Shangri-La Hotels plans spread via management contracts

The group eyeing sites in Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata.

Luxury hotel group Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts is now working on expansion through management contracts, after an entry into the Indian market through a property in Delhi and three coming up in Bangalore.

"We have our eyes set on 8 properties, at various stages of development, by 2010," said Andrew Quinlan, general manager with Shangri-La Hotel, New Delhi.

The group is eyeing sites in Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune and Kolkata, apart from the company's four-star Trader's Hotel in Gurgaon (in the NCR region).

The Hong Kong-based group's first Trader property in the country will be in Bangalore and operational by 2007. The second project in the city will be under its regular luxury banner Shangri La and operational by 2007.

The third one will be a Shangri La Resorts and Spa property, with their signature Shangri-La Chi spa, 10 kilometers outside Bangalore and functioning by mid-2008.

For the Bangalore property, the group has entered into a management agreement with Adarsh Group, a company into residential and commercial construction business. This group is also likely to go for a tie-up in Goa.

While market sources suggest the group is considering a site in Goa, Quinlan refused to comment on this.

"However, nothing is concrete at the moment as the properties will develop subject to getting a right business partner," he said.

The group is also hoping that Hotel Excelsior Private, a member of the Eros Group of India, which owns the Delhi property, may go for another such hotel with Shangri-La.

Globally, the group has 47 hotels under the Shangri-La and Traders Hotels brands, out of which 40 are owned by Shangi-La and only seven are managed.

"As a group, we are learning the new way of existence (managing the hotels and not owning the property). The learning we get in China or Middle-East or even India are all different as the demands of our business partners differ," said Quinlan, who has worked with groups such as the Oberoi and Intercontnental in Delhi and Mumbai, besides the 32 years he has spent in the hotel business in south east Asia.

The group's hotels are located in Australia, mainland China, Fiji, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan and Dubai with a rooms inventory of over 22,000.

In addition, the group has over 30 projects under development in Canada, China, India, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Vietnam, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, Thailand, Dubai, United States and United Kingdom.