Tag Archives: hotels

Espire Hospitality Group’s ‘Country Inn Premier’ – The Prominence, Dehradun, planned to open on 11th August, 2023, appoints Pradeep Singh Panwar as the Executive Chef. He has extensive experience in culinary operations with renowned hospitality brands such as Intercontinental Hotel Group, Grand Hyatt, and Radisson Hotel Group, making him an ideal fit to launch and establish the well-planned fresh concepts for the curious and experimental diners of Dehradun.  

Discover quintessential Dutch elegance in an intricate maze of 25 connecting Golden Age canal houses. After a full renovation, completed in August 2016, this hidden neighbourhood now features: 225 guest rooms & suites, tranquil inner gardens, meeting & event spaces, a garden café, a hotel bar and a restaurant that serves simple yet beautifully crafted dishes. The Pulitzer is a unique blend of up-market, traditional and modern Dutch craftsmanship hidden amongst the city’s iconic canals. The buildings dating from the 17th and 18th centuries have been carefully restored to combine original, historic canal house components with modern and luxurious aspects. From leading merchants to flamboyant Dutch aristocrats, the former residents of these canal houses lend Pulitzer Amsterdam the opportunity to inspire guests and visitors with its rich character and history. Guests can choose from four distinctive room types and three suite categories, as well as the beautiful romantic Pulitzer Suite. The four exceptional Collector’s Suites with private entrance on the Keizersgracht and breathtaking views over the canals are inspired by the stories of intriguing characters who may have inhabited the canal houses over the years; from a determined art admirer to an eccentric book lover; a music composer and an antique collector. No two rooms are the same; each combines Amsterdam’s rich past with the modern present in an eclectic mix of designs and elements that complement the charm of each individual room. Speaking on this partnership, the Commercial Director, Gladys Camphuijsen, says, “For years we have seen the Indian market as such a great opportunity for the Pulitzer Amsterdam, however we didn’t have the right tools to enter this market. With commencing the relationship with One Rep Global, we feel like we have found the perfect way to …

Westin Hotels & Resorts, part of Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of 30 hotel brands, continues to propel its footprint in India with the opening of The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake. The hotel features 600 guestrooms with views of the Hiranandani skyline. “We are excited to bring the second Westin property to Mumbai. There is an increasing demand for wellness travel and The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake is set to expand the brand’s signature wellbeing offering to locals and global travellers,” said Neeraj Govil, Senior Vice President Operations, Asia Pacific excluding China. “The Westin Mumbai Powai Lake is set to be a part of Marriott International’s portfolio of 127 hotels in India and further compliments our commitment to growth in the region, bringing a diversified portfolio for different types of travellers.”   

Sharing the idea behind organizing a virtual roadshow dedicated to MICE, Anil Srinivasan, Executive Director at JTB India, says, “The feedback we received from our corporate customers is that their channel partners were not very happy about doing more virtual meetings and events. They are keen to do offline events now and resume physical travel. We had been waiting for an apt time to launch our virtual roadshow – MICE Engage 2021 – where we could bring the buyers to meet exhibitors from the travel domain such as NTOs, hotels, airlines, etc.”

Mamta Pall, with almost a 2-decade experience in the industry and having worked with some of the top travel companies and well-known hotel brands, has launched her own venture—FootprintsWorldwide. The company will not just offer end-to-end sales, marketing and PR solutions to boutique resorts / hotels / brands in India and overseas, but will also establish hotel products into the market from scratch, and position them on the basis of their unique features. Since Pall has a huge experience in this domain, she plans to build her portfolio gradually. There are already a few boutique properties under the portfolio, which include Desert Tulip Jaisalmer, 7 Hills Resort and Kings Paradise Kanatal, Uttarakhand. She soon plans to add international brands into her range of products.

Government of Andhra Pradesh has issued a Restart Package to support the tourism sector in the state. The approved package of Rs198.50 crore is a loan for hotels, M!CE, function halls, restaurants and service providers by extending interest subsidy at 50% of the interest on the loan for 12 months subject to a maximum of 4.50% of the loan amount for one year.

The state has issued a directive that allows all hotels and lodges to operate at 100 per cent capacity from September 2, 2020. Separate SOPs will be issued for necessary precautions to be taken while operating these establishments. Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, President, Hotel & Restaurant Association of Western India, says, “We are happy that the government has allowed 100 per cent capacity utilisation for hotels in the state. Meanwhile, since restaurants are not included in the current negative list, it is understood that restaurants are also allowed to re-open like those that have re-opened in the rest of the country. We have sought clarification on this from the government. Also, we had hoped that it would relax the limit of 50 people at social gatherings, especially for weddings. We had requested that this be based on the size of the venue.”

The Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has made written representations to the Hon. Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman, the Hon. Minister of State for Finance Anurag Singh Thakur and to the Governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das, I.A.S. requesting for an extension of moratorium for additional three months. The hotel industry has made no progress in terms of bookings even after several states unlocked and where hotels resumed operations. The industry has registered average occupancy levels at 10 to 20 per cent. With rental and salary bills, statutory payments and other establishment costs, hotels are finding it unviable to carry on running businesses. FHRAI has informed the Ministry that an extension of moratorium at this time could help hotels restructure existing loans since the process of restructuring is time consuming. Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President of FHRAI and President of Hotel and Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI), says, “For more than four months, hotels and restaurants have remained shut and have earned no revenue throughout the lockdown. There is no improvement in forward bookings and wherever hotels and restaurants have opened, the footfalls are negligible. In addition to the monthly outgoings and the statutory levies, we now have to spend more on employing hygiene and safety measures to follow the SOPs and guidelines issued by the Central and State governments. On account of all this, the debt restructuring plan announced by the RBI for the stressed MSMEs is not going to help the sector. Therefore we have urged that the moratorium be extended by a further three months.”

HVS ANAROCK’S latest monthly newsletter titled ‘Hotels & Hospitality Overview India’ reveals that Kochi was the top performing market in India in June with negative growth in RevPAR at 50.3 per cent, followed by New Delhi at 72.4 per cent. Bengaluru and Goa were the lowest performers for the month of June 2020. 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has assured the Hotel & Restaurant Association of Western India (HRAWI) that the government is working on re-opening protocols. He said that they would re-open in a phased manner to avoid any backlash. Thackeray also informed that the government is working on certain concessions such as in excise fees to help revive the industry.