Global hotel chains push into mid-market space outside India's metros

Accor, Marriott and Hyatt are the contenders

Negotiations for signing a partner near the airport at Port Blair took almost four years for Anshu Sarin, chief executive officer of the Keys Hotels, a mid-market brand owned by Berggruen Hotels. “The folks who owned the real estate took a lot of convincing about how the destination would shape up and why a mid-market brand made sense,” she says. but she was convinced that with rates that fluctuated between Rs 4,000 and Rs 6,000 a night, the Keys AquaGreen offered unique value, given its proximity to the clear ocean, glistening beaches, and exotic marine life.

The owners finally got on