Parsvnath, Carlson plan hospitality foray

MoU for three-star hotels on the cards.

Delhi-based real estate major Parsvnath Developers is in talks with the international hospitality group Carlson Hotels Worldwide to partner with it in the proposed Indian hospitality foray.

Parsvnath had recently announced its plan to enter the hospitality sector in India by developing 14 hotels across the country.

Sources said that Parsvnath group is close to signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Carlson Hotels for its Country Inn brand for its three-star hotels coming up in Chandigarh, Jodhpur, Kochi and Amritsar.

"The Indian real estate group is also considering other Carlson brands in the four-star, five-star and luxury segment of hotels," sources said. Though the financial details of the deal is not available, the sources told Business Standard that Parsvnath will build three-star hotels, which would be built with a capacity of 80-150 room at an approximate cost of Rs 125 crore each, across four to five cities in the country.

Apart from Carlson Hotels, Parsvnath is also learnt to be exploring options with other international hospitality majors such as Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Hotels and Accor Hotels.

Pradeep Jain, chairman, Parsvnath Developers, confirmed that the company is in talks with Carlson Hotels for the proposed hospitality project in India, but declined to reveal the details.

"We are in talks with major international players and the arrangement would be for operating, managing and marketing the properties," he said.

Parsvnath Developers, which has recently closed its initial public offer, is keen to build hotels on the hotel-in-a-mall concept, and majority of its hotels are said to have such an arrangement. The group has similar projects in the pipeline at Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

While 60 per cent of space will be reserved for the mall, 40 per cent will be allocated to the hotel in each of these projects.

"The cost of land and development is shared between the mall and the hotel and usually these projects are completed faster," said Jain.

Other projects on the company's agenda include a Rs 100 crore outfit in Mohali, a Rs 200 crore project in Goa with at least 4,00,000 sq feet of space and a Rs 150 crore development project at the Seelampur Metro station with 5,00,000 sq feet space on the BOT model.

The company also plans to come out with 14 special economic zones across the country, and has already received the government nod for 11.

At present, it is working in 41 cities, 14 states in all the verticals, which includes integrated townships, shopping malls, office complexes, standalone housing complexes and the unique thing we are enjoying is the Delhi Metro.