Small is the new big

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Global, which is currently coming up with a business hotel in Bangalore - Whitefield by the end of the year and has plans to make its presence felt in Vizag, Jaipur, Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Cochin is expecting returns of around 20% on a year on year basis. “We saw a large gap between demand and supply and decided to expand our business in these cities,” says Priti Chand, director, PR & communications, Phoenix Group Global.

Lemon Tree Hotels targets occupancies of 70% plus in the city that they operate in, at an average room rate of 60-70% that of a 5-star hotel. “Demand for hotel rooms in these cities is often greater than the supply of rooms and supports these aggressive business plans,” says Aradhana Lal, vice president-sales & marketing, The Lemon Tree Hotel Company, which has hotels in Pune and Goa and is building hotels in other tier II cities like Ahmedabad, Indore, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Ranchi and Shimla.

Multi-cuisine dining, a bar, recreation and fitness facilities, a swimming pool (where possible) as well as a business centre, wi-fi facility, meeting rooms and state of the art conference halls are some of the basic facilities a majority of these hotels offer. And with tariffs suiting the travel pockets, the popularity of these hotels is going north. At the Fortune Landmark Indore, the tariff for a single standard room comes to about Rs 4,000 (as per the hotel website). At the Lemon Tree Hotel, Hinjawadi, Pune a single superior room costs Rs 8,000 per night, which is far less than what a luxury hotel has to offer in a metro.

There are, however, a few speed-breakers. One problem that a business traveller faces in these small cities is lack of transportation. “Often I do get a cab booked for the entire day beforehand when I travel. But yes, during one of my visits I did face some difficulty in finding a taxi, and even the hotel staff was unable to help me. I think in that respect, a lot needs to be done in these smaller cities,” said Rahul Pande, a frequent business traveller. But most are optimistic that it is just a matter of time before these issues get sorted out.