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. 

Wyndham to add 15 new hotels in India by 2015 end

On an expansion spree in India, global hospitality major Wyndham Hotel Group will add 15 new fully operational properties across the country by end of this year. 
The US-based chain currently has 24 operating properties in India with a total of 2,500 rooms at various locations. 
"We will be opening about 15 new operating properties across the country by end of 2015," Wyndham Hotel Group Regional Vice President Indian Ocean Deepika Arora Said. 

The company is looking at locations in cities such as Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Darjeeling, Bengaluru, Raipur, Lucknow, Jammu and Jalandhar among others for this, she added. 

On being asked the business model  Arora said: "So far we have focused on the franchise model and we are the only company that offers all our brands under the franchise model but going forward we will also be evaluating management contract options." 
The company is also open to acquiring hospitality chains with management infrastructure for growth, she added. 

When asked about investments, Arora said: "We are an asset-light company and follow asset-light strategy so our investments are mainly on developing human resources, on marketing and on helping the client increase the revenue." 

India is an important key market for Wyndham Hotel Group and the company plans to tap India's hospitality sector that is mainly domestic-driven and is focusing on leisure and MICE segment. 
"India is one of the key markets for Wyndham from a growth perspective. We are focusing on leisure and MICE segment for growth as it has huge potential. We are also looking at destinations that are still untapped," Arora said. 

The company, which currently has properties under its Ramada, Ramada Plaza, Ramada Encore, Days Hotel, Howard Johnson and Wyndham Grand brands, said the 15 new properties would be mostly under the Ramada brand, there will be a Ramada Plaza, one Howard Johnson and couple of Days. 

Wyndham Hotel Group, part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation currently has 7,650 hotels and 661,000 rooms in 70 countries under its brands such as Dolce Hotels and Resorts, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, Days Inn, Super 8, Wingate by Wyndham, Baymont Inn & Suites, Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham, Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham, TRYP by Wyndham, Howard Johnson, Travelodge and Knights Inn. 

Loungewear chain Valentine Retail Plans to Open 200 Stores by 2018

Ashapura Intimates Fashion Ltd., a leading manufacturer of intimate –loungewear garments has a vision for aggressive growth in the retail segment. The company plans to open 200 Valentine loungewear retail showrooms all over India within 3 years on franchise Model.

The company opened its 2^nd Valentine loungewear retail showroom  in Bangalore in February 2015 and will be opening its 3^rd showroom in Bangalore by March end.

Two Valentine showrooms in Ahmedabad will be opened by the company in April 2015.

 The company plans to open 26 Valentine showrooms in Mumbai within one year. Majority Valentine showrooms in Mumbai will be company owned showrooms. Ashapura Intimates Fashion Limited has emerged having largest product basket globally in a niche segment of loungewear. 

With the vertically integrated manufacturing, the 2^nd state of the art plant will open in Gujarat in near future, the company will have biggest capacity in production & warehousing in loungewear in India.

Under the ‘Valentine’ brand, the company sells intimate garments such as lounge wear, bridal night wear, honeymoon sets, bathrobes, nightwear, relax-wear, sportswear, leggings, camisole, bra & panties etc. The new loungewear range is meant for gents, ladies, kids and toddlers.

In India, The Group has 130 distributors and products are sold through 13,000 retail outlets across the country. The company has MOUs with online shopping sites like Myntra, Jabong/ Home Shop 18 and own website.

Starwood to open 3 Le Meridien hotels in South Asia by 2015

International hospitality major Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to open three properties under its Le Meridien in South Asia, including one in India, by end of 2015 to expand presence in the region. 

"We plan to add three hotels under the Le Meridien brand in South Asia, including one at Mahabaleshwar in India, by the end of this year," Le Meridien and Westin Global Brand Leader Brian Povinelli said. 

He was speaking on the sidelines of opening of Le Meridien at Gurgaon following the re-branding of the existing hotel, which was earlier manged by another global hospitality chain Accor. 

"The other two hotels under the brand will be at Paro in Bhutan and Dhaka in Bangladesh. We have already opened a hotel under the Le Meridien brand in Thimpu in December 2014," he added. 

The brand is enjoying strong growth momentum worldwide, resonating with travellers who have an affinity for the arts, culture and cuisine, Povinelli said, adding: "Idea of Le Meridien is connecting people to destination through culture, cuisine and local neighbourhood." 

Le Meridian is a five-star upper upscale brand of the Starwood Hotels and Resorts. 

When asked about the business model in India, Povinelli said: "We mainly follow the management contract and franchise model and don't own the properties. In India we have a large franchise portfolio." 

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Managing Director India and Regional Vice President South Asia Dilip Puri said the company has invested a lot in building infrastructure in India. 

"Over a 100 people are directly employed by the company in India," Puri said. 

Le Meridien, the Paris-born hotel brand is currently represented by 99 properties in more than 35 countries. It was acquired by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc in November 2005. 

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has 43 hotels in India at present out of which eight are under the Le Meridien brand. 

Globally the hospitality chain manages around 1,200 properties in 100 countries under nine brands -- St Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft and Element.

Subway opened an all-women operated outlet in Mumbai

Quick service restaurant chain Subway on 6 March 2015 opened an all-women operated outlet at Andheri, Mumbai to mark the International Women's day on 8 March.

With the new outlet opening in suburban Andheri, the Connecticut-based company's store count has now reached 500 in India.

Subway entered India in 2001. It operates in 70 cities across the country and has plans to take its total number of stores to 1000 by 2018. It is targeting tier II, tier III cities to fuel its growth plans.

Subway is an American fast food restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches (subs) and salads. It is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world, with 43035 restaurants in 108 countries and territories.

It is the largest single-brand restaurant chain and the largest restaurant operator globally.

Carl’s Jr to enter India by April 2015

Carl’s Jr, California-based, is looking at opening their first restaurant in New Delhi by the end of the first quarter of 2015. CKE Restaurants Holdings, the parent company of Carl’s Jr, recently signed a development agreement with Cybiz BrightStar Restaurants, owned by CybizCorp, to develop 100 restaurants in the initial phase. Elaborating on the same, Samir Chopra, group chairman and founder, Cybiz Corp, stated, “Carl’s Jr will be targeting the development of Tier II and III cities after it’s initial launch in the Delhi and NCR area and other Tier I cities.” He also mentioned that they are looking at expanding through a company owned company operated (COCO) model only, however, at a later stage they may venture into FOCO (Franchise Owned Company Operated).

To create a niche for themselves in the India market, Chopra believes that Carl’s Jr is not a mass appeal brand. “The brand is a premium quick service restaurant which offers partial services to customers, and is recognised for its premium products, centred on wide variety of fresh and delicious charbroiled burgers that lead the industry in taste, quality and innovation,” he stated. Based on their research, Carl Jr has also developed a vegetarian menu to be launched here, apart from their signature dishes. Talking about marketing and promotional strategies, Chopra added, “Our target audience is the young and hungry which defines more than 50 per cent population of India and this audience is engaged on different social media platforms, and hence initially we are keen on the new age social media strategies but definitely in the later run we will be following a parallel approach used successfully by Carl’s Jr globally.” burger chain

Pharmacy retail chain MedPlus plans 10,000 outlets by FY19

Hyderabad-based pharmacy retail chain MedPlus, which entered the Gujarat market with eleven stores, plans to take the franchise route to expand its outlets to touch 10,000 by FY19. The company had been following a company-owned-company-operated (CO-CO) format so far and operates 1,230 stores across twelve states in the country at the moment.

Madhukar Gangadi, Founder & CEO, MedPlus Group said, "As we enter the Gujarat market, it also marks a shift in our strategy to take the franchise route for faster expansion. In eight years we have opened around 1,230 outlets, and now plan to take that count to 10,000 over the next few years." Gangadi added that the overall investment outlined for the expansion would be around Rs 3,000 crore. This would come from the franchisees and the company has tied up with various banks to provide working capital loan to the franchisee owners if they require.

He added that so far the company has invested close to Rs 300 crore as a mix of debt and equity and employs around 9,000 people.

The average sales per outlet is Rs 1.2 crore per store per year. As of now less than five per cent stores operate on a franchise model. "We have established our brand over these years and now it takes a store to break even in around three months. Hence, going forward, for expansion in North India we would take the franchise route," Gangadi said.

MedPlus plans to take the outlet count in Gujarat to 500 over the next couple of years, and by this year-end the number would touch 200 outlets across the state. Gangadi adds, “Given the fact that, Gujarat is the global pharmaceutical hub and a vibrant consumer market for healthcare services, we expect it to be one of our most dynamic target markets.”

Headquartered in Hyderabad, the brand serves more than 200,000 customers daily and enjoys a 30% market share in organized retail Pharma industry.  The company also owns MedPlus Pathlabs(a chain of quality diagnostic centres), RiteCure (a distributor of medical and surgical supplies), and medplusmart.com (an online medical store).