| "Carlson
would add about 30 hotels in China and another 30 in
India during the next three to four years under its
Park Inn and Country Inn mid-market brands," the
group's Asia-Pacific president Martin Rinck told the
media. The expansion would cost 15 to 20 million dollar
for each hotel.
The mid-market sector will become the focus of the
company in the two countries, said Mr Rinck. For Park
Inn and Country Inn, it is important to roll out and
penetrate the market quickly, he said.
According to the daily, Carlson which operates Regent
and Radisson chains, plans to shift its focus in India
towards developing mid-market hotels in tier I and II
cities.
Part of the funding would come from a partnership with
Lotus Investment Fund, a London-based investor. Lotus
is raising one billion dollar for an Asia-focused hotel
investment fund that would be leveraged to reach three
billion dollar in size.
Carlson is banking on increased domestic travel to
drive demand for hotels in fast-developing but internationally
less well-known cities such as Amritsar and Baddi.
Meanwhile, Mr. K.B.Kachru, the Executive Vice-President
for Asian and Indian Operations said in another interview,
'We have 34 hotels and we will be closing this financial
year by another 20 hotels in India and by 2012 we will
be having 134 hotels under different brands. We even
have big plans for Common Wealth games. By the event
happening we will have nine more hotels at various prime
areas of capital. We will also be strengthening the
core competency and growth plans for the company.'
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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