Marriott International forayed into the Indian market about 10 years ago. Over the years, it has grown and today has 10 hotels under its management. The international lodging company, which expects a 20% decline in its revenues this year because of various factors including recession, is quite confident that the real recovery for the industry would happen towards the end of next year. Rajeev Menon, area vice-president (India, Malaysis, Maldives and Pakistan), Marriott Hotels India Pvt Ltd in an interview with FE?s Kavitha Venkatraman during his visit to Hyderabad speaks about the impact of recession, road map for the company and competition in the industry. Excerpts:

What has been the impact of Dubai crisis on the industry?

It is little too early to say anything on that. Right now, we are not seeing any impact of this crisis on the industry. On the contrary, we are seeing certain green shoots appearing across the country particularly in the meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions (MICE) segment. There is good growth coming predominantly through Indian companies.

Dubai-World, the corporation floated by the Dubai government sought six month payment delay for its loans. If the crisis becomes a sovereign insolvency issue, meaning if Dubai shows that it is going bankrupt then it would have dramatic impact globally. A clear sense is prevailing that Abu Dhabi will bail them out on a case-to-case basis. The way the stock market has bounced back over the last one week proves a point that it is not a case of sovereign solvency challenge. So from our perspective, so far, there is no impact on the Indian industry.

Is recession over for the industry?

I do not think it is over. Through the course of this year and in fact over the last 16 months, we have seen decline in our revenues by about 20%. For us, besides recession there were several other factors that had contributed to lower revenues like for instance, the Mumbai terror attacks, IPL matches not being held in the country, elections, swine flu etc.

Since October 2009, we have started seeing some green shoots. The forecast which we do every month also reflect some positive signs.

Indian economy has been relatively resilient and has started bouncing back. Domestic and international companies, which have a big presence in the country have started doing their meetings and conferences.

According to my opinion, the real recovery will happen towards the end of next calendar year. There is only going to be marginal growth say 2%-5% this year. This is the same industry which used to record an average growth of 25%-40% every year, for nearly five years, prior to the recession and other disturbing factors.

In 2008, in India, Marriott?s revenues were at $170 million and in the year ending December 2010 we expect to touch $250 million. This year, however, we expect a 20% decline in our revenues among all our operating hotels.

What are your plans for Indian market?

This year, we propose to add 800-900 odd rooms to our existing 2, 000 rooms. We will be opening Courtyard by Marriott in Gurgaon and one in Ahmedabad by the end of the year.

By the end of the first quarter of next year, we will have six Courtyard by Marriott.

We will widen our presence by venturing into secondary cities like Lucknow, Amrtisar, Nasik, Kochi. Besides, we would be having three JW Marriott one each in Chennai, Bangalore and Chandigarh. Our plan is to have 36 hotels operating in the country by 2012.