Economic Times: Economic Times
29 April 2012 - Economic Times
Gurgaon as a city has seen unprecedented growth in terms of hotel room inventory. If you look at branded hotel rooms, they have moved from about 1000 rooms to over 3500 rooms in about 36 months. In fact, the number of hotel rooms that Gurgaon has added may be higher than the added inventory for Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Calcutta combined. One of the reasons for this is that the land asset value in Gurgaon is much more reasonable and some of the builders already had land banks existing with them.
Most of the hospitality expansion in Gurgaon is from among international brands like Marriott, Hilton and Accor. These are hotels which sign management contracts with existing real estate developers, who then build these hotels in consultation with these management groups, for the latter manage and operate.
Gurgaon has been placed on the international hospitality map largely on account of two hotels operated by The Oberoi Group - The Oberoi and Trident. These two hotels have set new benchmarks in the international luxury segment. Trident, Gurgaon for many years has been voted as "Asia's Leading Luxury Hotel" and "Asia's Leading Hotel".
The continued success of Trident, Gurgaon, which did a monthly occupancy of 100 percent in the month of November 2007, and the recent opening of The Oberoi, Gurgaon (already voted "World's Leading Luxury Hotel") has really put Gurgaon on the world map of luxury accommodation.
The greatest testimony to the Gurgaon hospitality story comes with the fact that the World Travel Awards, the premier industry award forum (in association with BBC), comes to Gurgaon on the 12th of December 2012 to announce the "World's Leading Luxury Hotel" once again. This is probably the first time the "World's Leading Luxury Hotel" ceremony is coming to Asia - and choosing India and Gurgaon as the venue, is testament to this city being the new hub of hospitality in th country.
The hospitality district has a lot of smaller branded hotels, like The Country Inns & Suites, Lemon Tree, Sarovar Optus Premier etc., opening up. Going ahead, the success of all the hotels in the Gurgaon market will be very clearly based on a single factor - product differentiation.
It is important for hotels to have product differentiation relevant to the segment of guests they are targeting. This is key to making sure that the hotel is operationally profitable.
The Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon has huge banqueting spaces, making it an ideal venue for dealer meets and weddings.
The luxury spaces in banqueting at the Oberoi Gurgaon, on the edge of a water body, make it tailor-made for high-end corporate conferencing, and extremely exclusive social functions.
The Ibis - clearly defined as a product in the sub $100 category - is a great 'value for money' hotel in its own niche. Similarly, in the off-site category, the Westin Sohna is a great 'outside the city' destination-hotel for a conference. Thus product differentiation is a critical ingredient in the hospitality character.
Gurgaon also benefits from another very important factor - proximity to the new international airport - where the 8 lane expressway takes only10 minutes to reach the heart of Gurgaon from the airport. This plays a key role in influencing both business and leisure travellers to stay here. Bolstering this is also the fact that Gurgaon has a plethora of vibrant shopping malls and a lively eating-out culture.
Most of the hospitality expansion in Gurgaon is from among international brands like Marriott, Hilton and Accor. These are hotels which sign management contracts with existing real estate developers, who then build these hotels in consultation with these management groups, for the latter manage and operate.
Gurgaon has been placed on the international hospitality map largely on account of two hotels operated by The Oberoi Group - The Oberoi and Trident. These two hotels have set new benchmarks in the international luxury segment. Trident, Gurgaon for many years has been voted as "Asia's Leading Luxury Hotel" and "Asia's Leading Hotel".
The continued success of Trident, Gurgaon, which did a monthly occupancy of 100 percent in the month of November 2007, and the recent opening of The Oberoi, Gurgaon (already voted "World's Leading Luxury Hotel") has really put Gurgaon on the world map of luxury accommodation.
The greatest testimony to the Gurgaon hospitality story comes with the fact that the World Travel Awards, the premier industry award forum (in association with BBC), comes to Gurgaon on the 12th of December 2012 to announce the "World's Leading Luxury Hotel" once again. This is probably the first time the "World's Leading Luxury Hotel" ceremony is coming to Asia - and choosing India and Gurgaon as the venue, is testament to this city being the new hub of hospitality in th country.
The hospitality district has a lot of smaller branded hotels, like The Country Inns & Suites, Lemon Tree, Sarovar Optus Premier etc., opening up. Going ahead, the success of all the hotels in the Gurgaon market will be very clearly based on a single factor - product differentiation.
It is important for hotels to have product differentiation relevant to the segment of guests they are targeting. This is key to making sure that the hotel is operationally profitable.
The Leela Kempinski in Gurgaon has huge banqueting spaces, making it an ideal venue for dealer meets and weddings.
The luxury spaces in banqueting at the Oberoi Gurgaon, on the edge of a water body, make it tailor-made for high-end corporate conferencing, and extremely exclusive social functions.
The Ibis - clearly defined as a product in the sub $100 category - is a great 'value for money' hotel in its own niche. Similarly, in the off-site category, the Westin Sohna is a great 'outside the city' destination-hotel for a conference. Thus product differentiation is a critical ingredient in the hospitality character.
Gurgaon also benefits from another very important factor - proximity to the new international airport - where the 8 lane expressway takes only10 minutes to reach the heart of Gurgaon from the airport. This plays a key role in influencing both business and leisure travellers to stay here. Bolstering this is also the fact that Gurgaon has a plethora of vibrant shopping malls and a lively eating-out culture.
Source: Economic Times
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