Hilton Garden Inn Trivandrum, the first international hotel brand for Kerala’s capital, will open on December 27. This marks the entry of Hilton Worldwide in Kerala, said Guy Hutchinson, Vice-President, Operations-India, Hilton Worldwide.

The Hilton Garden Inn Trivandrum, a Rs 85-crore five-star facility situated in the heart of the city, is also South India’s first, he told newspersons here. The brand caters to the mid-market segment.

Hilton Worldwide will manage the 134-room property which is owned by MPG Hotels and Infrastructure Ventures under the Muthoot Pappachan Group.

Asked if the industry was showing a preference against the brand franchise model, Hutchinson replied in the negative. He said that over 90 per cent of the industry in the US still subscribes to the franchise model in which brands are licensed to a third party which owns the hotel.

“In this case, we have opted for a model which we think will work best,” he said.

The hotel is expected to break even in four years, said Thomas John Muthoot, Chairman and Managing Director, Muthoot Pappachan Group. The outlook for Hilton Worldwide is bright in India which happens to be a key market, Hutchinson said. He shrugged off the recession and the slowdown triggered thereon as a passing phase. Hilton Garden Inn follows an expansion policy which does not allow another property bearing the same brand name to come up within ‘striking distance.’

Currently the group hotels and resorts in Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai, Vadodara, Pune and Goa. It plans to extend the portfolio to include Bangalore, Agra and Jaipur, Hutchinson added.

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