Bengaluru
Hilton Worldwide, a global hospitality chain headquartered in Virginia, has plans to double its presence in the country in the next five years, said Navjit Ahluwalia, Senior Vice President and Country Head, Hilton India.
“We are planning to double our presence in India in the next five years,” he said. “We have 14 hotels currently under development in the country with some 10 builders and the pipeline keeps growing,’‘ Mr. Ahluwalia told The Hindu.
These hotels, planned under multi-brands would come up in Varanasi, Jabalpur, Mumbai, and in other parts of the country, and would be operational in the next three years, he said.
Hilton currently has 24 hotels in the country under five brands: Conrad, Hilton, Hilton Garden In, DoubleTree and Hampton.
Hilton was also planning to introduce luxury brands such as Waldorf Astoria in all metros and key resort location,s including Goa and Rajasthan. The company would also bring ‘full-service’, lifestyle brands such as Curio, Tapestry and Canopy to India soon, he added.
According to Mr. Ahluwalia, most Hilton properties in the country would be `full-service’ properties comprising business, leisure and MICE facilities.
“In India, the large bulk of the population is looking for affordable, `full-service hotels. Such hotels will do well in the country as customers want different categories/spaces at different price points for business, leisure, conventions and fat weddings,’‘ he observed.
Seeing robust recovery
The hospitality industry in the country was expected to rebound and reach pre-COVID-era numbers between the October 2022 and March 2023 time frame and it was already witnessing a recovery of 50% of pre-COVID levels, Mr. Ahluwalia said.
“Domestic leisure-travel segment has also been picking up significantly, a trend which we are seeing in China as well. We are expecting an overall recovery in the third quarter of calendar 2022,’‘ he added.
