Newstrack

Meuse forays into Indian hotel industry

Plans investment of Rs1,500 cr in 3 categories: Moon, Mercury, Jupiter

Praveen K Singh - New Delhi

Singapore-based hospitality group, Meuse Hotels & Hospitality has plans to enter the Indian market with over Rs 1,500 crore of investment in the next three years and is introducing three categories of hotels: Moon, Mercury and Jupiter.

Talking to Express Hospitality, Anil Tandon, the group's executive director, informed, "Moon will be a budget category hotel with 100 rooms, Mercury will be a business hotel with 60-220 rooms and Jupiter will be a luxury hotel with 100 to 350 rooms." He added that the group plans to have around 10 super-star luxury resorts (Jupiter) and 15 Mercury and Moon category hotels by next year. The company is looking at all options of establishing new properties, acquiring existing ones and entering into management contracts for its expansions.

Tandon claimed that these luxury resorts will have high-end facilities like pick-up and drop in a Mercedes, etc. The group's first two properties include a Goa property called 'The Beach' and a Nasik Property called 'Westend'. "The new hotels will be called Jupiter Hotel Goa and Jupiter Hotel Nasik," he said. Both the properties have been the takeovers of Hotel Sai Siddhi.

He informed, "The next two properties in line will be in Udaipur and Lucknow under the Jupiter brand." Tandon, who will look after the Indian arm of the hospitality group, has over 25 years of domestic and international experience in the hospitality industry.

Talking about the group's plans, Tandon said, "The group will acquire existing properties and develop them in tune with our requirements. We will set up properties all across India and enter into tie-ups with travel agents and airlines."

In order to meet the shortage of human resources, Meuse also plans to start a hotel management institute to help develop trained staff. "To start with, we are going to have one institute and later on try developing a chain of hotel management institutes in India," said Tandon.

Apart from the chain of hotels, Meuse also plans to set up a theme-based restaurant chain called Octopussy across India. Talking about the quality of hospitality, Tandon said, "We will maintain quality through strict levels of appraisals and regular feedback from our end-users."