Market profile:

The industry can be classified into four segments:

  • 5 Star and 5 Star Deluxe. The premium five star segment alone accounts for 30 per cent of the total rooms available in the country. These are mainly situated in the business districts of metro cities and cater to business travellers and foreign tourists. These are considered to be very expensive.

  • Heritage Hotels. These have come into limelight on account of their lesser capital expenditure and affordability. Heritage hotels include running hotels in palaces, castles, forts, havelis, hunting lodges, houses that were built prior to 1950. The Heritage Hotel concept has been riveting attention of many tourists as well. Heritage hotels mirror the traditional way of life in the region, which has proved to be a major selling point for these hotels.

  • Budget Hotels: Liberalisation of the economy led to the emergence of a new breed of middle class with higher disposable income. This class is steadily rising and, thus, unleashing the potential of budget hotels. This burgeoning class no longer believes in saving their extra income. Budget hotels especially cater to domestic travellers who favour reasonably priced accommodations with limited luxury. Special seasonal offers, low and good services are spearheads of this segment.

  • Unclassified: These are low-priced motels spread throughout the country. A low-pricing policy is their only selling point. However, these also came into prominence on account of increase in the tourist traffic. Being a rather unorganised segment, it comprises of about 19 per cent of the industry.

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), belonging to the Tata Group, operates the largest chain of hotels in the country under the popular Taj brand name. Today, the Taj Group is Indias largest hotel chain with 48 hotels in its fold. These are spread over 34 locations in South Asia. The second largest hotel chain of the nation is the East India Hotels (EIH), promoted by the Oberoi Group. Other leading hotels include the ITC Hotels (ITCH) of the ITC Group, the Asian Hotels Limited (AHL), Bharat Hotels Limited (BHL), Oriental Hotels and Hotel Leela Venture (HLV). The AHL owns the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Delhi. Bharat Hotels Limited (BHL) has a hotel in New Delhi and another in Srinagar. ITC Hotels are pioneers in the heritage hotels segment. The public sector has a presence in the Hotel Corporation of India and the ITDC Hotels. Prominent among these are Hotel Ashok at Delhi, Ashok Yatri Niwas, Bharatpur Forest Lodge, Khajuraho Ashok, Temple Bay Ashok Beach Resort at Mamallapuram and Hotel Qutub at Delhi. Notably, the central government is planning to divest its investment in the hotel sector.