As the demand from international business travellers softens in India amid the European Union’s debt crisis and economic slowdown in the US, foreign hotel operators are targeting local businesses. Mid-priced hotels bridge the gap between luxury and budget hotels with room rates of Rs.4,500-7,000 a night.

Carlson, Marriott International Inc. and other foreign hotel chains are expanding mid-priced properties—considered the least vulnerable to an economic slowdown—in India, targeting local leisure and business travellers as overseas companies cut travel spending in anticipation of another global recession.

Hyatt, InterContinental Hotels Group Plc, Carlson, Marriott and Hilton, which started expanding in India after the global recession in 2010, trying to fill the shortage of branded rooms in India, particularly in the mid segment, are set to continue with their plans.

The Hyatt group plans to start its first 14 mid-segment hotels by 2012 under the brand Hyatt Place. Carlson, which operates 15 hotels in the segment under the Country Inns and Suites brand, is set to add 38 hotels by 2015.

InterContinental plans to open 32 mid-priced hotels between 2011 and 2015 under the Holiday Inn brand, taking its number of such hotels to 37.

Five years after the first Courtyard by Marriott hotel opened in Chennai, the mid-sized hotel brand has emerged as the fastest growing among the five brands that operate under the Marriott International Inc banner in the country. In the next three years, the brand is expected to make further headway as the US-based international chain plans to build 18 more Courtyard hotels while expanding into smaller towns and satellite cities in India.

The upcoming Courtyard hotels are expected to come up in small towns and satellite cities like Gurgaon, Pune, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bilaspur, Kochi, Guwahati, Raipur, Ludhiana, Shillong, Jalandhar, Bhopal and Amritsar. The average per night room rental of a Courtyard is about Rs 6500, while that of the JW Marriott is over Rs 14,000.

Marriott also plans to bring in two new brands into India. The first will be the premium Ritz Carlton brand, and the other will the be Fairfield Inn brand that will be launched in Tier-III and IV cities. The first Fairfield hotel is expected be up and running in Manesar near Gurgaon by 2013.