Marriott bullish on Indian hospitality sector

Business Line – 26 September 2008

Marketing - Brands Marriott bullish on Indian hospitality sector ... Malaysia, Maldives and Pakistan….

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http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/26/stories/2008092650450700.htm

Century Group to expand Hospitality biz

Business Standard – 25 September, 2008

Century Group, the Bangalore-based land bank developer which has close to 2,000 acres of prime land in and around Bangalore, is set to expand its hospitality portfolio as part of its initiatives to develop 5 million square feet over the next three years…….

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http://www.business-standard.com/general/storypage_general.php?&autono=335271

South to see spurt in hotels

Business Standard - 24 September, 2008

The department of tourism has approved 664 hotel projects, with a room capacity of 33,000, in the four southern states under various categories, according to the South India Hotels and Restaurants Association (SIHRA)……

For more details visit the following link

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=335248

Café Coffee Day expanding into SAARC countries

Business Line 23/9/08

More details of the news visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/23/stories/2008092351680500.htm

Travel magazine recognition for Taj Malabar at Kochi

Business Line 23/9/08

More details of the news visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/23/stories/2008092351710500.htm

Properties plans foray into retail, hospitality sectors

Business Line 23/9/08

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http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/23/stories/2008092350560300.htm

Hospitality majors line up offerings to woo travellers

Economic Times 22/9/08

WITH the festive and holiday season right around the corner, hospitality
majors are lining up various initiatives to woo travellers. The Oberoi
Group, The Park Hotels and ITC are offering a host of attractive packages
for the season ahead. The Oberoi Group, for instance, has lined up
packages at the luxury Oberoi and five-star Trident hotels. The Oberoi
Exotic Vacations package, priced at Rs 65,000, plus taxes for a two-night
stay includes accommodation for two persons, daily breakfast and dinner,
complimentary return transfers, and is available at Oberoi properties in
Agra, Jaipur and Udaipur.

For the Trident Holidays package, the price starts at Rs 12,000 for a
two-night stay, including accommodation for two persons, breakfast and
an additional room for up to two children at a 50% discount on the
published tariff. The package is available at Trident hotels in Udaipur,
Agra, Jaipur, Cochin and Bhubaneshwar. There’s also the Himalayan
Vacations package at The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla and Wildflower Hall,
Shimla.

Several offers are also in store at ITC Welcomgroup hotels across India.
The Welcombreak, positioned as a fun-filled family getaway will be on
offer at some ITC Welcomgroup hotels. It includes two nights and three
days and discount on food and beverages. ITC Sonar, Kolkata, will be
having special F&B promotions while Kaya Kalp-The Spa will be having a
special programme for two nights and three days. At The Park Bangalore,
a Rs 8,888 plus taxes package includes a couple’s stay in a deluxe room,
complimentary breakfast and dinner, airport transfers, discounts on F&B
and laundry, and half a day of sightseeing.

Empee Group mulls Rs 700-crore capex

Economic Times 22/9/08

THE hospitality division of the diversified Empee Group is upgrading and
renovating a couple of its hotels, even as it is on the verge of launching a
greenfield 100-room project at Sriperumbadur, the auto and telecom
corridor near Chennai. The Rs 1,000-crore group has envisaged an
investment of over Rs 700 crore on the projects.

Empee Distilleries joint MD Nisha Purushothaman, who is spearheading
the hospitality business, said the 63-room Grand Orient property on Mount
Road, the commercial nerve centre of the city, would be upgraded to a
four-star hotel. The structure would be re-done and it would have 100
rooms, once the work is completed. The company would spend Rs 50
crore to renovate and upgrade this hotel, she said.

At Sriperumbadur, the group is planning to use a portion of its
eightacre land parcel to set up a 100-room hotel venture that envisages
an investment of Rs 40 crore, she said.

For the first time, the group is venturing beyond the city. It has plans to
set up a 200-room hospitality project in Bangalore, where it has acquired
five acres. She said the hotel would entail an investment of Rs 200 crore.

In Chennai, Empee has set apart Rs 5 crore to renovate New Victoria, a
threestar category 50-room hotel. The Hilton 352-room project at Guindy
in Chennai is a fivestar deluxe venture promoted by the group. It is
expected to be ready by mid-next year. In the first phase, 253 rooms
would be available and this is slated to get commissioned by mid-2009,
she said. The second phase of the project, costing over Rs 400 crore,
would take about two years to get completed. The funding would be done
using 30% equity and 70% debt, she said.

PATA Travel Mart Opened in Hyderabad, India

PATA Travel Mart 2008 (PTM08) opened in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, on September 17, with a total built-up floor space of 3,766 square metres.
Some 1,089 trade delegates, comprising 374 global buyers from 324 organisations and 715 Asia Pacific seller delegates from 301 organisations, plus dozens of international media delegates have registered for the travel trade show

Trinethra Infra Ventures has acquired a piece of land-admeasuring 3,597 square yards at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh for construction of 3-star hotel.

Ammu Residency a three star hotels was inaugurated in Trichur, Kerala.

Suchirindia plans adventure parks; enter hospitality

B Krishna Mohan / Chennai/ Hyderabad
Business Standard – 19 September 08

Hyderabad-based real estate developers Suchirindia will be setting up two adventure parks at an estimated cost of about Rs 300 crore in Hyderabad and Bangalore.

For more details of the news click the following link

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?leftnm=rbiz&autono=334780

Rendezvous, XS Real venture to set up hotel chain

The Hindu Business Line dt.13/8/08

Rendezvous Hotels & Resorts International, a subsidiary of the Singapore-based Straits Trading Company Ltd, is floating a joint venture with Chennai-based XS Real Properties Pvt Ltd to introduce its international hotel chain in India……

For more details of the news click the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/13/stories/2008091350650200.htm

Hotel tariffs up 8-15 %

News Courtesy: Business Line dt.11/9/08

More details of the news visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/12/stories/2008091250990200.htm

Indian Hotels to launch new category

Shubhra Tandon Mumbai, Sept. 11
News Courtesy: Business Line dt.11/9/08

More details of the news visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/12/stories/2008091250990201.htm

Brigade Group to Invest 1000 Cr in Kerala.

News Courtesy: Mathrubhumi. dt.11/9/08

Leading realty developer Brigade Group, Bangalore will invest 1000 cr in Kerala to develop a Luxury resort in Viakkam in Kerala as well as IT Park and shopping malls in different parts of Kerala.

Brigade is also planning for a Hotel in Kochi.

The luxury resort in Viakkam will have an investment of 150 crs. The project is spread in an area of 17 acres and will have 100 cottages. The work will start within 6 months and will be completed in 18-21 months.

The group is also planning such projects in Hyderabad, Chennai etc

Mahindra Holidays to market Kerala homestays overseas

Business Line dt.11/9/08

More details of the news visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/11/stories/2008091151852100.htm

Texas Chicken Plans 30 restaurants in Andhra

Business Standard – 11 September 08

Hyderabad: Texas chicken, the 57 year old brand of Atlanta based Church’s Chicken, opened its first restaurant in India at Hyderabad on Wednesday. This is the first of the 30 restaurants planned for Andhra Pradesh in the next five years.

The company has appointed Srinivasa Hatcheries Group as its franchisee for AP. “ We are entering this market to grow aggressively and provide Indian constomers with home –style freshly preprted fried chicken that is extra juicy and spicy” Harsha V Agadi, CEO of Church’s chicken stated in a press release……

Berggruen Hotels ties up with Morocco’s Filacom for global foray

The Hindu Business Line 9/9/08

…….the company expects to open its first ‘Keys’ hotel in Thiruvananthapuram in April next year, said Mr Chatterjee. The company has acquired properties in 16 locations, with more in the pipeline, he pointed out. In Goa, Puducherry and Kovalam near Thiruvananthapuram.

For more details of this news visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/09/stories/2008090950890500.htm

Asiana Group plans slew of hotels

The Hindu Business Line 9/9/09

Chennai, Sept. 8 Chennai-based Asiana Hotels Pvt Ltd has chalked out expansion plans involving an investment of Rs 440 crore.

For details of the news click/visit the following link

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/09/stories/2008090950910500.htm

Leela succession plan taking shape

Lijee Philip MUMBAI
The Economic Times dt.8/9/08

THE succession plan for the Leela group of hotels has been given shape with the two sons of founder chairman CP Krishnan Nair, 86, in charge of key portfolios, while the third generation is already being groomed in most aspects of the hospitality business.
Although Mr Nair stoutly denies any plan to relinquish charge soon, the Mumbaibased hotels major, which currently owns properties in Kovalam, Goa and Bangalore apart from Mumbai, is ready with its second-in-command; elder son Vivek Nair, 56, looks after finances and day-to-day operations while sibling Dinesh, 52, spearheads the group’s new ventures.
“Just when everyone of my age is retiring, I still play an active role in the business,” Mr Nair told ET at a recent meeting. “I am obsessed with every small detail (at the hotel),” he said at a function after he was included in the global list of 50 septuagenarians. Business Week recently came up with a list of industrialists in the age group of 75 to 100, that continue to run companies or wield real influence. Hotel Leelaventure plans to add seven new luxury properties at Chennai, Udaipur, Delhi, Jaipur, Agra, Hyderabad and Pune, adding about 2,600 rooms through these projects.
The Gurgaon and Udaipur hotels will start operations next year, while the Leela Palace at New Delhi would open in 2010. The company is planning another 200-room hotel in Mumbai, adjacent to its existing property. The Leela group has annual revenue of Rs 520 crore and a net profit of Rs 150 crore and is currently looking at a revenue of Rs 600 crore in the current fiscal year, said Mr Nair while outlining his plans for the company. The group plans to invest around Rs 2,500 crore in the next 2-3 years. “We will finance the new projects and existing expansions through internal accruals and bank loans,” said Mr Nair.
The group currently has a marketing alliance with the Kempinski group and is not interested in diluting stakes to private equity funds or to a strategic investor.
After building a strong domestic brand the Leela group is also looking to generate revenues from outside India. Sources indicate that the Leela group is currently scouting for greenfield sites in New York, Boston and other major cities in the US. Although room rates and occupancy have fallen in the recent months across metros and tier two cities, Mr Nair says it’s a temporary phase while the luxury hotel segment will continue to grow.
Hotel companies are adopting a more consumer-centric strategy and leveraging revenue and cost synergies in the system at a time when the industry is heading for a rooms oversupply by 2010, say analysts.

Fairmount Hotels forays into India

Business line dt.6/9/08

Hyderabad, Sept. 5 Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, a leading global luxury hospitality brand, has announced its foray into India by signing a deal with a Hyderabad-based property developer.

Click the following line more details

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2008/09/06/stories/2008090651540300.htm

To know more about the plans visit the following link

http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Fairmont-Hotels-and-Resorts-896762.html

Hospitality Insitute Plans 4 star Hotel in Hyderabad

Courtesy: business Standard dt.02/09/08

Hyderabad-based National Institute of Tourism and Hospitality Management (NITHM), a hospitality management education institute, is planning to set up a four-star hotel on its campus here.

http://www.business-standard.com/india/storypage.php?autono=332694