Chennai Hotels thread

[ferrari_fan]

Yes they're both from Accor - didn't know they locate them together though.. Thanks for the info!

[sridhar_n]

Originally Posted by ferrari_fan

Yes they're both from Accor - didn't know they locate them together though.. Thanks for the info!

I wish this does not turn up like IBIS, Mumbai (near the airport). That hotel is pathetic.

[karkal]

IT sector lull hits business travel, hotel occupancies

By Sangeetha G. Dec 10 2012 , Chennai
Tags: News

Despite being almost halfway into the six-month long season, hotel industry is witnessing decline in occupancy from the business travel segment. Sectors like manufacturing and banking have not been able to make up for the lull in the IT sector.

“Business travel continues to be shaky and slow. The lull from the IT sector continues and the macroeconomic conditions in the Europe and the US has been impacting the sector,” said Sanjay Sethi, CEO and managing director of Ber*ggruen Hotels.

According to R Rangachari, advisor, South India Hotels and Restaurants Association, in terms of occupancies, business travel is seeing around 10 per cent dip against the same season last year. “The decline from the IT sector is around 20 per cent. The sector is directly impacted by the global economic developments. Travel itself has come down. Further, except for the top management people, most of the travelling IT professionals have been using serviced apartments than hotels,” he said.

Some of the sectors that have helped the hospitality industry in the occupancy front are manufacturing and banking.

“Officials from the manufacturing sector have been coming and going, but they too are not staying longer. There could be a growth of around 15 per cent in their occupancy against last year,” he said. However, the growth in these segments has not been able to compensate for the lull in IT.

Further, not much activity has been happening around meetings, incentives, conferences and entertainment (MICE) segment. The addition of new rooms and surplus inventory levels has been plaguing occupancy in many cities. “Despite well into the season most of the hotels have to remain competitive on the tariff front because of the high levels of inventory. A city like Chennai has added more than 1,500 rooms and a slowdown in MICE activities has gone against occupancies,” said T Natarajan, CEO, GRT Hotels and Resorts.

[Cosmicbliss]

Originally Posted by karkal

IT sector lull hits business travel, hotel occupancies

By Sangeetha G. Dec 10 2012 , Chennai
Tags: News

Something like Pragati Maidan in Delhi or the HICC in Hyderabad will be good for Chennai. Also, India lacks a world class amusement park. Something like the LegoPark coming up in Malaysia can be developed near Chennai, preferably on the Bangalore or Pondicherry road. A huge amusement park, on genuinely international standards, not the peanut sized amusement parks we have in India will boost the hotel industry in Chennai. Disney land in the USA is 30,000 acres. One thing I always felt bad is that while Chennai is a major auto hub in India, the Auto Expo is only in Delhi. Cannot the DMK/ADMK make a request and use their influence that auto expo be held every alternate year in Delhi and Chennai?

[krishnancv]

30,000 acres for an Amusement park is not possible in India. We are short of land resources and there are other more important needs for land.

[karkal]

Chennai hotel rooms sold out ahead of orthopaedic meet

Chennai, Dec. 13:

Thanks to the on-going 57th annual conference of Indian Orthopaedic Association, taking place in Chennai, hotel rooms in the city are almost sold out till December 16.

Some of the big properties, including ITC Grand Chola, Taj Coromandel, Hyatt Regency, Sheraton Park and Courtyard Marriott are running chock-a-block. This is despite the city being an oversupplied market as far as the hotel rooms are concerned.

In the last two years, more than 2,000 rooms were added in the city across brands including ITC, Hilton, Hyatt and Radisson. This took the room inventory tally close to 4,000.

According to industry experts, Chennai is on the verge of becoming one of the most favourite MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) destinations in the country. As of now, a few medical conferences and a big international leather fair are happening in the city, during which hotel rooms are expected to be sold out.

With these new hotels throwing open more conference halls and banqueting facilities, the city is all set to attract more such events.

In his recent interview to Business Line, Philippe H. Charraudeau, Vice-President and General Manager, ITC Grand Chola, said the new hotels would promote travel into the city from all over the world.

Being one of the biggest hotels in the country, ITC Grand Chola has close to 100,000 sq.ft. of banqueting and conference space.

The four-day orthopaedic conference is one of the annual blockbuster events that take place in Chennai.

ravikumar.ramanujam@thehindu.co.in

[Raji7373]

Originally Posted by karkal

IT sector lull hits business travel, hotel occupancies

By Sangeetha G. Dec 10 2012 , Chennai
Tags: News

This is Bullshit. In our company, we tried to book two rooms for delgates from Denmark on 12 & 13th but there was no rooms avaiable any where in the vicinity..Hilton was saying a rate of 14000+taxes, where our guests have stay for 6500 before some months back...Finally we had to put them in Park hyatt finally, as they had opened newly we were able to get it. We could not even get aloft..

Same way Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2, all hotel rooms in the city are sold out..we want to host a event in our company we could get rooms for 150 Pax. Now we have freezed with leela, which is yet to open.....

this is the scenaro and I don't understand what are they talking about..

[murlee]

Wow.. great to hear!!

[kannan infratech]

Originally Posted by Raji7373

This is Bullshit. In our company, we tried to book two rooms for delgates from Denmark on 12 & 13th but there was no rooms avaiable any where in the vicinity..Hilton was saying a rate of 14000+taxes, where our guests have stay for 6500 before some months back...Finally we had to put them in Park hyatt finally, as they had opened newly we were able to get it. We could not even get aloft..

Same way Jan 31, Feb 1 & 2, all hotel rooms in the city are sold out..we want to host a event in our company we could get rooms for 150 Pax. Now we have freezed with leela, which is yet to open.....

this is the scenaro and I don't understand what are they talking about..

Chennai will always have 100% bookings in all hotels during Dec - Jan period. Normal discounts available at other months will not be given.

I was told today that GRT has been booked almost for next 6 months for regular clients & bulk bookings.

IT & auto sectors are shifting to Serviced Apartments of late for mid level managers and lower cadres and even they are full now a days.

[karkal]

Good to know...Chennai Business climate is still rocking....

[chennaidesi]

Westin Velachery should prepone their opening.

[murlee]

They have started lighting the facade in Westin Velachery.. Looks cool at nights!

[sridhar_n]

any pictures pls?

[tamilnaduboy]

Originally Posted by iaafosc

In Bangalore ,the Novotel and Ibis hotels are in the same complex... dont they belong to the same group-ACCOR ??


Novotel-Ibis in marathalli, Bangalore ...Credits to karthiktantri for the photograph

As both of you have rightly mentioned... in most countries including Dubai Novotel and Ibis are within a stone's throw away..

[sridhar_n]

Deleted

[sridhar_n]

Interesting...

http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulli...hotel-lighting

[karkal]

India Hotel Market Reports Continued Performance Decreases in 2012

According to STR Global, India's hotel industry has reported year-to-date decreases in the three key performance metrics.

For the period January-to-October 2012 YTD, India's hotels on an average saw occupancy fall 0.8 percent to 57.7 percent, average daily rate drop 4.0 percent to INR6,117.72 and revenue per available room decrease 4.8 percent to INR3,532.54.

"The global economic slowdown and a substantial increase in inventory across cities continues to impact the hotel sector", said Vijay Thacker, director of Horwath HTL India. "The third quarter is typically slow for hoteliers, and this year it was no different. The declining demand and rate conditions throughout the year have proved to be worrisome for hoteliers as we enter into the final quarter of the year".

Among the markets in the region, Jaipur enjoyed the highest increase in YTD occupancy, rising 2.7 percent to 53.6 percent. Chennai (-7.8 percent to 60.5 percent) and Bangalore (-5.0 percent to 53.7 percent) reported the largest YTD occupancy decreases.

ADR growth was strongest in Goa, rising 5.8 percent to INR6,187.82. Bangalore fell 9.7 percent in ADR to INR6,363.64, experiencing the largest decrease in that metric, followed by Delhi NCR (-6.6 percent to INR7,504.03).

Goa (+4.7 percent to INR4,126.45) and Kolkata (+1.3 percent to INR4,338.99) achieved the only YTD RevPAR increases. Two markets experienced double-digit RevPAR declines: Bangalore (-14.2 percent to INR 3,414.92) and Chennai (-10.4 percent to INR 3,580.56).

"Out of the markets tracked by STR Global across India, Mumbai continued to lead in ADR and RevPAR terms", said Elizabeth Randall Winkle, managing director of STR Global, "reporting YTD ADR and RevPAR of INR 7,933.85 and INR 4,901.86 respectively".

[karkal]

Indian Hotels, Orient-Express on expansion mode

Even as the global economic slowdown and a substantial increase in inventory continue to impact the hotel sector, Indian Hotels Company Ltd and the US-listed Orient-Express Hotels are eager to drive value and strengthen their balance-sheet. Both companies are on an expansion spree.

Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) which runs the Taj Group of hotels, expects its full-service Gateway brand to reach at least 50 Gateway Hotels in India by 2015. Gateway Hotels and Resorts is set to open at least five new hotels across different metros over the next two years.

Five Gateway Hotels are in the final stages of construction in Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hubli and Faridabad. The hotel in Chennai is to be inaugurated as early as March next year.

Though the Gateway Hotels and Resorts has eight properties in Kerala under the Gateway and Vivanta brand, the company plans to open more Gateway brands in the State, with a new one expected in Kochi’s IT hub Kakkanad by next year.

Tier-I and Tier-II cities are to host more Gateway City Business hotels and management contracts have been signed for some 10 other hotels.
Orient-Express

In order to further enhance its portfolio of luxury properties, Bermuda-based Orient-Express Hotels has announced significant renovation plans at two of its top-performing properties. In 2013, the company is to enhance two of its Grand Hotel Europe, St Petersburg and Charleston Place, South Carolina properties.

IHCL is working on a revised offer to acquire Orient-Express Hotels.

Orient-Express is said to be arranging a new $50 million loan for the renovation of Grand Hotel Europe. The renovation is to cost $26 million, while $5.2 million has been slotted for the repayment of debt and costs.

The company recently closed the sale of The Westcliff in Johannesburg. The purchaser is a joint venture between Albwardy Investment and Hotels Properties, a Dubai-based private investment company. Orient-Express is to be retained as the manager of the hotel for a year.

On December 14, Orient-Express Hotels said it would open El Encanto, Santa Barbara, in March. The meticulously restored El Encanto is part of the luxurious and iconic Orient-Express Hotels portfolio. The early 20th century property was once the favoured getaway of Hollywood’s elite.

[karkal]

Will Leela's asset-light strategy pay off?

In an attempt to lower its debt, Leela is moving away from building hotels to the more cost-efficient strategy of lending its brand name to existing properties
Ruchika Chitravanshi / New Delhi December 20, 2012, 0:25 IST

Capt C P Krishnan Nair, 90, has been a trailblazer of sorts in the hotels business. His bold moves have almost always paid off. When no self-respecting Mumbai hotelier would think of any place other than the downtown areas, he opened the Leela Kempinski near the airport. By the time others acknowledged that he had got it right, Capt Nair had had a free run of almost a decade. Again in Bangalore, when nobody dared to charge more than Rs 7,000 a night, he moved in with double the price and, to the surprise of rivals, pulled it off. His beach property in Goa was another gamble. While all the tourists congregated at north Goa, his hotel was in the south.

“I am always original,” Capt Nair had told Business Standard a year ago. “When I set up (the resort) in Goa, nobody came there because it wasn’t popular. I had a campaign that the last man who walked on this beach was Vasco da Gama. Don’t you want to be there? I got a thousand enquiries on the first day. I sold out the resort in one campaign.”

The biggest gamble came last year when Hotel Leelaventure inaugurated the Leela Palace in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave. The hotel has 260 rooms and suites and cost the company Rs 1,700 crore. At Rs 6.53 crore per room, this is the most expensive hotel ever built in India. Henceforth, it will be a less risky strategy. The company has decided to switch to an asset-light strategy. This is the strategy leading hotel chains of the world have started to follow. They lend their brand names to hotels and also run them. The owner of the property gets a cut of the profits. So, top hotels around the world have come to be owned by real estate developers and other investors, though these are run by hotel chains. Hotel Leelaventure’s long-term strategy is to own certain trophy assets and do management contracts and branding for the rest of its properties. In an earlier conversation, Vivek Nair, vice-chairman and managing director of the Leela group, had said: “Our next cycle of growth is through management contracts.”

In Hotel Leelaventure’s case, the shift in strategy seems to have been caused by the huge debt of Rs 4,300 crore on its balance sheet. The company wants to bring it down to manageable limits by next year. To start with, it plans to hive off its non-core assets, mainly land banks in various parts of the country, to raise money. The company is planning to make Rs 700 crore by selling land parcels in Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and also a business park in Chennai. The company has already sold its Kovalam property for Rs 500 crore. According to people in the know, Hotel Leelaventure is scouting for buyers for its Chennai and New Delhi properties too. “A leading foreign luxury hotel has shown interest in the Leela Palace, New Delhi, and it has come closest to the asking price of Rs 2,000 crore,” says a senior executive close to the development who does not wish to be named. The company, on its part, did not respond to a query on this issue.

Debt burden
The Chennai hotel is ready, and the company is planning to open the sea-facing 11 floor, 326-room hotel very soon. “Leela over the years has established itself as a credible upscale brand. Most luxury hotels across the world are not serious cash cows but over a period they do generate good assets. They have built some really good properties and there will be a fair number of buyers if they decide to sell,” says Chintan Patel, director (real estate and hospitality), Ernst & Young.

Apart from sale of assets, the corporate debt restructuring of Hotel Leelaventure involves a moratorium on the payment of principal and interest on loans worth Rs 3,000 crore. In return, the promoters of the company, the Nair family, will have to infuse equity of Rs 200 crore. There is also a plan to bring in an additional amount of around Rs 2,000 crore through qualified institutional placement or foreign currency convertible bonds. But that will depend on how much the Nair family is willing to dilute its stake of around 60 per cent in the hotel. The ITC group, the tobacco, paper, FMCG, lifestyle and hotels conglomerate, along with its wholly-owned subsidiary Russell Credit, owns close to 13 per cent of the company. During the April-June quarter, Russell Credit had picked up another 1.1 per cent in the company.

Last year, Hotel Leelaventure had indicated that in case of any hostile takeover attempt from ITC, it could approach Mukesh Ambani to act as a white knight. “There is a lot of value in Leela’s underlying assets which people might be interested in. Besides, Leela has capable partners, in case (they are) needed,” Patel adds. For the moment, the threat seems to have receded. Earlier, under the takeover code of the Securities & Exchange Board of India, ITC would have had to make an open offer for another 20 per cent to the shareholders of Hotel Leelaventure the moment its stake hit 15 per cent. Now, that threshold has been raised to 25 per cent by the stock market regulator.

Debt restructuring aside, Leela is moving ahead with its expansion plans, although this time it is only limiting itself to signing management agreements with the developers. The company is coming up with its ninth property in Noida through a management contract agreement with real estate developer Supertech. The 250-room luxury property is expected to be ready by 2016 at an investment of Rs 450 crore. The hotel is part of the mixed-use project called Supernova with an overall investment of Rs 2,700 crore. The hospitality company is also launching Leela residences in partnership with Supertech to provide luxury service apartments.

Risks ahead
Compared to its peers like Taj which has the largest presence in the country and Oberoi which is a much older brand, Leela sits differently. “It has not been smart with its money. A hotel has to justify its cost by revenue which has not happened in case of the Chanakyapuri property, for instance,” a sector analyst says. Experts also point out that in these times of growing competition from domestic and international brands, Hotel Leelaventure has not been able to make its international foray. However, within India, the company is going to tie up with private equity investors to develop hotels in Agra and Lake Ashtamudi in Kerala where it owns land banks. It is also opening hotels in Jaipur and Bangalore. By 2016, the company would have over 3,000 rooms in its portfolio. Currently, it has around 2,200 rooms across eight hotels in Bangalore, Gurgaon, Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Goa, Kovalam and Udaipur. Of these, two follow the management contract model.

In a scenario where hotel room supply is pacing ahead of demand and the economy’s outlook is not at its brightest, industry experts point out that Hotel Leelaventure would do best to take measures to control costs and add to its bottom-line in addition to planning its debt.

[murlee]

'Good' views from Leela







Src: https://picasaweb.google.com/1128550...i?noredirect=1