Travel company Cox & Kings is planning to get its hotel chain Meininger to India.

The company got complete control of the German-based group in February this year after Meininger owners decided to sell the remaining 26 per cent share to Holidaybreak, which is part of Cox & Kings. The travel company acquired Holidaybreak in 2011.

Meininger, which offers rooms that are hybrids of hotel and hostel, runs 16 hotels across 10 cities in Europe and is positioned in the budget segment.

Peter Kerkar, Director, Cox & Kings, said, “It is a hybrid of hostel and hotel that we offer to families, students and even corporate travellers. The concept is to offer the maximum number of beds in a room. So while a room can be converted into a dormitory with beds for school groups, we can also offer it to an individual business traveller.”

Kerkar said the company was looking at introducing this concept in India and would position it in the budget category. “We believe there is a lot of opportunity to tie up with the large unorganised hotel players in the country to bring this concept to India. These are leased properties, so owners, especially in the unorganised market, who have hotels but do not want to give up ownership, can tie up with us for Meininger.”

Cox & Kings, which is set to roll out the education travel concept under brand PGL in India by the next fiscal, said there was a lot of synergy in India for business with Meininger. The company plans to start its first out-of-school learning centres by next fiscal and plans to ramp it up to five such centres.

The company is also looking at expansion of the hotel chain to more cities in Europe as well as in the UK, besides India.

Most Indian hotels have shifted focus to building hotels in the mid-scale and budget segment targeting not only domestic tourists but corporate travellers as well.

Currently Meininger hotels are in Brussels, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Vienna, Munich, London, Salsburg, Berlin and Cologne.

Meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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