American hotel company Carlson Rezidor India is increasing focus on growing its presence through management contracts and plans to touch the 100-hotel mark by 2015.
The company entered the country with franchisee agreements. After forming a partnership with real estate company Bestech Group to expand its mid-market brand Park Inn, it is next looking for opportunities to invest in the Radisson brand.
KB Kachru, Executive Vice-President, South Asia, Carlson Rezidor, said, “We are assessing investment opportunities for the Radisson brand.”
Asked if the company is looking at acquisitions, he said, “Now, one could say there are opportunities in India with several under construction hotels being on the block and one could see transactions happening in the hotel sector.”
This year, the company plans to open 14 hotels across all its brands. “We have already opened seven hotels and plan to open an additional seven in the next four months,” he said.
“Currently we have 56 hotels in operations with an additional 43 in our pipeline,” Kachru added.
strategic partnership
In April, Carlson Rezidor signed a strategic partnership with Bestech Group giving it exclusive development rights to develop about 49 Park Inn Hotels in north and central India by 2024 and Carlson Rezidor will initially invest Rs 213 crore in the first two projects in Gurgaon and Mohali.
Asked if the company expected delays due to the problems being faced in the real estate sector, he said, “Delays are either happening due to delay in approvals or lack of financing being faced by developers. But we are on track with our plans and, in fact, have given conservative projections of our expansion plans.”
“While occupancies are expected to be stable, average room rates as well as revenue earned per available room will be under pressure this winter,” he added.
The company operates brands such as Radisson Blu, Radisson, Park Inn, Park Plaza as well as Country Inn & Suites in the country. The company revamped its top-end brand Radisson some time back. While Radisson Blu is positioned in the upper upscale segment, Radisson is positioned in the upscale segment making it a two tier brand.