The Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, a global hospitality and travel chain with 127 hotels under the Park Inn brand in 33 countries, has announced a partnership with Gurgaon-based Bestech Hospitalities to open 49 hotels in India by 2024. Hubert Joly, global president and chief executive officer, talks to Ruchika Chitravanshi on the plan. Edited excerpts:
Why have you decided to invest in India when the model you follow internationally is that of management contracts?
India is a key priority market for us. We are launching a new generation of the Park Inn brand in India. Since the first few would be the flagship hotels, we want to control the design and construction; hence, the investment. By doing so, we will establish a template for future development of these hotels. The brand focuses on the young generation.
Would you continue to invest in India beyond the two properties coming up in Gurgaon and Mohali?
We are going to be very selective in our investment. The idea is to create a template, which is why we are making this investment.
The return on investment in the mid-market segment is considered low, which is why most international brands have set up premium and luxury hotels here. How do you plan to forge ahead?
There has been a tendency in India to sometimes overdesign the hotel in terms of construction, wasting resources. The hotel market here has developed with the five-star brands. As the country grows, there is a growing middle class which has triggered a need for affordable accommodation. The hotel design has to be efficient in terms of construction, architecture and service. Service is highly important for Indian travellers, but going forward, we see increasingly it will be affordability...the average room rates in India have been very high. Now the pricing has gone down. We see the bulk of growth in the mid-scale segment. Our price points won’t be as high as luxury and five-star but not as low as budget hotels. We are a full-service hotel.
Since you have an all-Indian management team here, what will be your involvement with the hotel?
Even in the US and Europe, some of our key executives are Indians. There are a few areas of operating a hotel which have to be very local. Then, there are certain areas like website development, our loyalty programme since we have a huge international network, where we will bring in our global expertise. We would work towards revenue optimisation.
What are some of the key challenges you face here?
Land is one the biggest. Getting a whole bunch of permits is also a challenge. The good thing is that the government understands the importance of this sector and wants to grow tourism and the hotel industry. Facilitating international travel to India would be good. It would be nice if we had a visa-on-arrival facility for more countries and if the tax structure could be simplified here.
Is there any plan to get your luxury brand, ‘Missoni’, to India?
We would love to have three to four Missoni hotels here. But nothing has been finalised. We are talking to developers.
With so many international hospitality brands foraying into India, how are you planning to compete and make your own distinguished space?
We are fortunate to be the largest international operator in number of hotels. We will benefit from that. We have been present in India for many years, before a lot of international players. We have a very strong relationship with hotel owners here. Our relation with Bestech dates back to 2002, for instance.
