Luxury Hotels Group to have 40 member hotels in India by FY'15

Making its foray into the fast growing Indian market, UK-based Luxury Hotels Group -- a collection of global hospitality properties -- plans to have a membership of up to 40 hotels in the country by the end of the current fiscal.
"We plan have 40 hotels as our members in India by the end of this fiscal year," Luxury Hotels Group Regional Director (Asia) Naresh Chandnani told PTI.
The member hotels will be in two segments -- luxury and mid-market.
While the premium hotels would be under the Luxury Hotels Group brand, mid-market hotels, which will be mainly three- stars and four-stars, will under the Ideal Hotels brand.

"We are looking at having up to 10 hotels under our Luxury Hotels Group portfolio and around 30 hotels under Ideal Hotels portfolio," he added.
The company has recently opened its India office to support its network of hotels.

Commenting on the group's India entry, Luxury Hotels Group Vice President Mark Jones said, "Opening a dedicated office in India is a significant step to support a fast growing global network of hotels as we continue to expand worldwide."
When asked about its strategy in India, Chandnani said the group is targeting independent hotels and small hospitality chains.
The company will provide competitive advantage to independent hotel owners and operators through brand prestige and global operating scale, sales and marketing and revenue management support, he added.

"We are also entering into only one year agreements with them which are renewable every year," Chandnani said.
Bullish on a good response, he said: "The hotels will see good value in our offering in terms of the brand and the benefits we deliver."
The other benefits of being a member of Luxury Hotels Group are listing on the company's website, inclusion in the directory, use of private label Global Distribution System, he added.