Category Archives: Hotels

Paytm has launched domestic hotel booking service and will be investing Rs 500 crore for scaling its operations and expanding the portfolio. The company has also acquired Nightstay, a luxury hotel-booking platform for an undisclosed amount. In the first phase of the launch, the company has partnered with over 5000 hotels across the budget, luxury and business segments. These include the Zuri, Sarovar, Treebo, Vresorts, Sterling, Ginger and Bloomrooms across top cities. With the acquisition, Paytm will leverage Nightstay’s acumen to further expand its portfolio in this vertical. Nasr Khan, founder, NightStay will be leading this category at Paytm and will be responsible for the overall growth and development as well. Paytm Travel, which had started in 2014, sells over 60 million tickets a year, and has become the leading player for IRCTC tickets, bus tickets, and flight bookings. Earlier this year, Paytm Travel also started offering foreign exchange bookings for international travellers. “The momentum we’re building in our travel vertical is remarkable, with leading positions in rail, bus and flight bookings. The launch of domestic hotel bookings is an important step forward as it will help travellers around the country conveniently plan and book their perfect trip on Paytm. We want to offer the broadest travel selection on our platform, and look forward to continuing our expansion with the help of our trusted travel partners,” Madhur Deora, Chief Financial Officer, Paytm said. Paytm aims at having two million hotels and alternate accommodations globally, with the availability of 50 million rooms within the first 18 months.

InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a management agreement with Tipping Point Hospitality for Holiday Inn Goa Candolim. Nestled amidst two of North Goa’s famed destinations – Candolim and Calangute, the hotel is expected to welcome guests in November 2019. Offering leisure and corporate travellers a perfect stay experience, the newly built , 110-room Holiday Inn Goa Candolim will be a 30-minute drive from the city centre and a 60-minute drive from Dabolim Airport. The hotel is also in close proximity to North Goa’s popular entertainment and nightlife destinations and is a 15-minute walk from Candolim beach and Sinquerim fort. In addition to featuring well-designed, fully-equipped guest rooms, Holiday Inn Goa Candolim will comprise expansive meeting spaces and a business centre to meet the rapidly growing MiCE demands in the city. Holiday Inn Goa Candolim will feature an all-day dining restaurant and a lobby bar, offering guests some great dining options at the hotel. The hotel will also feature leisure facilities such as an outdoor pool and a gymnasium for guests to enjoy their time during their stay.  

Occupancy rates for five-star hotels witnessed the sharpest growth of about 240 basis points y-o-y during FY18. This was followed by three-star hotels that registered a growth of about 200 basis points and four-star hotels that registered a growth of 180 basis points during FY18, while the five-star hotels witnessed lower growth of only 110 basis points y-o-y. Two-star hotels however, witnessed a decline of about 10 basis points in their occupancy rates during the year. Also, two-star hotels witnessed the maximum growth in the group in average room rates increasing by about 8.5 per cent y-o-y during FY18. This was followed by three-star hotels that registered a growth of about 5 per cent y-o-y in FY18. Four-star and five-star hotels recorded a growth of 3 per cent y-o-y each in average room rates. Apart from that, each star category witnessed a y-o-y increase in RevPAR in FY18, with the three-star category leading the pack, recording a 8.2 per cent growth during the year.

Fortune Park Hotels has unveiled its 47th hotel, ‘Fortune Select Forest Hill, Solan. Owned by M/s Forest Hill Resort, the property is located amid a forest and on a hill that offers a wide range of guest services and facilities to today’s traveller. Set in the Solan Valley, the hotel is 300 km from Delhi and 50 km from Chandigarh. With easy navigation by Google Maps, the property can be reached in less than 20 km of hilly drive. Commenting on the launch, Samir MC, Managing Director, Fortune Park Hotels, said, “We are extremely delighted to partner with the Owning Board of M/s Forest Hill Resort. This is a crown jewel in the brand’s collection of hotels in leisure destinations. We are excited to present a new destination for holidays and are confident of its success as a preferred destination for family getaways and social celebrations. Fortune, member ITC’s hotel group, is known for providing contemporary accommodation and great value for business and leisure travellers.” The hotel offers guest rooms that are grand and spacious. It is planned with a fusion of classical, colonial and contemporary architecture, with a tasteful sprinkle of art deco. Guests can enjoy majestic mountain views from the rooms and live in the comfort of idyllic bliss. It offers 3 signature food and beverage destinations – Zodiac an astral coffee shop, Neptune bar and lounge, and Fortune Deli. It also has plenty of recreational activities like trekking, cooking classes, bonfire and more to keep the guests engaged. Other in-house facilities include: infinity swimming pool, pool table, football, table tennis, lawn croquet set and board games, among others.

The Sikkim Hotels & Restaurants Association (SHRA) recently convened hoteliers’ meeting in Gangtok during which it was unanimously agreed to not continue conducting business with Go-MMT until the concerns were addressed and resolved. Effective January 16, 2019, hotels in the state have indefinitely closed inventory to the OTAs and have decided to not honour any new bookings that might come through. During the meeting, SHRA member hotels also decided to terminate their contracts with Go-MMT immediately. Pema Lamta, President, SHRA, said, “We are in solidarity with the country’s apex hospitality body – Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) and also our regional body – Hotel & Restaurant Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) in uniting against the OTAs’ unfair and discriminatory business practices. We have made an official appeal to all our members to not honour Go-MMT bookings from January 16, 2019, and have requested them to terminate their contracts with the OTAs immediately. However, we will accommodate guests who have already been booked through Go-MMT even after the 16th. We do not want our guests to be harassed or inconvenienced. However, they will be requested to make payments directly to the hotel instead of to the OTAs.” Many other hotel Associations across India have accused the said OTAs of charging exorbitant commissions, unfair accounting practices and unauthorised and further discounting of hotel prices set by hoteliers. The boycotting of the two online portals gained momentum after Ahmedabad Hotel Association had first raised the issue, which many other associations and hotels followed on later. “SHRA had earlier written to OTAs with concerns raised by local hotels and even held meeting with them. The association had raised specific concerns …

Sarovar Hotels and Resorts has signed Viraj Sarovar Portico, Jammu, the brand’s second hotel in Jammu & Kashmir after RK Sarovar Portico, Srinagar. Set to be operational in mid-2019, the property will offer 45 designed rooms with contemporary amenities and extensive banquet facilities for up to 5000 guests. The property is located in the epicentre of corporate, educational and industrial areas of Bari Brahmana. In close proximity to Jammu Airport and railway station, the hotel is designed with keeping modern travellers in mind. The facilities include car parking for more than 300 cars, gymnasium, spa, bar and an outdoor swimming pool. Commenting on the development, Anil Madhok, Executive Chairman, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, said, “This announcement is aligned with our strategy of expanding and driving growth across all emerging destinations. Jammu is the nearest airport for connecting to Vaishno Devi, one of the most revered pilgrimage destinations in North India and we are delighted to serve the needs of the travellers, with a hotel offering best-in-class facilities and services in Jammu.”

AccorHotels has announced the opening of the 189-room ibis Kolkata Rajarhat, marking the debut of the brand in the City of Joy, Kolkata. This is the group’s 50th property in India, taking the brand’s total inventory in the country to over 3,000 rooms. At the recent launch, the multinational hospitality company also announced the arrival of a new strategy for the ibis brand, designed keeping in mind the demands of today’s travellers. Speaking at the launch, Jean-Michel Cassé, COO, AccorHotels, India and South Asia, said, “The ibis brand and hotels in India have been successful in integrating into the hearts of Indians and our partnership with InterGlobe Hotels has been integral to this success. Last year we launched ibism, a campaign curated specially for guests and employees and now with the launch of ibis Kolkata Rajarhat, we start a new revolution in the space of in-demand economy hotels.” Also speaking on the occasion, JB Singh, President and CEO, InterGlobe Hotels, said, “We are thrilled to mark our presence in this city with ibis Kolkata Rajarhat, the first internationally branded economy hotel in Kolkata. The manner in which the city has endured persistently is not only demonstrative of its strength and resilience, but also indicates its potential going forth.” ibis Kolkata Rajarhat features 2,457 sqft of a pillar-less meeting space that can further be divided into three smaller rooms with a capacity for up to 250 guests. Other facilities include Spice It, the multi-cuisine restaurant; a web corner with work stations as well as a 24-hour gymnasium.

The Fern Hotels & Resorts is all set to open 20 Fern and Beacon Hotels across India and Nepal in the year 2019, said Suhail Kannampilly, COO, The Fern Hotels & Resorts. Out of these 20 hotels, two will be opened in Nepal – one in Kathmandu and second in Bharatpur, he informed. This will take the tally of the hotels managed by the group to 76, on our target to open 100 hotels by the year 2020, Kannampilly said. The 20 new hotels expected to open in the current year are located in Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Bharatpur (Nepal), Bhopal, Goa (Verna), Indore, Karad, Kathmandu, Kolhapur, Kumbhalgarh, Lonavala (2 hotels), Manali, Morbi, Polo Forest (Gujarat), Sarnath (Varanasi), Satara, Shivamogga, Solapur and Surat. The year 2018 witnessed The Fern successfully foraying into cities like Belgaum, Bhuj, Dwarka, Jamnagar, Madhavpur (Gujarat), New Delhi, Parbhani (Maharashtra), besides taking over the operations of a hotel in Kathmandu. The footprint of the brand was further established in locations like Goa, Jaipur, Rajkot and Udaipur, where the company opened second and third hotels in the same city.

Ten out of eleven markets registered stability or increase in average daily rate (ADR)s in the first half of 2018, according to recent report by leading investment firm, JLL. Mumbai is the leader in absolute RevPAR and Delhi is the leader in RevPAR percentage change in H1 2018 over the same period last year. Raj Rana, Chief Executive Officer- South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group said, “The overall business sentiment in the hotel industry has been high in 2018 and it may well be marked as the beginning of a sustainable upswing. Buoyed by occupancies touching 70 per cent in many markets and average rates registering improvement, the industry seems to be headed in the right direction. Having braved some early headwinds last year, the industry seems to have regained strength on the back of growing demand, slowing down of supply and various initiatives taken by the government.”

Lemon Tree Hotels has signed a license agreement for a 69-room property located at Viman Nagar in Pune. The hotel is expected to be operational by March 2019 and shall be the third hotel, besides two other owned hotels of the company in Pune. Carnation Hotels, the hotel management arm of the company, will be operating and marketing this hotel.