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The company is likely to invest $15-20 million per hotel
for expansion of its mid-market hotel brands —
Park Inn and Country Inn in India. Carlson operates
five global hospitality brands: Regent, Radisson, Park
Plaza, Country Inn & Suites and Park Inn.
Currently all these brands are present in India with
the exception of Regent. Carlson is also bringing in
its super luxury brand Regent into India starting with
the NCR region. "We plan to build two hotels properties
under the brand Regent which is likely to come up by
2010-end. We are in the process for getting the necessary
government approvals for the same," according to
Mr Kachru. The company would also look at setting up
a Regent property in Mumbai.
For other brands, Carlson is looking to expand to state
capitals, upcoming industrial towns and SEZ areas. Besides
its luxury and mid-market hotel brands, Carlson has
also identified new locations to expand the presence
of its economy brand Park Inn.
"My only concern is that there are lots of hotel
rooms being developed in the luxury segment while we
believe the larger pie of the growth will come in from
the mid-market hotel segment. Also, we need to develop
leisure traveller destinations as currently only 20%
of overall hotel occupancy in India is coming from domestic
leisure travellers," according to Mr Kachru.
Early this month, Carlson Hotels Worldwide Asia Pacific's
newly appointed managing director Martin Rinck said
that the company would focus on India and China. The
company's has struck a strategic alliance to fund its
expansion plans with a $1-billion Asian private equity
fund, Lotus Hotel Investment Fund.
The announcement comes on the heels of a visit by the
Minnesota business delegation last week by the Governor
Tim Pawlenty that also included Satveer Chaudhary. Said
Mahendra Nath, a US citizen of Indian origin, who owns
a Radisson hotel in Minneapolis among many other construction
projects," we are really excited about the India
story and I am glad Carlson is expanding in India at
a fast pace.
Nath was admitted to the Minnesota Business Hall of
Fame at the same time as Marilyn Carlson, the CEO and
Chairman of Carlson Group. She plans to step down as
the CEO in February 2008 but will continue as the Chairman.
The Carlson Companies is a global group of integrated
companies providing leisure travel, hotel, restaurant,
cruise, and marketing services. With headquarters in
Minneapolis, Carlson-owned and franchised operations
employ about 190,000 people around the world. In 2004,
sales under Carlson brands worldwide (including franchised
operations) totaled US$26.1 billion.
Resource: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com
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