Choice Hotels plans expansion

Choice Hotels India (CHI) plans to have around 80 hotels in the country in the next three years.

While the company, a part of Choice Hotels International, has 30 hotels operating at present under its three brands"" Comfort Inn, Clarion and Quality Inn"" it will expand its portfolio by adding another 50 hotels under these brands.

It has also got into a contract with The Royal Indian Raj International Corporation to build over 30 hotels in the next three years. RIRIC has pledged around Rs 17,000 crore to build over 100 hotels in the next seven years in India.

In the first phase of development, RIRIC will make the necessary investments for construction of 30 hotels. Choice Hotels will manage these hotels. While CHI will hold 30 per cent of the share in the hotel properties, the remaining will be shared by RIRIC.

"We are bullish on the south and western markets. We have a presence in key metros and we also plan to take our hotels to all possible destinations," said Reyaz Mama, director, CHI.

The company which at present has two hotels in Mumbai is looking at having two more hotels in the metro. At present it is in negotiations to have a hotel in Panvel, Navi Mumbai.

Choice Hotels is looking at having a hotel in Kolkata and also in the eastern parts of India. "We did have a couple of offers from developers in the east, but at present we do not understand the market in east. We would like to study it and certainly have a presence there too," added Mama.

By this year end, Choice Hotels will roll out its new budget hotel brand "" Sleep Inn in the market. The first Sleep Inn will be operational in Pune.

A Sleep Inn would have anywhere between 60""150 rooms and will be priced anywhere between Rs 1500-2,000 depending on the location.

The company is targeting all tier II and tier III cities to build its Sleep Inn brand. It is targeting an occupancy of 80 per cent plus for the Sleep Inns.

"Our objective is to price our rooms at a 25-30 per cent discount to full service hotels and with our room rents it should not be difficult to achieve occupancies of 80 per cent plus."

For its hotels, the company is creating a model where we will have a set design for its properties so that it does not need a re-designing. The hotel will target at domestic business travellers, domestic leisure travellers, mid-market international tourists and chartered business travellers.