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A matter of choice
With plans to open over 20 new hotels with an estimated budget
of around Rs 800 crore in the next two years, Choice Hotels India is all set
to reach the 4,000-rooms mark, claims Vilas Pawar, its CEO. By Praveen
K Singh
Vilas Pawar
CEO
Choice Hotels India |
The winds of change have come calling and various factors
are boosting hospitality and its allied sectors. Domestic travel for one, according
to Vilas Pawar, will see a transformation. "What has revolutionised domestic
travel is reduced airfares and one will see compounded double-digit growth in
that segment. This increase in travel will positively affect business in our
mid-market hotels across the country," he says.
Hence all the expansion plans. Pawar reveals that Choice
Hotels India has signed up 20 new properties that are currently under various
stages of development. "This will add about 1,800 rooms across India with
an estimated budget of around Rs 800 crore in the next two years," he adds.
Of the 20 new hotels, three will be in the NCR and five in Punjab. Consequently,
the company will also increase staff from the present 2,500 to 4,500, as the
total number of rooms managed by it would reach up to 4,000.
New vacation patterns
Talking about the trends that the Indian travel market might
witness in the next few years, Pawar asserts, "Increased road travel, introduction
of SUVs, greater disposable income, increased allocation of surplus money to
travel and the emergence of short-stay family outings will develop new vacation
patterns in the market. With more airports opening and building of highways,
travel will become more viable." With these factors, his company and others
in the hotel business are likely to leverage on these.
| Established in 1987 with the objective of setting
up first class, mid-market franchised hotels in metropolitan and secondary
cities of India, Choice Hospitality (India) is the master franchisee of
Choice Hotels International for the brands of Comfort, Quality, Sleep and
Clarion and currently operates over 25 hotels in India, with another six
under various stages of development. The company is managed by a board comprising
top hoteliers and professionals with decades of experience in the hotel
and tourism industry. Choice Hotels International franchises more than 5,400
hotels, representing more than 4,45,000 rooms in over 40 countries. |
But the industry is rife with problems too - lack of trained manpower, migration
of young hospitality professionals to the BPO sector, high demand for Indian
hotel managers and staff in the international hotel industry.
Despite this Pawar says, "The hospitality sector is poised for good growth
and the mid-sized hotel segment will be the fastest growing one. What the industry
requires is a lot of investments. There is no seed capital and the industry
has a long gestation period."
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