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The InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), which launched its fourth brand Holiday Inn Express in India, expects India to become its second fastest growing market in the next few years. The company has 12 operational hotels and plans 37 additional hotels in the next 3-5 years.
“We expect to touch the 150-hotels mark by 2020. Nearly 80 per cent of our upcoming hotels will be under the brands Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express,” said Douglas Martell, Vice-President Operations, South West Asia, IHG.
The company is bullish on the growth prospects of the mid-market hotel segment in the country as it launched its first Holiday Inn Express in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. The brand has been launched under a joint venture between Duet India Hotels and IHG in which Duet owns 76 per cent stake. Nearly 18 additional hotels are being built under this joint venture partnership, with an investment of Rs 1,250 crore.
Naveen Jain, President, Duet India Hotels, said, “We have identified a gap for mid-market hotels across the county and we are focusing on this segment. We are developing Holiday Inn Express at five locations and are in the process of identifying other locations.” He added that the mid-market hotel space in the country offers favourable demand-supply dynamics and an attractive build cost to operating returns equation.
While one hotel under the brand is being built in Hyderabad, two hotels each are being built in Chennai and Mumbai.
The hotel development firm expects to develop over 4,000 hotel rooms in India over the next 3-5 years. “We hope to go for an IPO as we reach a certain scale and are looking for the right market conditions,” said Jain.
Holiday Inn Express plans to woo travellers as “the smart choice for savvy travellers” at an affordable price. Martell added that the mid-scale hotels currently represent only 15 per cent of all hotel rooms in the country which means there is huge potential for growth in the segment. “With the country having a huge domestic traveller segment, Indians have a growing appetite for mid-market hotels,” he said.
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