Star arrivals

Goregaon East. While Grand Sarovar,Trident Bandra

Kurla and Imperial Palace

are home-bred brands,the others are renowned

international names in the hospitality industry.

The surge may seem sudden but according to the figures provided to the Indian Express by HVS Hotel Management earlier,the city was supposed to have almost 20 new high-end hotels by 2012,including Shangri-La in Bandra Kurla and Radisson Plaza in Powai. However,only seven have managed to open. Satyen Shah of Shah and Rastogi,a commercial land broking film,attributes this to the recession. “These projects were planned in the early part of the decade when India was witnessing a boom. However,as the recession and inflation hit,investors backed out. The new hotels that we see today are either those with a strong investor backing or which had already taken off and were finally completed.”

Hotel manager Ugur Lee Kanbur,Westin Mumbai,considers Mumbai a competitive market though it has long-established brands,like the Taj and Oberoi group and Marriot. “It’s a growing market for the discerning traveller and also the economic centre of India.” Vishweshwar Raj Singh,general manager of Trident Bandra Kurla adds,“There is a significant market to cater to the business traveller and we enjoy the advantage of being the first hotel of this kind in the Bandra Kurla Complex.”

In a city with a space crunch and skyrocketing property prices,why would brands like Trident and Marriot want to invest in multiple properties? Singh says that Trident’s need arose from the informal division of Mumbai into north and south. “The spending habits and powers for these two geographical divisions vary. The South Mumbai customer is the high-end spender and often also a tourist,so the two properties —Oberoi and Trident cater to them. We focus on the emerging business centre in the north.” These two hotels also enjoy the advantages of belonging to already established brands. Hema Hariramani,director of sales and marketing,Marriot by Courtyard,says that it helps in the initial thrust. “But then the challenge is to create an independent identity.”

Kanbur points out that every new hotel requires a strong USP to survive in this market. “Westin is known for innovation in the lifestyle arena. From our Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Spa to Superfoods and Westin Workouts,we offer signature services over and above the regular facilities that every prominent hotel offers,” he points out. Oakwood Premier considers the service apartments concept as its strength. “The potential for this market to grow,though the base is pretty small right now,is extremely high,particularly due to the services sector. The IT,ITES,BPO,KPO,bio-technology industries,during new setups,consulting and financial services,cause an influx of hospitality clientele. Soon,visitors for medical tourism will join this client base too.”

According to Singh,the hotel restaurants play a role is establishing the equity of a hotel among locals. “We had expected most dinner guests to be hotel residents since it is out of the way for a regular diner but are surprised that the locals account for 45 per cent of guests at our restaurants. Word of mouth helps establish the brand and also ups the occupancy for banquets,” he says. Oakwood Premier too,realizing the potential,brought to Mumbai Azok,the first signature restaurant by Michelin star-winning chef Vineet Bhatia.

These hotels have arrived at a time when recession in India may have begun to show signs of easing up,while the international market,especially Europe,is still affected. The occupancy levels are a little more than half of what they were during the 2006-2008 boom. The terror attacks have added to it. But Kanbur says,“The response at early junctures of operation varies dramatically but has been encouraging.” The other hotels also share his opinion. However,Imperial Palace may not enjoy the same advantage—lack of maintenance have resulted in isolation with minimum occupancy.

On the face of it,Mumbai has started to look saturated but Balkrishna foresees a demand in the Eastern suburbs as the new airport is set to come up in Vashi. “The advantage of moving away from South Mumbai is clearly the proximity to the airports and the emerging business districts in Andheri,BKC,Goregaon,Malad,Vikhroli,Koparkhairane,Thane and beyond. We shouldn’t be surprised if we hear plans of hotels popping up in the Eastern suburbs,” says Hariramani.