Hilton, one of the largest hotel chains in the world, is on a course correction in India. Despite a good start with an ambitious JV with DLF in 2006 (which ended in 2011 with the real estate firm buying out Hilton’s stake), it has floundered here with just 17 properties compared with the 100 that its global rival Marriott has notched up. But recently, Hilton has had a major leadership rejig, bringing in Navjit Ahluwalia, former SVP South Asia for Marriott International as its Country Head, and Jatin Khanna, a former Marriott executive as its Vice-President and Head of Operations for India. Ahluwalia says India can become the third largest lodging market for Hilton globally. Excerpts:
Hilton has lagged behind others in India. What are you doing to catch up?
Hilton is now making significant investments in infrastructure and people in India. We are putting in place a best in-class team. We currently have only 17 hotels. But the infrastructure we are putting in place from the management and commercial perspectives are the same as our competitors who have far more hotels. In effect, we are preparing the ground for what should be our number of hotels five years from now. We are also enhancing our above property sales team. We are not making investments just like that, but with a view to the kind of scale that we could have in India. We view India as the third largest lodging market for Hilton globally, behind the US and China.
Currently what place is India in?
Currently the country is very small. But if you look at our population and potential, it can easily be third. That’s why there is so much interest from global players, and every one is really doubling down on focus and attention.
What will be Hilton’s new strategy? You have opened two Conrads recently. Are you bringing in more brands?
Our global portfolio has 14 brands. Only five brands are present in India — Conrad, Hilton, Double Tree, Hilton Garden Inn and Hampton. These are like a pyramid. We expect the highest level of Hamptons, the mid-priced brand in a country. That’s what it is like in China. And at the top end there is Waldorf Astoria, which we definitely want to bring to India, as our sixth brand. We are in discussion with a few people and eyeing Mumbai, and resort destinations like Rajasthan. Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore are luxury hotel locations and our strategy is to make sure we have our top brand there. India is also a very big market at the affordable luxury level. We will see at least five or six Conrads in India. Tru by Hilton might be the seventh brand. We might also bring in Curio.
We saw many break ups happen between Hilton and hotel owners in the past. How are you rebuilding confidence?
Hilton is still growing in India. We have the ability to mould ourselves according to what the market wants. Our previous JVs did not pan out the way intended. It was a case of missed opportunities. But it has now allowed us to leapfrog into the market with new products and trends. We don’t have the baggage of old products that sit in a different realm and time zone. If the hotel owners are to sign up with Hilton now, they would get disproportionate number of resources. Owners recognise that if they sign up with Hilton, they get a fresh brand into that city, unlike a fifth hotel of another chain.
Where do you think the gaps are in the Indian market that you can tap?
India is a very big resort market but that space has not been exploited by big hotel companies. If you look at the Hilton portfolio in India currently, we are predominantly in leisure. We want to build and focus on the resort space. That space is vacant. Many resort locations are now opening up with connectivity. For example, Rishikesh, Mussoorie have all taken off because now there are many cities connected by flight to Dehradun. The other gap is in big box hotels.
We have a combo opening in Bangalore, coming up with a Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn launching, which will have 1100 keys put together. These will have large meeting spaces.
In the US, large big box hotels with convention spaces is something that Hilton does very well. In India, people have not had the courage to build big box hotels so far. Though people are pessimistic, I won’t be surprised to see a 3000-keys hotel coming up.