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Roots Corporation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company, which operates Ginger Hotels, is looking at moving beyond its core corporate clientele to single women travellers. The budget chain will now have an exclusive floor dedicated to single women guests, apart from a host of safety oriented features such as express check-ins, secure room access, private cabs and mobile apps for instant reservations. A larger peephole is also being incorporated in rooms.
“There is a new segment of business emerging and it is not just about the business or corporate travellers. We are now addressing the single lady traveller who is primarily seeking safety and security. Almost 10 per cent of our guests are single women travellers and we are introducing new features in our hotels based in the metros and tier 1 cities,” said P.K. Mohankumar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Roots Corporation Ltd.
Apart from the new Ginger hotels, nearly 20 out of the 29 properties of Ginger will also sport these new facilities.
“There are single women mostly in the services sector across industries such as IT, manufacturing and FMCG who use the facilities at our hotels. We want these women to be comfortable when they stay with us,” he added.
With occupancy levels being the highest in the metro markets, Ginger Hotels would be creating micro markets. “The catchments areas are in the metros such as Mumbai, Delhi and Banglaore. We will be having more hotels within these metro markets,” Mohankumar said. Apart from greenfield projects where cost of land is prohibitive, Ginger has been resorting to management contracts, lease rentals and franchises to expand its chain of 29-odd hotels. It is now open to mergers and acquisitions to grow as well.
The budget segment is getting crowded with both international companies such as InterGlobe Hotels launching its ‘ibis’ economy brand and even ITC’s Fortune hotels competing in the same segment.
Meanwhile, the hospitality industry gaining infrastructure status is also expected to help the budget chain. “Since land is the biggest cost for any hospitality company, there would be subsidies for buying land and projects can be fast-tracked,” he said. Ginger Hotels plans to add 40 new properties in the next three years.
purvita@thehindu.co.in
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