Snippets

Sarovar to launch Portico brand in Kolhapur

Sarovar Hotels & Resorts has signed the opening of a Sarovar Portico hotel in Kolhapur. The 65-room property will be located 10 kms from the airport. Branded Sarovar Portico Kolhapur, the hotel is scheduled to open in the last quarter of 2008, and will be the 11th hotel under the Portico brand. Conforming to the Portico brand, Sarovar Portico Kolhapur will be a three-star full service hotel. The accent will be on a cosmopolitan feel with contemporary architecture and interiors.

Fortune Park opens its first hotel in Kolkata

Fortune Park Hotels is eyeing the eastern region in a big way, with properties in Kolkata, Jamshedpur and Darjeeling and is also scouting for land in other locations in the east, including Ranchi and some places in Orissa. The company recently opened its 72-room Fortune Park Panchwati and Kolkata's first Fortune property in Howrah.

Besides managing hotels for local partners, Fortune also plans to set up three of its own hotels in Bangalore, Kolkata and Coimbatore at an outlay of Rs 120-130 crore. All of these will be Fortune Select properties, which come in at the top end of the Fortune chain. The average cost of building these properties, which typically have 80-100 rooms, is Rs 50 lakh a room. That puts each property at Rs 40-50 crore. Fortune will also manage another Select category property in Kolkata, the Fortune Select Loudon formerly Hotel Rutt Deen, acquired by the city-based SPS Group.

BuildArch 2008 to tap construction needs

The Confederation of Indian Industry, Bangalore International Exhibition Centre (BIEC) and Deutsche Messe, Germany have come together to hold India's first-ever complete construction exhibition BuildArch to be held from October 21-24, 2008 in Bangalore. This will see international participation for a construction exhibition where conferences on architecture, building and construction technology, materials, interiors and systems will be displayed for modern-day constructions.

Carlson Hotels plans Radisson in Punjab

Carlson Hotels Worldwide - Asia Pacific plans to establish its Radisson brand in Punjab in the town of Zirakpur, Chandigarh district. An agreement has been signed with ECC Infrastructure to open the 125-room Radisson Hotel Zirakpur by March 2009. Zirakpur is poised to become a popular business destination with the government announcing its intention to set up an international airport at Mohali.

Accor plans expansions for its Novotel

Accor has announced plans to develop its Novotel properties across the country, including a 440-room Novotel hotel in Mumbai, which will be operational by 2010. The hotel is being developed in a joint venture with India Blue Mountains, a hotel-specific development company focused on India. The 440-room hotel will be located on the Andheri-Kurla Road artery.

Accor and India Blue Mountains are working on several other projects including Novotel Hotels in Chennai with 325 rooms and Pune with 315 rooms where the construction will commence later this year. India Blue Mountains develops, acquires and owns hotels in India. It works closely with international hotel operators who are responsible for managing its properties and owns a geographically diversified portfolio of assets within India.

Emaar MGF, Global Hyatt sign MoU

Real estate and hospitality company Emaar MGF has entered into a joint venture with Global Hyatt Corporation of the US to set up a chain of business hotels in India under the brand name Hyatt Place and have signed an MoU for the same. Emaar MGF is jointly owned by Emaar Properties, PJSC of Dubai and India's MGF Developments.

Hyatt will own the remaining 26 per cent equity and will also provide management and brand services, including marketing, reservations and global sales services.

According sources, both parties have signed an MoU to this effect. Hyatt Place is a recently-developed brand of Global Hyatt Corporation, a premier hotel company owned by the Pritzker family that manages over 735 hotels and resorts in more than 44 countries.

The venture will develop 20 Hyatt Place hotels with around 3,000 rooms across the country over next 10 years with a proposed investment of Rs 1,500 crore. During the first four years of its operations, the JV will set up properties in Mohali, Gurgaon, Mysore, Mangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Cochin and Goa.

New Delhi-based Emaar MGF has also announced JVs with Accor and Premier Travel Inn for the development of hotels in India. Emaar MGF is in the process of mobilising around Rs 7,000 crore through an IPO, expected to hit markets in February.

Citymax plans JVs to develop parks

Citymax India, part of the Dubai-based Landmark group, is looking for a joint venture with property developers to build amusement parks in the upcoming shopping malls. The company plans to scale up its operations with estimated investments of Rs 125 crore in three years.

Currently the company is developing a one lakh sq ft amusement park in partnership with a developer at Mall of Arabia in Middle East. Citymax has introduced Fun City, the family entertainment zones in Chennai, Jaipur and Delhi. Citymax will launch Fun City in bigger formats at Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai. Citymax is developing a 25,000 sq ft Fun City at the MB Mall in Gurgaon and has requested the developer for a double height space.

Citymax has also acquired master franchise rights for the celebrate Chef Sanjeev Kapoor's restaurant brands Khazana, Grain of Salt and The Yellow Chilli. It has also developed its own Chinese brand Yang Tse.

AICTE sponsored National Conference

AICTE in association with Indian Hospitality Congress is hosting a conference entitled 'Indian Hospitality Industry - Contemporary Issues' on March 27 and 28 at HNB Garhwal University in Uttarkhand.

The conference is being supported by the Indian Housekeeper's Club and will highlight contemporary issues with reference to Indian Hospitality industry. These will include the relationships between hotels, airlines, surface transport, travel and tour operators and other facilitators of services. The conference is also examine the contribution of operations and management practices in the development of quality services and guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry and the differences between Indian and global hospitality.