Carlson Rezidor Hotel eyes south India's religious centres to boost business

Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group is eyeing major pilgrimage centres in south India to set up hotels as part of its expansion plans, a top company official said today. 

Carlson Group is one of the world's largest hotel chains. South India has vast potential for religious tourism and the group is focusing its attention to develop hotels in major pilgrimage centres like Tirupati, Madurai and Rameshwaram, said Raj Rana, CEO, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia. 

"The group has already tapped the pilgrimage tourism potential in northern parts of the country like Ajmer, Varanasi and Haridwar and as part of the expansion of footprint, south (India) is an important destination for such activities," he said. 

Depending upon availability of partners and locations, we would set up at least 20 heritage hotels in these centres in five to seven years, he said. As the group functions on franchise, management and operation basis, the investments would purely depend on arrangements based on partners and number of hotel rooms, he added. The group is also open to conversion of existing hotels and their renovation, he said. 

Rana was here to inspect progress of work on the group's five-star hotel under Radisson Blu brand. 

The Coimbatore facility wold commence operations next year, he said. 

The group presently has 74 hotels across the country, including two in Chennai, one in Mahabilipuram and one in Salem in Tamil Nadu under different brands and 40 more hotels are in the pipeline. 

‘KEYS Hotel’ From Berggruen Hotels Starts operations In Tirupati

Keys Hotels, a chain of mid-market hotels by Berggruen Hotels, opened their 17th hotel in India at Tirupati. Keys Hotel Vihas Tirupati will be operated by a Keys franchisee. Located in the heart of the city, Hotel Keys Vihas is at a convenient distance from Tirumala Temple. The hotel is equipped with 58 spacious rooms and three luxury suites. It boasts of unique themes and elegant colour palette of creams, golden and brown

“The launch of Keys Hotel Vihas Tirupati is yet another important milestone for Berggruen Hotels. It reaffirms the rapid growth story of the Keys brand. We are excited about the Tirupati property, and hope our guests too will be enthralled by the experience at the hotel,” says Sanjay Sethi, Managing Director and CEO, Berggruen Hotels.

Berggruen Hotels was founded in 2006 by Sanjay Sethi and his team of experienced hotel professionals, set up a leading chain of mid-market hotels, resorts and service apartments across India under the brand Keys Hotels, Resorts and Apartments. Keys Hotels, a brand of Berggruen Hotels Pvt. Ltd. rolled out its first owned hotel at Thiruvananthapuram in September 2009.

Over the years, Keys Hotels has been on an aggressive growth trajectory with addition of several owned, managed and franchised business hotels. Of the total current portfolio of Keys Hotels, 16 properties are in operation with 6 owned, 7 hotels under management and 3 under franchise contract with a total inventory of close to 1,500 rooms. Keys Hotels currently have presence across 13 cities in Ajmer, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Goa, Jaipur, Ludhiana, Mahabaleshwar, Mumbai, Pune, Silvassa, Shirdi and Thiruvananthapuram.