max Lords Plaza equipped with 116 rooms, business center, conference room, board boom, lawns, f&b outlets, spa, gym and a lavish pool. Commenting on the occasion Pushpendra Bansal, COO, Lords Hotels and Resorts, said “We are delighted to expand our presence in the very popular tourist destination in India. Max Lords Plaza is located near the serene Varca beach and popular tourist spots in South Goa”. The unit like all other Lords Hotels would also follow the company ethos of being ‘True Value’ and offer its guest great prices while ensuring no compromise on world class facilities, services and amenities

Jean-Michel Cassé, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – India & South Asia, Accor, says, “For Accor, hotels in Mumbai recorded around 80 percent occupancy with almost 12-15 percent rate increase. Delhi/NCR hotels were at around 75 percent with double digit ADR growth in H1. Bengaluru hotels recorded maximum occupancy growth with almost 20 percent rate growth. Goa had a soft Q1 with under 5 percent RevPAR growth. 

WelcomHeritage has opened a new property in Tadoba – WH Tadoba Vanya Villas Resort & Spa and is set to launch 3 more by the end of this year. Sanjeev K Nayar, MIH, General Manager, WelcomHeritage, says, “We have three new properties in the pipeline which includes a heritage property in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh; Inderpura Resort in Udaipurwati, the Shekhawati region of Rajasthan and Mount Valley in Ranthambore in the foothills of the Aravalli range.”

By the end of this year, Best Western will open its hotels in New Delhi, Nawanshahr, Goa, Vizag and Gurugram. In a recent interview, Atul Jain, COO, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka says, “Following the signing of 20 new hotels in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the group regional pipeline now features 36 hotels containing over 3,000 rooms.”

Shares of hotel companies zoomed up to 20 per cent on Monday after the GST Council reduced tax rate for hotel room tariffs. Post market hours on Friday, the GST Council reduced tax rate on hotel room tariffs, a move aimed at giving a boost to the hospitality sector. Indian Hotels Company shares grew by 8.20 per cent, ITC rose 6.95 per cent and Hotel Leela Venture advanced 3.59 per cent. The scrip of Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts jumped 19.98 per cent and Royal Orchid Hotels advanced 16.30 per cent on the BSE. (Source: PTI)

In a bid to encourage tourists and promote tourist destinations, Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has upgraded 23 of its resorts in Maharashtra. The Corporation has also successfully completed take-over of 98 per cent of the restaurants linked with all the resorts across the state that were previously owned by private players. Abhimanyu Kale – Managing Director, MTDC commented, “Tourism industry in Maharashtra has tremendous potential given the rich historical and cultural heritage of the state. Having said that, we have observed that there is a surge in demand from a lot of local travelers, travelers from outside Maharashtra from other states and even foreign tourists who are keen to visit the various destinations across the region. And to compliment the same, we have undertaken and successfully completed the project of revamping 23 resorts across the state which took around six months and was done in a budget of around INR 1 crore.”      The state of Maharashtra has some unexplored and attractive tourist destinations which consist of beaches, forts, hill stations, heritage and sanctuaries. And MTDC has its resorts located across Pune, Amravati, Aurangabad, Nagpur, Nashik, Ratnagiri and even Mumbai. MTDC puts a lot of impetus to manage and improve the infrastructure to meet global standards and hence they have taken the initiative to upgrade their properties.

Lords Hotels and Resorts continues its mission in bringing smiles by entering in to a strategic tie up with Save The Children India – a most trusted NGO that has changed the lives of more than 1 CRORE Indian Children since 2008.   Lords Group has placed donation boxes in front office at all its hotels. The amount collected every month is donated by respective hotels to the NGO. The NGO helps children with the donation money and provides them access to quality education, food and shelter. Commenting on the occasion Pushpendra Bansal, COO – Lords Hotels and Resorts said “At Lords we aim to create enduring value in the lives of children coming from marginalized communities. This tie up will surely help them leverage future opportunities.” Rakesh Mathur, Director and Advisor, Lords Hotels and Resorts further added “We aim to enrich lives of underprivileged children for a better future through this endeavor”.

The GST Council has lowered tax rate on hotel tariffs to make India a more viable tourist destination. The GST on hotel room tariff between Rs 2500 to Rs 7500 has been reduced from 18% to 12% and GST on hotel room tariff above Rs 7500 has been reduced from 28% to 18%. This is a good news for inbound MICE, where India has been losing out to neighbouring countries. This move is expected to give boost to the tourism industry of the country. With this, the hotel industry has been removed from the 28 per cent tax slab, the highest under the GST regime.