Category Archives: Hotels

According to a recent report by JLL, the largest number of hotel room openings in the country in the first half of 2019 were in the state of West Bengal, which welcomed 926 rooms. These keys were part of the four new hotels that opened in the state, of which ITC Royal Bengal alone opened 490 rooms. The report also suggests that Gujarat had the maximum number of hotel signings, with 18 hotels and 1593 rooms, during the same period. Giving a detailed overview of the market, Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels & Hospitality Business, JLL, said, “Occupancy wise, a market that remained a bit challenged in the last first half of the year was Ahmedabad. Goa saw a dip, but that’s not a sustainable challenge. The main reasons for this were the grounding of Jet Airways and a prolonged election season because of which a lot of travel either got deferred or cancelled. Also, there was more outbound travel than travelling within India.”

MAYFAIR Hotels and Resorts has opened its 11th Resort- MAYFAIR Lake Resort in Raipur. The Group now runs 11 properties across 9 destinations- Bhubaneswar, Darjeeling, Gangtok, Goa, Gopalpur-on-Sea, Puri, Rourkela, Kalimpong & Raipur. The resort is a 124-room property offering Executive Rooms, Deluxe Suites and a Presidential Suite. MAYFAIR Group widely acknowledged and admired for its architectural concept of low rise properties that highlights plush greenery, was founded by Dilip Ray in 1982, with its first property at Rourkela.  Over these years, the Group has earned a unique niche for itself in the Hospitality industry for its personalised services, luxurious accommodation, designer properties and eco-friendly environment that welcomes guests to a truly unforgettable experience. The property is designed to cater to the requirements of the growing MICE Segment and will be a key player in the development of a new Central Indian Travel Circuit. It has a number of indoor and open air venues with capacities of hosting 15 to 2000 guests. The hall with elegant decors and exotic wedding venues, that exude regal charm, makes it an ultimate address for Destination-wedding and MICE events, promising a flawless picture-perfect event experience. Conveniently located the property is just a 15 minutes’ drive   from Swami Vivekananda airport and is well connected by Road and Railways also.  

Lords Hotels and Resorts has opened SK Lords Eco Inn on Ahmedabad marking its 23rd property in Gujarat. The 30-key hotel offers a multi-cuisine restaurant and pillar-less banquet hall of 5000 sqft. It is located near Navrangpura, the commercial district of the city. Pushpendra Bansal, Managing Director, Lords Hotels and Resorts, says, “Gujarat is India’s most exciting destination and an ideal stage for our continued expansion. We are expecting SK Lords Eco Inn to capture significant part of business tourist visiting Gujarat.”

In a recent interview, Jean-Michel Cassé, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – India & South Asia, Accor, says, “We saw tremendous growth in Q1 as compared to the second quarter and this can be attributed to multiple factors. Overall India witnessed strong demand in Jan-Feb which worked in our favour. Most cities recorded double digit growth with high MICE demand, weddings and corporate movement. Most of our hotels in constraint markets witnessed strong rate increases as well during this period.  Beginning of the year we also launched two properties Mercure Goa Devaaya Retreat and ibis Kolkata Rajarhat, which helped us increase our visibility across states.”

J K Mohanty, CMD – Swosti Group, has revealed that they are coming up with two beach resort projects in Odisha, one at Gopalpur on Sea and another at Puri.  He says, “We already have land at Puri and acquired a patch of land at Gopalpur on Sea. Very soon, Swosti Group will put up world-class luxury beach resorts at these places. Besides, beach resorts in Puri and Gopalpur, Swosti Group is also working on two leisure destination resorts at Satapada and Bhitarkanika, the place called the Mini Amazon of India. Swosti Group is also planning to expand its hospitality business in Daringbadi (which is known as Kashmir of Odisha) and at Belghar (Phulbani area).”

For Accor, H1 performance was higher than last year by 13 percent in line to budget in terms of room revenue but slightly below budget for Food and , Beverage because of the MICE segment, said Jean-Michel Cassé, Chief Operating Officer (COO) – India & South Asia, Accor. Bangalore hotels recorded maximum occupancy growth with almost 20 percent rate growth. Goa had a soft Q1 with under 5 percent RevPAR growth. 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 growths.

In a recent interview, Atul Jain, Chief Operating Officer, Best Western Hotels & Resorts, India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, says, “By the end of this year, 6 more Best Western-branded hotels are on track to open their doors. This include Best Western brand in New Delhi, Nawanshahr and Goa;  Best Western Plus brand in Vijag and Gurgaon. We look forward to introducing guests the exciting new brands of Best Western in the future, as we continue to develop a collection of high-quality hotels in key cities and resort locations, all across India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka.”

Small Luxury Hotels of The World (SLH), with its India Representatives, ISA Tourism, conducted series of sales meetings with important travel partners and organised Key Partners Meet in Mumbai and New Delhi. SLH has more than 500 member hotels in over 80 countries. In Asia Pacific, there are more than 100 member hotels in its portfolio that offer unique luxury experiences complemented with the highest standards of intuitive service to independently minded upscale travellers. “To augment the brand presence of SLH and to grow the number of discerning Indian guests at our hotels and resorts, it is our first meet conducted at Mumbai and New Delhi with first batch of select key partners that are already booking with us. The meet was also aimed to educate the partners about new SLH affiliated hotels and update them on the channels of bookings. Now with our representative office in India, it is important for us to enhance our local sales presence and provide better customer service to our travel partners.” said Mark Wong, Vice President Asia Pacific of SLH. The event focused onboosting SLH brand awareness with the travel trade and driving reservations from the luxury outbound travel market. Additionally, it will generate leads for small corporate meetings and leisure groups including family travel and small wedding groups. Travel consultants were given more insight on the destinations, niche accommodation, unique activities et al, that is not easily accessible to a casual browser (end customer) planning a trip.

Lords Hotels & Resorts will open 11 hotels by early 2020 in India. In a recent interview, Rishi Puri, Senior VP- Operations & Development, Lords Hotels & Resorts, says, “Starting September 1, we will open 11 properties across India by early 2020. The locations of these hotels are- Goa, Morbi, Lonavala, Ahmedabad, Jamnagar, Kurnul, Amritsar, Rajkot, Amritsar, Rajkot (2 hotels), Nathdwara and Udaipur.”

Best Western will unveil BW Premier and Executive Residency brands by 2021 in India. The brand will also unveil GLō and Aiden later in the country. Atul Jain, COO, Best Western Hotels & Resorts India, Bangladesh & Sri Lanka, says, “Best Western Hotels & Resorts will aggressively seek expansion in India and other chosen markets, but will do so responsibly and efficiently.  The expansion will be spread across our brands and will include Best Western Plus, Best Western Premier, Vīb and GLō properties”.