By Rishi Puri

SO FAR this year has been fairly good, if not exceptionally good as far as budget hotels are concerned. Green shoots of growth can be seen but we are nowhere near our real potential. MICE segment has picked up but tourist arrivals are still not as good as expected. The silver lining is the growth of domestic tourism, which is going up on higher base. Room fares are neither going up nor dropping. That way the market is fairly stable at least, for the mid-market hotels like ours. Occupancy levels are also much higher as compared to last year.

Aggressive marketing by room aggregators have expanded the market. That has indirectly helped us by opening up new market vistas for us. However, we still alert to competition. They are trying to bring stand-alone unbranded, unorganised-and budget properties under one head and refurbishing them to a certain level. This is a service industry where setting standards and following them takes time. Having said that, it does not mean that they can’t do it. But even if they are successful, it will have a marginal impact on brands like us. Rather it will draw more tourists from which we can also stand to benefit.

This year we are opening two properties, in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and in Nepal. We have received great response for our new Jodhpur property. The Nepal hotel suffered damage from the earthquake and a newer wing is being repaired and will soon be open for business. Three more properties are in pipeline, in Agra, Jammu, Bengaluru-Jayanagar, these-are in the final stages of refurbishment. All three properties are located-centrally and will be F&B oriented with multi-dining & banqueting spaces.

Our next five years will see us expanding in a big way. In two years time, we expect to have a minimum of 40 properties in operation from the present 22 under our brand. We are keenly exploring expansion-in Kenya, Uganda and some other countries in the African continent. We have also recently launched our new website which is more user-friendly in terms of room inventory, booking and property details.-As a group, strategically we are-also-looking at growing in tier 2 and tier 3 cities as-these-offer better return on investment, we feel.

The author is Vice President Operations, Lords Hotels & Resorts.