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In a pandemic-hit year, Spree Hospitality, a mid-market, hospitality management operator, is all set to open eight new hotels with 338 keys by March 2021 and has hired over 250 additional staff to support this expansion, a top executive told BusinessLine.
Founded in 2010 by Keshav Baljee, who is co-promoter of his family business Royal Orchid Hotels, Spree Hospitality has an established footprint of 308 operational keys across seven hotels in Bengaluru, Pune, Goa, Chennai, Kochi, Coimbatore and Delhi.
“Covid has caused a huge disruption in the industry as a result of which single property owner-operators across the country are now seeking the value of working with a professional brand like Spree. Moreover, there are several mid-market and budget hotels being built but with limited expertise to run them efficiently and sustainably. We partner with developers in the long term, to run these hotels. We are opening 8 new hotels before March 2021 and have signed hotels in locations like Manali, Haridwar, Dehradun and Goa which are beneficiaries of the domestic tourism boom that is happening especially, for cities that are driving distances away from key metros” said Keshav Baljee, Managing Director, Spree Hospitality.
Investment
While the company has made investments in headcount for the corporate office, regional sales force and technology, to manage this expansion; the investments in developing the hotels are made by the hotel owners, estimated at ₹120 crore.
Elaborating on the benefits of partnering with Spree, Baljee said, “occupancy rates of the hotels which sign up with us typically increase to our group average occupancy of 75 per cent for business hotels and 65-70 per cent for leisure properties. With enhanced quality of service, room rates have increased by varying rates ranging from 20 - 50 per cent. We have delivered better food and beverage performance by approximately 25 per cent in the properties that we manage, decreased staff turnover and greatly improved staff quality.”
As of December 2019, the country had 61,100 rooms in the mid-market segment including 3 Star and 4 Star hotels, growing at 6-7 per cent annually. And the supply pipeline for the segment was pegged at 25,200 rooms upto 2024, as per estimates from hospitality consulting firm Hotelivate.
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