Indian Hospitality: A 3-D Vision

Big Three - Indian Hotels, EIH, Bharat Hotels - Chart Course In Different Directions

Madhavankutty Pillai Mumbai

A sign of the acumen and aggressiveness of India's hotel managements to get a slice of the hospitality pie, both Indian and global, and the diverse ways in which they are doing so is becoming apparent in the directions in which three of the country's biggest hospitality brands are moving. While the East India Hotels (EIH) Ltd owned Oberoi group is making the big push abroad and is actively seeking newer countries to venture into, the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), owners of the Taj brand, is on a major restructuring drive which includes a mega venture into the budget segment through its indiOne properties. On the third front, Bharat Hotels, which currently has seven luxury hotels across the country in the five-star deluxe segment, realising the importance of allied streams, is expanding into flight kitchens, industrial canteens and is even setting up a hotel management school.

According to Sanjiv Malhotra, senior vice president, Egypt and general manager Mena House Oberoi, who was in India recently, "We are very much open to expansion. We have not finalised anything as of now but the company is viewing its options very closely." Marketing efforts are also being strengthened across the globe to optimise worldwide brand recall by appointing specialised public relations companies in the United States and Europe.

For the Taj group, the restructuring comes on the back of an expansion drive which includes 'smart basics' indiOne hotels, marketing arrangements with global brands like Raffles, spas and offloading of unviable projects. An instance of the last is its shelving of plans to set up a five-star property in Bekal, Kerala. Salil Dutt, chief operating officer, Taj Kerala Hotels & Resorts Ltd said, "We shelved the project as the terms set by the Bekal Resort Development Corporation (BRDC) were not viable." Such measures leave the group free to concentrate its energies on other projects like setting up 60 indiOne hotels over the next five years.

The Bharat Hotels example is a prime illustration of hotel majors, who after a certain foothold in the market, realise the importance of allied streams, which is clearly reflected in this decision to move into the areas of education and catering. This is besides normal expansion plans in its core business, which includes venturing into southern markets like Chennai and Hyderabad where it is on the look out for land to set up 180 room and 300 room properties respectively. In its hospitality education venture, Bharat Hotels is negotiating with the state governments of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to set up a hotel management school. Lalit Suri, chairman and managing director, Bharat Hotels, said, "Our preference would be to set up the institute in Delhi. If that does not materialise, then the next options would be Noida (UP) or Gurgaon (Haryana). States usually have land reserved for educational institutes and we would be asking the government to allot such tracts of land at a discounted rate."

(With inputs from Vyas Sivanand in Bangalore, Jyoti Koul in Delhi and Mahesh Tharani in Mumbai)