Hospitality major Hilton feels that the Indian market offers huge potential in the hospitality segment and that there is a large domestic market that is waiting to be tapped in the country. Hilton has around 17 hotels in the country across five of its brands and plans to double it in the next three or four years. The company is planning to open a hotel and a resort in Goa and a hotel in Ahmedabad in the next one year. Also, the company has strengthened its partnership with the Bengaluru-based Embassy Group in India.
“When compared to other countries we are under represented in India as we have just 17 hotels in the country and there is a lot of scope to expand further. We plan to have 16 more hotels in the country in the near future. There is tremendous opportunity in different hotel segments. We have introduced five of our brands here in India and see immense potential of partnerships with different groups in the country,” said Guy Phillips, senior vice president, development, Asia and Australasia, Hilton, while announcing the expansion of their partnership with the Embassy Group.
Navjit Ahluwalia, senior vice president and country head, Hilton India, pointed out that Indian hospitality market has a huge scope for further expansion as Hong Kong, for instance, has more hotel rooms than the hotel rooms in five Indian cities—Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad—put together. “So, you can realise the potential that the Indian market has to offer. What I have seen is the huge traction towards extended weekend tourists in India. Most of the hotel rooms are full on long weekends. People even like to spend their weekends in city hotels and want to be away from their daily routines,” remarked Ahluwalia.
Interestingly, in their current expansion plan in India, Hilton signed management agreements with the Embassy Group to develop two hotels in Bengaluru, namely the 500-room dual-branded hotel that features a Hilton Hotels and Resorts, and a Hilton Garden Inn hotel in the same complex to be located within the Embassy TechVillage Business Park in south Bengaluru, which is around 100 acres. This is their third project in the city post the Hilton Bangalore Embassy Golf Links and the first dual-branded 620-keys twin hotels at Embassy Manyata Business Park in the IT city.
The company claims that this hospitality project will be among the largest in India, and the construction is expected to begin this year. The hotels will be operational by the end of 2021 or early 2022. As per the agreement, the dual-branded property will be developed and owned by the Embassy Group and managed by Hilton.
“It is our third hotel project with Hilton and we are focused on delivering hotels that will provide an elevated service for our corporate occupiers within their work environment. As in the past five years, the mainstay of our hospitality foray will be to build hotels and mixed-use developments as part of our business parks,” said Jitu Virwani, chairman and managing director of Embassy Group.
Apparently, Embassy is one of the major property developers in India and has developed over 45 million square feet of commercial, residential and retail space in India as well as Malaysia and Serbia. On the other hand, Hilton is a global hospitality major with a portfolio of 14 brands comprising more than 5,100 properties with nearly 8,38,000 rooms in 103 countries and territories.