Le Meridien plans 2 more hotels in India this year

Prasanna Upadhyay

Mumbai, Jan 2: The Le Meridien group is planning to set up two more hotels in India this year, and industry sources said that the group has identified Ahmedabad and Baroda as the two new destinations.

Both the hotels would offer five-star facilities on the same lines as the one in Mumbai though they would not be deluxe. A senior Le Meridian official when contacted said that the company is working on the strategy for expanding their chain of hotels to secondary cities in India. However, the official did not give any details regarding the two new projects.

Industry sources said that the two new hotels could be franchised properties on the same lines as Le Meridien in Delhi and Banglaore. But nothing has been finalised as yet. Sources said that the company is targetting four hotels in secondary cities in the near future.

The luxury global hotel chain has a current portfolio of 144 hotels — 126 Meridien properties, 18 principle hotels in 57 countries. It is the largest international hotel operator in India and runs six hotels in India in Pune, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Cochin.

Earlier, Le Meridien managing director of its Indian Ocean, Middle East and Africa region, Sami Zoghbi had said that the group would continue to grow and double its presence in these regions in the next five years.

According to industry experts, the demand for five-star hotels in smaller cities and towns in India is on the rise.

Experts add that the demand in smaller cities is being felt by all the big hotel chains and most of them are planning to come up with hotels in secondary cities. Indian Hotel Corporation of India (IHCI) is also planning to set up Budget hotels in secondary cities and towns.