By IANS,
Chennai: Hospitality major the Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL), which is expanding the rooms under its fold, Tuesday said it is looking at management contracts to fuel its growth.
“The company will expand with a mix of own and managed properties. Bulk of the room addition will come from managing properties,” Anil P. Goel, executive director (Finance), told reporters here.
According to him, the company plans to increase the number of rooms under its fold by 8,000 to 20,000 over the next four years.
“We will hold on to our current market share for several years to come. Nearly 40 percent of the fresh capacity that is being added in the industry is from IHCL,” said Raymond Bickson, managing director and CEO of the firm.
Speaking about the industry trend, Senior Vice President (Sales and Marketing) Ajoy K. Misra said that while the demand has picked up reflected by increased room occupancies, the rates are soft. We should see hardening of room rents in the coming season.”
According to him, the room rents came down by 18 percent in 2009 from 2008 levels.
“The recovery is mainly led by domestic demand travellers from Asian countries,” he said.
Added Bickson: “The rebound is expected to take the room rates to 2007 levels.”