Thaindian News

Gurgaon, April 2 (IANS) Aimed at India’s burgeoning middle class with its huge disposable incomes, 49 NextGen Park Inns by Radisson hotels are to open across northern and central India by 2024, it was announced here Monday.

“These will not be budget hotels but full-service mid-scale hotels that we will be launching in India,” Simon Barlow, president, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, Asia Pacific, told reporters of the tie-up with India’s Bestech Hospitalities Pvt Ltd that will see the two companies investing $42 million on the first two such hotels in this suburb of the national capital and in Chandigarh.

The 200-keys Gurgaon hotel is slated for a 2015-16 opening, while the 160-keys Chandigarh property will open in 2015.

The financial model for the other 47 hotels would be worked out based on the experience gained in building the first two hotels, Barlow said, adding all 49 hotels would be run through a management company in which real estate developer Bestech is a partner.

“India’s middle class is expected to grow from 170 million in 2010 to close to 600 million by 2025. This growing middle class and investments in infrastructure will spur domestic travel and demand for affordable and yet modern accommodation,” Barlow pointed out.

“Thus, our mid-scale brand fits in well with India’s emerging middle class. It is testimony of our confidence in India that we have chosen this country to launch our next generation Park Inn By Radisson brand,” he added.

“We understand the trends that are emerging. With 65 percent of the population being below 35 we see the domestic market outweighing international travel,” Barlow said.

Toward this end the NextGen Park Inn by Radisson hotels “are dynamic, affordable and contemporary with iconic design features. They focus on delivering the modern essentials of a great hotel experience. A good night’s sleep in a flexible and connected room, along with great bars, restaurants and meetings and leisure facilities all made for the traveller of tomorrow”, Barlow added.

The 47 other hotels would come up in tier II and III towns in Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Asked whether the company would be able to find adequate and trained manpower in tier II and III towns, K.B. Kachru Executive Vice President, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, South Asia, said the issue had already been addressed.

“We have strategic relations with hotel schools. We train the trainers who in turn train the others. We give them international exposure. We have turned out 400 students from our own school. Besides this, our HR department is running various programmes at all levels,” Kachru said.

“Finding people in tier II and III towns is no doubt a challenge. So, we design hotels that are efficient to run with an all-Indian management team,” he added.

Over 50 Radisson hotels of various categories currently operate in India. Another 14 are scheduled to open this year.