The US-based Hyatt Hotels Corporation is set to make room for three new brands in India. This year, it will launch Hyatt Place in Karnataka, while Andaz and Hyatt House will be launched in the next 2-3 years.

While Hyatt Place is a mid-market brand, Andaz, which will open in the National Capital Region, is an upscale brand. Hyatt House, the extended stay brand, will come up in Mumbai. The company currently operates Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt and Hyatt Regency in India.

Recently, the company opened its Park Hyatt Hotel in Chennai, taking the total tally of its operational hotels to 10. “We will open two additional hotels by the end of this year, which includes our first Hyatt Place in Hampi and Hyatt Regency in Gurgaon,” said Kapil Aggarwal, Director of Sales and Marketing, Hyatt International-South West Asia.

The chain has over 55 hotels under construction and believes its brands, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Regency, will drive growth. “We were one of the first international hotel brands to enter India. We do not want to be the largest hotel chain but the most preferred brand,” he said, adding that India had the largest development pipeline for the hotel chain in terms of numbers.

On the impact of growing oversupply of hotels in key cities, Aggarwal said, “Certain markets could see demand growing at a faster pace than supply in the short term, but the latter will eventually catch up. The key thing to look out for will be room rates.” He, however, added that lack of enough talent remained the biggest challenge in India.

The company runs all its projects under management contracts but has invested in three of these. On future plans, Aggarwal said the company would look at other investment opportunities.

>Meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in

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