epages News [Restaurants]

Expocity all set to get launched

Dec 16, 2004: Hyderabad seems to be getting better by the day with new tourist attractions, in the form of Expocity, a 14 storied Food & Recreation City at Lower Tank Bund, that will be ready by April, 2005. The project is being developed by ITI Group, India in collaboration with Youth Administration, Tourism & Culture Department.

Five floors of the complex has already been completed & the overall facility is likely to be fully operational by next year-end.

Well-spread over 1.20 lakh sq ft area, the cover would have state of the art facilities like a business centre, habitat centre & exposition centres apart from a food & recreation centre.

Fast food joints, luxury rooms, coffee bars, restaurants, health clubs, spa & pub dot the facility. Some of the leading brands in the Food & Beverage sectors have confirmed their bookings. Once ready it will be the place for national & international cuisine.

When completed, it will be one of a kind that will illuminate the city & spread its reputation as a city to make a detour to.

City gets set for Delicious Kebab Festival

Nov 20, 2004: The two F’s flavour and fervour returns with a slam bang power on November 27th, 2004. It heralds the onset of a sumptuous Kebab festival at the Hotel Blue Flower Restaurant, Taj Residency and a going rate will be Rs 425/-.The yummy festival will put together a dream collection of some of the most delicious Kebab varieties in the market.

The cuisine blends in itself the best of flavour that reveals the best of tasteful aroma and contentment which makes eating kebabs a delight. It combines in itself the best of traditional and modern kebab cuisine contents and seeks to penetrate the inner bellies of the foodies and smoothen their murmurs with relative ease. It will showcase a sprinkling of the flavours of the city such as biryani, chicken mutton and fried rice that are all time favourites.

Well cooked with Chicken laced over a charcoal grillalong with freshly prepared biryani and mouth watering salan, a fine collection of salad and finished with chilli mirchi sauce, makes the whole ball game of eating kebabs a delight and an experience to remember for ages.

It remains that time of the year when people love eating out and goad them to avail of the excellent opportunity to tuck into some of the best and finest kebabs on view in the market. The festival would showcases a variety of kebabs such as Biryani, Sprouted kebabs, Shammi kebab & Potti kebab for the non-vegetarians. The vegetarian has for their taste Dohi Ka Kebab, Zafani Paneer Kebab and the Gulab Kebab

What’s more they can be eaten with soulful ghazals being played in the back ground along with tilting tunes crooning at melodious best. Tuck into them with a feeling of a food starved gourmand and scoot off with the relish of a well-satisfied gourmand. That’s called“Wow! What a eat out……”

Hotel room e-sales zoom 71% to $24 m

Feb 27, 2004: Bangalore: The Indian hospitality industry is virtually rocking on its electronic or e-distribution channels, the primary source of the dollar tariffs earned by its rooms. Its share in the industry’s topline has increased from a modest 8-10% to 12-18%. The US, of course, is the biggest customer for reserving rooms on the global distribution system’s (GDS) hotel and travel websites. A distant number two is the UK, followed by major European markets and rest of the world. The key metros of New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Goa and Jaipur have together generated in excess of $24 million of dollar revenues against room bookings in 2003, climbing an impressive 71% over the previous year.

The forex bookings on the GDS follows two routes—a negotiated rate format popular with large corporates and the unstructured market. The latter involves walk-ins to travel agents and direct buying off the Net by corporate as well as holidaymakers at higher than the negotiated tariffs. While hotels typically place between 15% to 30% of their room inventories on the GDS, some hotels are known to open up their entire capacity on the system. On a nationwide scale, Leela Palace in Bangalore averaged the best dollar rates through the year, at $191, followed by Intercontinental Marine Drive in Mumbai, Oberoi Mumbai and Imperial in New Delhi.

Jet Airways ties up with Hyatt hotel chain

Feb 21, 2004: New Delhi: Keeping in view the increased chances of government allowing private domestic airlines to fly abroad, Jet Airways has entered into a global tie-up with the international hotel chain Hyatt, making it its first global hotel partner. The premier domestic airline connected its three-tier frequent flier programme, Jet Privilege, with the global alliance, making a JP member earn 500 miles if they stayed at any property of Hyatt Hotels and Resorts worldwide, the airline said in a release. It said the JP members would get extra benefits while staying at Hyatt hotel in India and Nepal through 2004. The JP Gold member would also be entitled to a complimentary room upgrade to the next category at all Hyatt hotels and resorts in India and Nepal till 2004-end.

Ohri's plans to set up hotels in Karnataka & Maharashtra

Feb 20, 2004: Hyderabad: After establishing four restaurants and food courts in different places in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad, the city-based Ohri’s Group is planning to expand its operations into the neighbouring Karnataka and Maharashtra. Ohri’s Group of restaurants are looking at places like Pune and Bangalore for opening new restaurants and planned to open ‘Havmore’ ice cream and desserts restaurant in Pune and Cuisine Court in Bangalore. Speaking to the media on the eve of launching ‘Ohri’s Banjara’ food court complex, built on 26,000 sq ft at a cost of Rs 7.5 crore, Mr Amar Ohri said the latest one in Banjara Hills is the group’s fourth restaurant in the city.

It set up the first one, Hotel Basera, in Secunderabad in 1981, and subsequently, it opened two food courts in Bashirbagh and in the recently opened Prasad’s Imax Theatre. “But, our latest venture, Ohri’s Banjara has been set up as a different concept, what is known as a boutique food court, which has three restaurants: Havmore, Tadka and Far East, and 25-rooms of three-star standard,” said Ravi Kumar Ohri, chairman and managing director. While Havmore and Tadka are set for formal launch on Friday, the other one, ‘Far East’ restaurant, a one-stop place for popular Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese and Singaporean dishes, would be opened in a month.

Taj gives a facelift to Connemara

Feb 11, 2004: Chennai: In line with the makeover at Taj Group’s business hotels, Taj Connemara in Chennai has been spruced up to suit the modern business traveller. The facelift programme is underway at Taj’s business hotel properties in Mumbai, Bangalore , Chennai and Columbo. The division has set aside a capital expenditure of Rs 50 crore on renovating the three properties in India . The division spent about Rs 35-40 crore last year on renovating the properties in Bangalore and Mumbai. Post-renovation, the tariff at Taj Connemara the hotel will increase by 15-20% from Rs 5000 charged at present. All the 65 rooms at Connemara have been renovated.

Great Eastern Hotel to be finally up for sale

Jan 08, 2004: Bangalore: With peace at the end of the Indo-Pak tunnel, the Indian travel and tourism industry is now avidly waiting to cross the next big frontier the P2P line. India can expect at least a million more people every year from Pakistan by air, rail and road transport, say tour operators. Travel trade majors like Thomas Cook, Kuoni and Travel House are already firming up their plans for a massive people-to-people cross-border movement. While the case for medical tourism and coming together of sundered friends and relatives has hogged quite a bit of the national limelight, travel experts are looking beyond. Cricket, Bollywood, fashion, pilgrim destinations and an opportunity to jus’ plain live it up and make whoopee is expected to draw a huge wave of visitors from Pakistan.

To start with, travel companies are exploring the possibility of initiating a large cricket tourism movement during the Indo-Pak matches this March. Thomas Cook India, which is the administrative head for its Pakistan outfit, is already planning a major expansion of its business once relations between the two countries are back on track. The economy of Kashmir on both sides of the border may also experience a dramatic upswing, given the strong role played by tourism in the region. Even under the less-than-friendly relations between the two countries, the spice trade is estimated at Rs 1,200 crore. Normalcy and peace can obviously multiply these numbers several fold. Sources hoped that the “strategic sale” of Great Eastern Hotel would open the floodgates of interest from the leading consultants, who in turn would be able to bring in “right investors for the right projects” through transparent means.

Choice aims to double hotels to 50 in 2 yrs

Jan 05, 2004: New Delhi: Having identified India as a vital market for growth, US-based Choice Hotels International plans to double its chain of mid-market hotels in the country to 50 by 2006. The company is also readying to launch its 'Clarion' brand with Delhi 's Qutub hotel within 18 months. The four billion dollar Choice Hotels, which has over 5,000 hotels in 48 countries, operates in India through Choice Hospitality, its master franchisee for the brands -'Clarion', 'Quality', 'Comfort Inn' and 'Sleep Inn'. The hotels, which mainly cater to frequent business travellers, witnessed the occupancy rate surge to over 70% this year after a 2-3 years downturn following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US. At present, the hotels are operated under the 'Quality' and 'Comfort Inn' brands but there were plans to introduce the 'Sleep Inn' brand in the country.

Park to set up a Rs 100 crore 5-star hotel in Mumbai

Jan 03, 2004: Chennai: The Park Group of Hotels is pushing for expansion into destinations like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kochi and Rajasthan. The group is eyeing Mumbai on a priority basis. By the look of things, the Park Group could be eyeing an investment of over Rs 100 crore on a five-star property in Mumbai. The group already has properties in the other metros of Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai. The company invested Rs 110 crore to create a five-star hotel in Chennai a year back.

It also has its hotels in Bangalore and Vizag. With its five hotels, the Park Group offers over 600 rooms. The group would like to be present around the business centres in India. The smaller destinations of Kochi and Rajasthan is aimed at the leisure traveller. The Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, Goa and Kerala attract the lion’s share of foreign tourists into India. Connectivity by air, sea, rail, road and broadband would be paramount in choosing the smaller destinations, sources in Park Group said. For the leisure destinations, the group is open to a four-star category. The Park Group is known for its style, positioning and branding and likes to call itself a collection of hotels. The hotels are targeted at the top-end business customers. The Rs 110-crore Park Chennai is the group’s latest addition to its boutique of hotels. The 215-room hotel is enjoying 90% occupancy over the last two months owing to buoyancy in the economy. Park Hotels is part of the Apeejay Surendra Group, which has interests in tea plantations, hotels and restaurants.

Lehman takes control of le Meridien

Jan 02, 2004: New York: Investment bank Lehman Brothers effectively took control of hotelier Le Meridien after it and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide acquired $1.3bn of the British group’s debt at a discount. Lehman will take over $1.1bn of the hotel and resort company’s outstanding senior debt, with Starwood funding another $200m, according to a Starwood statement. Lehman and Starwood also have agreed to negotiate the recapitalisation of Le Meridien in the coming months, the statement said. Starwood has an exclusive agreement with Lehman and the debt holders that gives it the first option to own or manage all or some of Le Meridien’s properties down the road. Both companies did not comment on actual ownership of Le Meridien or whether a final decision would have to wait until recapitalisation. The companies did not say at what discount they bought the debt.

Privately owned Le Meridien had been trying to restructure after breaching agreements with creditors. It had fallen into trouble earlier this year after being hit hard by a slowing economy and slumping tourism. The company’s senior banks, including Merrill Lynch, Canada’s CIBC and up to 12 other banks, are owed about £750m and have threatened to throw Le Meridien into administration if it did not find new financing.

Marrybrown plans 100 food stores

Dec 30, 2003: Hyderabad: Marrybrown Family Restaurant (India), which operates the Marrybrown food chain in India, plans to open 100 fast food outlets in the country over the next five years. The company, promoted by MGM Group of Chennai, opened its first family restaurant in Hyderabad and plans to open four more stores within one year.

With the Hyderabad launch, Marrybrown has opened 12 stores in South India within three years. "We would be one of the fastest growing food chains in India and plan to open around 100 stores in the next five years. In Hyderabad, we plan to open four stores within one year," the company's director, Mr MGM Anand said at a press conference here on Saturday. The Hyderabad outlet has been franchised by Pitstop Foods at Prasad's Imax which can accommodate 100 people and includes a separate fun zone.

Hotel majors line up for projects in Surat

Dec 29, 2003: Ahmedabad: After years of being cold-shouldered by the hospitality industry, Gujarat’s diamond and textile city Surat is suddenly finding itself on the itinerary of hotel majors— big time. With the glitter of diamonds, the rustle of artificial silk and the aroma of petrol in Hazira increasingly driving corporate and business traffic to Surat, and the much awaited airport project seemingly taxiing for takeoff only expected to accelerate this, hoteliers are smelling a business opportunity. At present, Surat has only a single five-star hotel to boast of the 132-room Holiday Inn at the upmarket Parle Point area and a 90-odd room three-star Lords Park Inn near the railway station. While Tata group’s Taj hotels is planning to set up a presence there, industry sources reveal that Oberoi group too is eyeing Surat as a location for its Trident budget hotel brand. At present, Surat attracts buyers of polished diamonds from US, Germany, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and Middle-East, most of whom are put up by local diamond merchants at their palatial bungalows and farm houses because of security issues. One of the major lack of good stay options in Surat could be its proximity to Mumbai, which accounts for a chunk of inbound traffic, because of which people prefer to travel by road and avoid night stays.

Fast-food chains get a neat treat out here

Dec 27, 2003: Customers are trooping into fast-food restaurants in large numbers, especially in the metros, and the big chains report impressive footfalls in their outlets. With outlets mushrooming across India, India ’s fast-food lifestyle has really taken off. Subway, a relatively niche player in fast-food dining with 15 outlets, serves around 500 customers everyday in its Delhi outlet alone. Growth of fast-food chains is being led by a boom of outlets in the metros. Of McDonald’s 50 outlets, 16 are in Mumbai and 23 in Delhi. Of Pizza Hut’s 67 outlets across 15 cities, 10 are in Mumbai and 17 in Delhi NCR. And of Dominos’ 79 outlets, 15 are in Delhi. They have an eager, growing middle-class customer base panting for more.

Future expansion plans are impressive. Five more KFC outlets are being planned in India in the coming year, which will follow up the present one in Bangalore. Nirula’s plans to expand the chain in ten zones across India, with an investment of Rs 90 crore towards a target of 100 outlets by the year ’06. Yum Brands, which is growing by 50%, is looking at 100 outlets of Pizza Hut by the end of next year and Subway hopes to hit 200 outlets in India by ’10. Ten more McDonald’s are planned in the western region by the end of ’04, as well as a foray down south, opening their first outlet in Bangalore, and a planned investment of Rs 100 crore for expansion into smaller cities. And it is not just the big metros that have been swept up on the burger and pizza wave. Even smaller cities like Surat and Amritsar sport the Dominos logo and the golden arches on their skylines.

Hotels booked till Jan as revellers get ready for the big bash

Dec 24, 2003: Panaji: With beach resorts and hotels virtually flashing ‘House-full’ boards and room tariffs set to sky-rocket for the fortnight, Goa is all set to reassert itself as the leading X’mas and New Year destination in the country. For most beach resorts, the guest lists for the Christmas and New Year celebrations read like a who’s-who from Bollywood, industry and politics. Tariffs have shot up simply because the demand has outstripped supply. Hoteliers describe this as “a healthy situation after the past three years of zero growth with regards to rates.” The rise in tariffs is sought to be justified by comparing the facilities that have been added by hotels compared to just two years ago. The five star resorts continue to have a good mix of foreign and domestic tourists. They describe it as a successful strategy for the past two years to maintain well-balanced customer segmentation and that includes a strong domestic part.

To counter the problem faced from the beach shacks, many five star resorts have themselves developed own shacks on the beach facing the resorts to ensure that the customer gets the ambience and experience in house. Many in the industry express concern that Goa’s beaches are becoming a market place for Kashmiri traders and endless rows of Shacks, especially in the North. The tourist searching for peace and quietness and a lonely Shack, where he can rest after a walk on the beach is now confronted with Supermarket style Shacks selling not only Kingfisher and Fish curry, but also carpets, souvenirs, chair lounges and drugs. They opine that the government which wants to project itself as a leading destination must control this situation.

Hotels taste suite success, to hike room rates by 35%

Dec 22, 2003: Mumbai: Hotel companies are hiking their average room rates (ARR) by about 35% for the second time in less than four months, as the hospitality industry basks in the unexpected glow of a surging economy and rising optimism. The ARR will rise to $125 from $92 from January ’04. The hospitality industry revises room rates every year in October and the rates remain unchanged for a year. In October ’03, hotel companies hiked their room rates marginally by 5-8%, and withdrew all discounts and freebies owing to improved occupancies. Industry analysts said the hospitality sector is likely to do much better owing to the turn-around in the economy, growth in business travellers and domestic tourism. The demand for hotel rooms will outstrip supply in the immediate future, as there is no fresh supply of rooms. It was the demand-supply mismatch, which had forced hotel companies to sell at discounted rates.

The demand for hotel rooms in eight key cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Agra, Goa and Jaipur is likely to grow by 10%. These cities account for over 80% of the demand for hotel rooms in the premium segment. Against an estimated growth of 10% for hotel rooms during the next five years, there is no further increase in the supply of hotel rooms. Analysts said hotel companies were busy stabilising operations in the newly commissioned hotel properties during ’00 and ’01. And none of the companies have outlined expansion plans in any of the major cities. Hotel companies in India have historically had less than 10% of the total room revenues from walk-in guests paying the high published tariff rates. The published tariffs rates are on higher side exceeding $200 per day. Hospitality companies sell rooms at huge discounts and have various sources of business varying from tour operators, event management companies and corporate clients. As a result, their ARR works out much lower than their rack rates.

Taj Hotels to raise $150m to finance expansion

Dec 18, 2003: Mumbai: Indian Hotels (IHC), which manages the Taj group of Hotels, plans to raise $150m (Rs 486 crore) in foreign debt to fund its expansion plans in India and abroad. The hotel chain, which announced in early December that it would raise $75m in foreign debt, has now doubled its debt provision. Taj officials said the funds would be raised over the next one year, and the board has sought approval for it. Taj had bid for the prestigious Carlyle hotel in New York in ’00. But the deal fell through as the hotel chain failed to raise funds in time. The group needs funds before it can bid for any international hotel property. Industry sources said Taj has plans to invest in a premium hotel property in the US. The group is also keen to invest in Russia and China.

Le Meridien aims to have 15 hotels in India by '05

Dec 18, 2003: Jaipur: Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts have set a target of opening 15 properties in India by the year 2005, and asked the government to further liberalise the aviation sector to boost the country's tourism industry. "We will have at least 15 hotels in the country by 2005, becoming the largest international chain of hotels and resorts in India. This leaves our nearest competitors way behind us," Ashok Ummat, Senior Vice President (finance and development), Middle East and West Asia, said after the launch of Le Meridien, Jaipur. "We have immense faith in India's strong economic fundamentals indicative of growing prosperity. The number of business as well as casual visitors to the country is showing steady increase," he said. India's tourism industry is poised to take a big leap.

In India, the group is looking to enter new areas like Gurgaon (Haryana), Hyderabad, Goa and Chandigarh. The potential of these places has not been properly harnessed. Hotels in Karachi and Kathmandu would be coming up next year besides three hotels in Saudi Arabia - Mecca, Medina and Taif. Observing that hospitality industry generated large employment opportunities. Ruling out any arrangement with any other hotel chain in the country, the company is inclined to forge partnerships only with individual units.

It's destination Asia for hotel MNCs

Dec 15, 2003: New Delhi: After facing saturation in North America and Europe, the battle for global dominance in the hotel industry is now being fought in Asia, with the world’s biggest chains planning massive expansion. In India, too, the industry’s leading international players have turned their considerable energies to developing new properties. Some new chains like Four Seasons Hotels, Courtyard by Marriott recently announced their plans for India. Existing international chains like Marriott International, Best Western, Choice Hotels, Carlson Hospitality and Hilton are also looking at India with a vengeance. Hilton recently announced a franchise agreement with India ’s EIH and Oberoi Hotels, which will see nine Trident Hilton hotels in the country from January 1. Marriott recently opened three hotels in Shanghai and plans to open 14 more in Asia next year, including its first resort in China and an expansion of its Courtyard brand in Australia and New Zealand. Hospitality major, Four Seasons Hotels, to mark its presence in India, has tied up with Magus Estates and Hotels to open a hotel, to be called Four Seasons Hotel Mumbai, located at Worli. The $70-million project is expected to open in 2005.

Another hospitality bigwig, Carlson Hospitality is in the process of setting up nineteen properties in India are under various stages of development spread over various brands including Radisson, Park Inn, Park Plaza and Country Inns and Suites. US hospitality and real estate major, Cendant Corp also plans to increase its presence in India through its mid- market brands- Ramada and days Inn. Meanwhile, Hilton International aims to boost its portfolio in the Asian region from the current 34 to 60 within three years and increase revenues by 50%. The mid-market hotel chain, Best Western International also plans to add more than 50 hotels in the Asian region in the next two years. To support its aggressive Asian expansion strategy, Best Western opened an office in Beijing earlier this year. Its Asian development plans also include new hotels in Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and India.

Dec holiday spectre may haunt hotels in metros

Dec 03, 2003: Bangalore: While airline seats might be hot property in December especially from second half to mid-January when the festive and holiday spirit peaks, it’s an altogether different story for the hotel industry in the metros where room revenues drop sharply. As a result Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai hotels are all looking to make the best of the first 15-20 days, since bulk of its export corporate audience will leave the Indian shores on vacation in the December 19-20 to January 7-10 spell. In sharp contrast, hotels in leisure getaways like Kerala and Goa will get to enjoy their place under the Sun through the month and charge the top dollar from domestic as well as international travellers. This winter, Goa is back with a bang on the international charter holiday map.

Big spenders from Europe including Russia, are in Goa for a piece of the sun and sands, instead of being just bag packers who were growing in numbers in recent years. While all the lead metros are celebrating high occupancies in the first half of December, Bangalore hotels are in a record 90-100% bracket. Unlike Delhi and Mumbai, which have much bigger inventories, the demand in Bangalore clearly outstrips its modest room supply allowing the trade to charge higher tariffs and also record very high occupancies. Along with MNCs, business travel by domestic corporates will also slow down in December. Even mid-size hotels which rely on smaller business travellers will also be impacted. But the upwardly mobile high networth individuals will bring some leisure business to star hotels even in metros. Since the year has been good, the top hotels for instance, in the south, will avoid discounting for short term gains and will hold the price line.

MBD to launch Radisson MBD Hotel in Noida

Nov 22, 2003: New Delhi: Publishing giant MBD group strengthened its foray into hospitality business by announcing the launch of Radisson MBD Hotel in Noida and said the new venture would start meeting operational costs by April next year. As part of diversification programme, MBD group, after acquiring ITDC Hotel Airport Ashok in Kolkata, now named MBD Airport, plans to bring up hotels in Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The hotel, built with an initial investment of about Rs 55 crore, would meet operational costs by April next year. MBD has entered into a franchise agreement with Radisson Hotels and Resorts, a group company of Carlson Hotels Worldwide. The $38 billion Carlson group would also provide consultancy to the hotel, the first five-star deluxe in Noida, in all its departments.

 
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