JMD Steps into Hotel Industry

January 14, 2009	(Be the first to rate this story!)  Loading ...
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There is sudden activity in the hospitality and real estate businesses, despite the slowdown in this space. The Rs 140-crore real estate company JMD Group has forayed into the hotel business in India by roping in the US-based hospitality group Hilton Hotels’ Doubletree brand of luxury hotels. The Delhi-based company will spend around Rs 150 crore over the next two years to establish three hotels. “This is our maiden foray into the hospitality sector and makes us the official franchisee of the Doubletree brand in India,” JMD Group chairman and managing director Sunil Bedi told ET. “A 187-room hotel will open in Gurgaon in March next year ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Forty five per cent of the work has been completed.” Besides, Gurgaon and Ludhiana will have one four-star hotel each, consisting of 125-140 rooms.

The Indian hotel industry has witnessed a double whammy, thanks, in equal measure, to the Mumbai terror attacks and general economic slowdown. Hotel occupancies have dipped by nearly 50% in the past few months, triggering a fall in tariffs. Perhaps, the next year’s Commonwealth Games will revive the battered industry. The real estate slump has impacted JMD too. “The general economic slowdown has forced us to lower the rentals by 15%-20%. The prices of our properties have dropped by 10%-15%, depending on the locations,” says Mr Bedi.

The group has 20 mn square feet of land under construction across the country. It will benefit from the five-year tax break announced by the government last year for developers of two, three and four-star hotels, a move that attracted investments of nearly Rs 34,000 crore by 25 realtors in all. Doubletree Hotels is a brand of upscale accommodation, belonging to Hilton Hotels Corporation. Spread across 150 cities in the US, Canada and Latin America, it has formats ranging from hotels and guest suites to resorts and club hotels.

News Published Under:   Hotel Industry in India |

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