Indian hotel companies are looking to expand internationally even as some of the world's best known hoteliers are investing in India. As per a report in the Economic Times, Indian companies are looking for stand-alone properties in the US and Europe, which are up for grabs following losses they made during the global slowdown, and also to use them tap into the growing breed of Indian travelers.
Outbound travel has been grown by 7-10% every year since 2009 with about 11 million Indians going abroad annually. Most leading international hotels have set shop in India and are introducing all their brands across all categories. These hotel firms have strong loyalty programmes that help them drive occupancies into their hotels not only from international but domestic guests.
Top hotel firms like Taj Hotels and EIH (Oberoi Group) have always been at the forefront of international expansion, but other Indian players, including some new players, like Bird Group, Claridges Hotels, Sarovar Hotels, Zuri Group and Royal Orchid Hotels are also looking at overseas opportunities now.
Ankur Bhatia's Bird Group recently acquired marquee property Royal Park Hotel in London. "This was a good investment opportunity in London which is an evergreen market and will also host the Olympics in 2012," he said. The company is building six hotels in collaboration with the Thailand based Dusit Thani in India. "We are already looking at other markets like Greece and South East Asian countries for acquisitions," Bhatia said.
Hotel consultants say that value of properties available in international destinations like Europe work out to be higher than India. But the properties are evaluated on the business income they generate rather than real estate which means better deals for prospective buyers.
Availability of hotel assets at a good valuation also led Subrato Roy's Sahara India to acquire an iconic hotel Grosvenor House in London early this year. The company had said that the acquisition was part of the group's expansion into the hospitality business and Grosvenor House will be the gateway for the company to introduce some new business ventures internationally. Both Bird and Sahara are new players in the hospitality business.
» Read Complete News.....(You need to login first to read complete news). New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News