Hotel brands turn to the Satellite city, Navi Mumbai
Navi Mumbai
The sheer economics of land availability and at much cheaper costs, along with rising commercial activity and the plan of international airport gathering impetus has made Navi Mumbai the most sought after destination even for the hotel industry. Taj Group, Marriott International and InterContinental Hotels already have projects in the pipeline which are expected to open in the next three to five years.
“Navi Mumbai is an area for expansion. Many big corporates are moving their headquarters there because of the availability of larger office spaces and reasonable accommodation for employees,” said Navjit Ahluwalia, senior vice president – hotel development, India and sub-continent at Marriott international.
According to a report by hotel consultancy HVS, Navi Mumbai has 950 branded hotel rooms and witnessed nearly 21.6% growth in occupancy in 2014-15 as compared to the previous fiscal. Sumit Kant, vice president and general manager at Four Points by Sheraton, said that the hotel industry has seen 13% growth in Revenue per Available room (RevPar) this year compared to last year on account of Meetings Incentive Conference Exhibition (MICE) and wedding business.
Development of IT parks and commercial office spaces in areas such as CBD Belapur, mixed-use project like the Seawoods Grand Central and the proposed international airport in Panvel have led to growing interest in this region.
While Taj Group has entered into a contract with Wasan Hotels to operate a property under its Gateway brand in Turbhe, Marriott International has signed a management contract with Jaymala Infrastructure for its Courtyard in Nerul which is likely to open in 2017. East India Hotels (EIH), which owns and manages the Oberoi and the Trident brand hotels, has inked a management contract with Reliance for the latter’s property in Navi Mumbai. The InterContinental Hotel Group too has entered into management deals for two properties – Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express in the city.
Over the next five years, close to 1,100 branded hotel rooms are expected to enter the market Due to the high dependence on inconsistent project-related businesses as well as easy accessibility from Mumbai and Pune.
