The Leela Palace was recently recognised as the ‘Best Business Hotel in the World’ by the much-respected Conde Nast Traveller.

The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur, was recently rated the ‘best hotel in the world’ by a readers’ survey conducted by the leading international travel magazine Travel +Leisure.

The Taj Spa was given the SENSES Visions Award 2007 at the SENSES Wellness Awards held in Berlin.

Still don’t get where we are heading? Get out of that private plunge pool and let your brains do some work!
The Great Indian Growth Story has spurred the leisure and business hotel industry to swank up the presidential suites and up the luxury quotient.

Today, the big names that are often heard in international corporate award ceremonies are all Indian. Survey after survey (sexiest destinations, hot spa options, best getaways et al) have rated premium hotels in India as the places to be. The most recent survey was that of the readers of Conde’ Nast (the leading international travel magazine) voting India as the number one destination in the world, surpassing Italy which held that distinction for the past seven years.

Last year, the Los Angeles Times carried an article that focussed on the exploding hotel markets in Asia with the headline ‘India, a boom that’s bursting at the seams’. It is a boom that everybody wants to add their din to.
The talk of development in India and China dominate  conversations in the Western world. India’s booming economy is projected to grow at 7.5 per cent to eight per cent by the end of this year. No wonder than that multinational chains are flocking here for a piece of the pie.

“I’ve been in the hospitality industry for over twenty years and I find the focus on India phenomenal,” says Kenneth Hill, Corporate Director of Sales and Marketing, The Leela.

With a growing number of wealthy individuals within the country as well as an ever-improving tourism and aviation industry, the number of Indians travelling within the country itself has doubled in the past decade, according to the Indian Association of Tour Operators.

Expanding market

Foreign visitor numbers too have doubled over the past decade to just under four million. The luxury and business hotel sectors are barely trying to catch up. In fact, in a recent television interview, Lalit Suri, chairman and managing director of Bharat Hotels, had said that the country “immediately needs another 100,000 rooms”. 
Mr Hill agrees. “This is a very exciting time for the hotel industry.

With international entrants, the bar will be raised and the market will be more competitive. The Leela brand will be entering new markets in the next two-three years with plans to open in Udaipur, Goregaon, Hyderabad and  Pune.”

According to a study by the hotel monitoring body HVS International-India, not only do cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai need around 7,000 more rooms on an average by 2008, but markets such as Pune, Cochin, Ahmedabad and Vishakapatnam will start demanding more.

Change in perception

Ketaki Narain, Director, Corporate Communications, The Oberoi Group, believes that though there is this noise now about India as the emerging economic super power, nobody is stopping to contemplate whether we are geared up to be the best. “Our chairman had once said that if India has to attract luxury travellers, world class hotels that reflect the culture and architecture of the destination had to be created. For this, what is required is a change in perception,”she says.

And this change is slowly but surely coming. The buzz about the entry of foreign players is increasing. Canada’s Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts is planning to open its first hotel in Mumbai and is also looking at opportunities in New Delhi and Bangalore.

The Sheraton Group with ITC that’s already running a sizeable number of luxury hotels across the country is looking to expand big time.

Not sitting tight

Homegrown luxury and business hotels are not sitting tight either. The Oberoi Group for instance, has launched an all-inclusive passage through India — ‘India in Luxury’, that promises travellers luxurious journeys through India. The Leela Palace in Bangalore has just finished construction of a new wing offering 100 ‘royal premium rooms’ that have among other facilities, a 42-inch plasma television, ipod docking stations and infra red locking systems.

As Mr Hill says, India has spectacular mountains, splendid coastlines, wildlife, history and culture —  a combination that’s rare, to say the least. Is it any wonder than that hotel rooms are wanted and international chains are looking to cater to the demand?
Now, only if the roads that lead to these super-structures are  as inviting...