Louvre Hotels to bring in 3-star brands to India

After acquiring a majority stake in the ₹600-crore Sarovar Hotels, Louvre Hotels Group is planning to bring in more brands in the mid and budget segment such as Campanile and Kyriad in India.

“Louvre Group will be using us as a vehicle to bring in Campanile and Kyriad in the 3-star budget segment as it wants to promote more brands in India,’’ said Anil Madhok, Founder, Sarovar Hotels.

In India, the Louvre Group already has Royal Tulip (5 star), Tulip Inn (3 star) and Golden Tulip (4 star) with almost 20 properties under these brands.

Besides, the Sarovar Group also has its own brands of Sarovar Premiere, Sarovar Portico and Hometel, across the segments.

“There is going to be enough room for more brands in the 3-star segment, despite almost 60 brands already existing in this segment in India. While we have our own budget brand of Hometel in the 3-star or budget segment, there is going to be no problem of overlap as the whole idea is to have more brands in this segment,’’ added Madhok.

The $1.3-billion Lourve Group got bought out last year by the Shanghai-based Jin Jiang International Holdings and it is with the latter’s money that it bought the 74 per cent stake at $ 50 million (₹300 crore) in Sarovar Hotels.

“The parent of Lourve Hotels is cash rich and it is a Chinese company now. With their money, even the Sarovar brand can expand to new markets since we have been allowed flexibility to develop our own portfolio as well,’’ said Madhok.

The Indian hotel management company will not only help the Lourve Group in bringing more brands, but also use the money invested in the company to tap into international markets.

“While we will help them develop their brands in India, Sarovar will also take its brands to more places in Africa, where we already have our brands like Hometel. There has been no change in the organisation post the stake sale to Lourve Group,’’ insisted Madhok.