Hospitality major plans to ramp up capacity by 20% to 12,000 rooms across 130 hotels
Multi-business conglomerate ITC made a grand entry in Hyderabad’s hospitality market with the opening of its 271-room luxury hotel in Cyberabad, Telangana.
According to Y C Deveshwar, chairman, ITC Ltd, the new hotels was a yet another symbol of ITC’s continuing commitment to the socio-economic development of the state. “We would like to laud the chief minister’s visionary leadership for the remarkable achievements of the state within a short span of four years,” Deveshwar said while also acknowledging the government’s support and encouragement in implementing ITC’s investment projects in Telangana.
With a host of new additions planned over the coming years, ITC will add approximately 2,500 rooms between 24 hotels taking the total inventory to 12,000 across 130 hotels in five years. New hotels will be a combination of owned-operated and management contracts in the 40:60 ratio. Between its four brands viz. ITC Hotels, Welcome Hotels, Fortune and Welcome Heritage, the Indian cigarettes-to-food giant currently operates 107 properties with a combined capacity of 9,500 rooms.
On the business potential in Hyderabad hospitality market, Nandivardhan Jain, chief executive officer, Noesis Capital Advisors, said that post political stabilisation in the state of Telangana the city has emerged as one of the fastest growing markets in the country.
"It is favourite among investors due to excellent air connectivity across the globe and railway connectivity across India. In the upscale and luxury segments there is an existing supply of 3,500 rooms that are performing at an average occupancy of 64% throughout the year,” Jain said. “ In fact, some of the established players like Lemon Tree have recently increased room inventory and there are quite a few players in mid and upscale segment brands evaluating setting up new hotels. In addition to this Hyderabad has turned out to be one of the favourite destinations for luxury weddings with properties like Taj Falaknuma Palace and the latest addition of ITC Kohenur, wedding planners will have much more options,” he further added.
ITC's new hotel with 271 rooms, suites and serviced apartments is strategically located in the heart of Hyderabad’s new business district in Cyberabad, opposite the Inorbit Mall with offices of various firms like L&T Infotech, Novartis, Teradata, Amazon, Facebook, NCR, EA Games etc. in its immediate vicinity. While ITC management did not share details about pricing and its competition, a location study on Google Maps shows only one branded player i.e. Marriott-Starwood’s The Westin Hyderabad Mindspace located 3.5 kilometres away.
At an overall investment of Rs 775 crore, ITC Kohenur is the second hotel and probably the costliest (in terms of capital expenditure) new-built hotel in the region over the last decade. It already operates another property under the banner ITC Kakatiya that’s located 15 kilometres from ITC Kohenur.
A look at the hotel room pricing on various online travel agent (OTA) websites shows that room nights at The Westin are priced starting Rs 10,500 onwards while at ITC Kohenur it is Rs 11,750 onwards. The only other branded operator in the 3.5 km radius, not necessarily competition, is the Lemon Tree Premier selling room nights starting from Rs 5,000.
Among existing luxury hotels operating in Hyderabad include properties owned by the Tata Group viz. Taj Falaknuma Palace, Taj Krishna etc., the Gayatri Group owned Park Hyatt Hyderabad, Radisson Blu Plaza, Apeejay Surrendra Group’s The Park hotel and so on.
RED CARPET
- The company currently operates 107 properties with a combined capacity of 9,500 rooms
- ITC operates four brands — ‘ITCHotel’, ‘WelcomHotel’ in the 5 star segment, ‘Fortune’ and WelcomHeritage’
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