ITC Hotels to focus more on upper upscale brand WelcomHotels
, ET Bureau|
Updated: Jan 19, 2018, 11.01 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Betting on growing domestic and business tourism in the country, luxury hotel chain ITC Hotels has decided to increasingly focus on its upper upscale brand WelcomHotels going forward.
"We currently have 14 WelcomHotels. Of these, nine are managed. Seven out of these nine have come up over the past two years. In the upper upscale space, we were initially slow. As we have augmented our capacities in the metros and destinations across the country and we see some amount of tapering in the luxury space, we feel now is the time to grow our Welcomhotels brand," Dipak Haksar, chief executive of ITC Hotels and Welcom-Hotels, told ET.
ITC Hotels has 5 WelcomHotels coming up in locations such as Chail, Dharamshala, Amritsar, Guntur and Bhubaneswar. Besides WelcomHotels, ITC Hotels, which has over 100 hotels across brands, will launch a luxury property in Hyderabad in April this year.
"We are talking to investors and are looking for more partners. In 2018, we should also have more management contracts and sign-ups for WelcomHotels. It is a brand for the young, millennial travellers and we do see a potential for WelcomHotels to grow in resort and quaint locations as well as state capitals and tier-II cities. People see great value in their association with ITC," said Haksar.
ITC Hotels has a total of 27 hotels in the pipeline and Haksar said the company should end this financial year with double digit growth. "2017 has been a good year and we expect more firming up of prices. Some of the disruptions of 2017 look like they are behind us. Tourism will show more robustness."
Hotel chains had expressed concerns regarding the 28% tax on luxury chains under the Goods and Services Tax regime last year.
"We are seeing the benefits of tourism and are looking at investing further in the mid-scale and upper upscale segment," said Haksar.
"We currently have 14 WelcomHotels. Of these, nine are managed. Seven out of these nine have come up over the past two years. In the upper upscale space, we were initially slow. As we have augmented our capacities in the metros and destinations across the country and we see some amount of tapering in the luxury space, we feel now is the time to grow our Welcomhotels brand," Dipak Haksar, chief executive of ITC Hotels and Welcom-Hotels, told ET.
ITC Hotels has 5 WelcomHotels coming up in locations such as Chail, Dharamshala, Amritsar, Guntur and Bhubaneswar. Besides WelcomHotels, ITC Hotels, which has over 100 hotels across brands, will launch a luxury property in Hyderabad in April this year.
"We are talking to investors and are looking for more partners. In 2018, we should also have more management contracts and sign-ups for WelcomHotels. It is a brand for the young, millennial travellers and we do see a potential for WelcomHotels to grow in resort and quaint locations as well as state capitals and tier-II cities. People see great value in their association with ITC," said Haksar.
ITC Hotels has a total of 27 hotels in the pipeline and Haksar said the company should end this financial year with double digit growth. "2017 has been a good year and we expect more firming up of prices. Some of the disruptions of 2017 look like they are behind us. Tourism will show more robustness."
Hotel chains had expressed concerns regarding the 28% tax on luxury chains under the Goods and Services Tax regime last year.
"We are seeing the benefits of tourism and are looking at investing further in the mid-scale and upper upscale segment," said Haksar.
