Holiday Inn Express forays in India with 173-rrom property in Ahmedabad

Holiday Inn Express forays in India with 173-rrom property in AhmedabadHoliday Inn Express announced the launch of its first property in India on Tuesday. The 173-room property in the central business district of Ahmedabad is the brand's only second in South East Asia.

It is a joint venture (JV) between Duet India Hotels (DIH) and InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). DIH and IHG hold 76 per cent and 24 per cent equity stakes in the JV, respectively.

The JV said their first hotel in Ahmedabad had been developed to meet the soaring demand for mid-market hotel rooms by business travellers.

Duet India Hotels President Naveen Jain said, "The business traveller segment has been clocking a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 13 per cent, which is the segment we are eyeing to cater."

Jain added that hotel occupancy rates have improved by nearly 10 per cent year-on-year in 2012. He attributed the increased demand to the more frequent visits of business travellers from various companies, including pharmaceutical, automobile and chemical, to the city.

According to the company's estimates, there will be demand for 360,000 hotel rooms in the country by the year of 2020, but currently there are only 163,000 hotel rooms available. Thus, there is still a gap of nearly 180,000 rooms.

The JV expects its first property in Ahmedabad to start with occupancy rate of 45-50 per cent and eventually stabilize between 75 per cent and 80 per cent.

The JV's under development projects includes two hotels in Chennai, two in Navi Mumbai and one in Hyderabad. The JV has plans to develop another eighteen properties in India under the Holiday Inn Express brand.