Category Archives: Hotels

“This decision of the government will help the people of Jammu and Kashmir the most because It is estimated that almost 50-60% of total population of J&K is directly and/or indirectly engaged in hospitality, tourism or related ancillary related activities, says, Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India. According to him, tourism contributes about 15% to the state GDP. “Till now, despite being a leading industry of J&K, concrete steps of its economic impact on state are still lacking. This move will bring in more investment in all sectors, more industry movements, more private educational institutions, more jobs and more revenue will eventually come by, giving the otherwise bogged down state a huge impetus. Despite Kashmir ticking all the right boxes as a Hospitality & Tourism magnet, its presence and business in the state is dismal. Poverty and dependency on almost non-existent hospitality and tourism, except only in a couple of cities or areas lead the citizens to be misdirected towards nefarious activities which would now be to a large extent stand eradicated, he adds.

According to the sixth annual Global Travel Forecast, published by CWT and GBTA, India’s strong economic growth is fuelling a greater demand for business travel and driving up prices. Airfares are forecast to increase 5% (in local currency terms; 0% in USD terms), while hotel rates and ground transport prices are expected to climb 6.8% (1.8% in USD terms) and 4.5% (-0.5% in USD terms), respectively. While the global economy is doing well overall – and expected to grow a solid 3.6% in 2020 – a raft of uncertainties are set to put a damper on pricing. “Earlier this year we saw a spike in airfares after Jet Airways ceased its operations in April, so we’re already at a high base in 2019,” said Vishal Sinha, CEO, India, CWT. “With other airlines adding capacity to fill the vacuum, fares have begun to normalize and we expect that to continue next year. However, if the rupee weakens against the dollar, Indian carriers could be faced with bigger fuel bills and we might see that being passed on to travelers.” “Hotel rates are also expected to rise, as the demand for rooms outpaces supply, especially in secondary cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. At the same time, the commercialization of mid-tier properties by players like Oyo are also pushing prices upwards.”

According to the recent Hotel Momentum India 2019 (HMI), release by JLL, Gujarat is the leading state in  brand signings, while West Bengal leads for hotel openings in first half (H1)2019. Additionally, domestic hotel operators dominated hotel signings over international operators till June 2019 with the ration of 68:32. Importantly, 36 per cent of new signings are conversion of old hotels.

Goa Tourism Development Corporation (GTDC) has banned single-use plastic in all its hotels. Nikhil Desai, Managing Director, GTDC, says, “GTDC hotels will strive to be plastic free. We have already started with our head office where we have banned all the plastic bottles etc. We have decided that we will reduce or completely do away with anything that has plastic. In the next step, all our hotels will stress on minimise the use of plastic like water bottles, and will shift to eco-friendly options like paper-based products, metal products or recyclable options, instead of going for one-time use plastics. Followed by its success, we will also ask the private players to join us. First we will show that it is possible for us to do it and lead a plastic free life. Once we are successful, we will request them that they should also follow the same.” This initiative comes in line with the bid to achieve the target that the state government has of making the state plastic-free by 2022.

Amatra Hotels and Resorts has launched two properties in Haridwar and Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. The company is also looking to have 3,000 rooms and inventory of over 45 hotels in the next 3 years across strategic locations in India. In India, the company is looking to acquire properties in Goa, Rajasthan, Kerala, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and few other leisure locations across the country. In 2019, it plans to add five hotels to increase its total tally to 7 hotels. “We are launching these two properties in India with a clear focus to provide unmatched and distinct luxury in India, which is affordable for the masses. As we create a different league of identity for us in luxury hospitality, travellers will witness many firsts in this segment. We are also looking to acquire properties in other regions across India and will launch few more properties this year,” Sabry Salahudeen, Chief Growth Officer, Amatra Hotels said. The resort chain offers value for money offerings in the leisure category with handpicked properties in key destinations across the leisure landscape of India.

The Hotel Monitor 2020 by American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), predicts that hotel prices in most key cities will experience only modest rises in 2020. Bengaluru is one of the top business destinations in India. Demand from business travellers will lead to rise in room rates by 5% in 2020, even as supply grows at double-digit rates. Ashish Kishore, Managing Director at American Express Global Business Travel India, said “India is leading the way in global technology advancements, which we’re seeing through the increase of business travel opportunities to Bangalore.” Joakim Johansson, Vice President, Global Business Consulting at GBT, said: “Despite signs that the global economy is facing challenges, the number of people travelling for business and leisure continues to grow. But, in most cities, a full hotel development pipeline means this sustained level of demand will not feed into big rate rises.”

A total of 11,097 keys for midscale hotels were signed in 2018, as compared to 9052 keys in 2017 and 9284 keys in 2016, revealed a report by HVS ANAROCK. The report stated that the value-driven volume customer, seeking a full- service hotel continues to drive the growth in midscale space, leaving far behind the branded economy segment, which is yet to fully find its footing in the Indian market. To add further fuel to fire, the relatively new-kids-on-the-block and considered to be outliers, such as Oyo, Treebo and Fabhotels have very quickly come to dominate the economy segment, setting the goal post a further drift for the mainstream brands.

ISA TOURISM (India Sales Associates, ISA)has been appointed as the India Sales representative for Small Luxury Hotels of The World (SLH), with immediate effect. ISA is a boutique Sales and Marketing Representation company for the hospitality and tourism industries based in Delhi.   With this partnership, the ISA team will focus on building SLH brand awareness with the travel trade and driving reservations from the luxury outbound travel market. Additionally, they will generate leads for corporate meetings and leisure groups including family travel and small wedding groups. Manas Sinha, Director of ISA said: “We are very proud to be associated with Small Luxury Hotels of the World and to be given the opportunity to promote their global footprint of luxury independent hotels. Their portfolio significantly enhances the range of luxury products and experiences that we are able to offer to our key travel partners and corporate clients across India. We look forward to introducing more Indian guests to the SLH brand and stay at their member hotels.”   “With the growing number of outbound luxury travellers from many Indian cities, it is important for us to enhance our local sales presence and provide better customer service to our travel partners. We believe that the dedicated ISA sales professionals will be able to engage relevant luxury travel bookers for us and offer local market support as part of our extended Global Sales team,” said Mark Wong, Vice President Asia Pacific of SLH.   Additionally, Mr. Sinha has been also appointed as the Brand Ambassador for SLH India. He has been tasked to raise the SLH brand profile and grow their member hotel network in the Indian market including the referral of …

Palladium Hotel Group – Spanish hotel chain – has signed up Global Destinations as their Sales, Marketing and Communication representation office in India effective July 1, 2019. Pranav Kapadia, Founder, Global Destinations, comments “We are delighted to add Palladium Hotel Group to our portfolio and diversify strongly to include hotel sales and marketing to our current product offerings. Palladium Hotel Group is looking at steadily increasing their footprint in India and we aim to achieve this for them by building a strong brand presence as well as taking their sales to greater heights. We look forward to promoting their chain of hotels across segments of FITs, honeymooners, wedding and MICE groups from India.”

Goldstone Hotels has opened a new property in the Holy City of Vrindavan with 190 rooms. Located on NH-2 and in close proximity to the renowned temples of the city, the hotel is an ideal destination for weddings, corporate meets, spiritual sessions, Art of Living sessions and would also serve as a highway stopover destination. The hotel houses game zone, multi-cuisine restaurant, fitness centre, swimming pool, spa and huge banqueting facilities both indoor and outdoor. Speaking on this new addition, CEO, Rajesh Chandel said, “We are privileged to be in this Holy City and the hotel would well contribute towards the growth of quality tourism in the region.”