If one needs a proof of sustainability for the Indian growth story, JW Marriott’s plans for the country surely paints a bright picture. The group plans to operate 29 hotels in India by the last quarter of 2010. Presently it has 6 hotels in the country. The luxury hotel company on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with realty developer Emaar MGF for developing four hotels. Emaar will be developing these 4 hotels — in Amritsar, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad — for a total investment of $400 million. The hotel projects are likely to be completed by 2010-end. As part of the agreement, Emaar MGF will be the owner and developer of the proposed hotels and Marriott International shall provide advisory and management services for the planning, design, construction and operations.“As services, travel, and tourism sectors continue to show impressive growth in India, resultant demand for more hotel rooms is on an upswing. However, presently there is a shortage of about 1,50,000 rooms across all segments in the country and our partnership with Marriott is an endeavor towards effectively bridging this gap,” chairman and managing director, Emaar MGF, Shravan Gupta said.Hotels in New Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata will operate under the JW Marriott brand while the one in Amritsar will be called Courtyard by Marriott. Emaar MGF is also planning a pan India presence of its hotels and 10 hotels are already under construction, said Gupta.The company has also tied up with Accor to develop 100 Formule One brand of budget hotels to India. Targetted at the common man, these hotels will charge around Rs 2,000 per night. However, the contract with Marriott is only for luxury hotels, an official of the company said. The proposed 300-room hotel in Jasola, Delhi will be ready by the Commonwealth Games in 2010. In Hyderabad, the planned 250-room JW Marriott will come up at HITEC City as a part of Emaar MGF’s sprawling 531-acre integrated township in the IT hub of Hyderabad.
