Chennai’s hospitality sector is all poised for rapid expansion. The city, as a high potential market witnessing a positive influx of business and leisure travellers alike, and aiming to cash in on this potential, the hospitality sector is expanding room capacity. The scope is also driving the investment to the metro and other tier cities.
Earlier this month, the city saw the emergence of the Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa along the East Coast Road, overlooking the Bay of Bengal.
The property, spread over 10 acres of land with rich wood accents, soothing colour palettes etc., provides 125 guest rooms featuring all the Sheraton brand’s signature amenities and services. The resort also features the signature Shine Spa for Sheraton, the Kids Club, a Recreational Club and the Sheraton Fitness Studio.
‘Reef’, the hotel’s all-day dining restaurant, features a selection of freshly prepared local and international cuisines, ‘Pelican Deck’, is an open-air grill and barbecue restaurant specialising in ‘nose-to-tail’ eating, prepared with a European & Mediterranean twist. ‘Pintail Lounge’, is the in-house lounge bar that holds an old-world charm with its rustic setting and deep, plush seating. It serves an exclusive range of premium spirits, single malts and fine wines.
Speaking about the launch, Neeraj Govil, Area vice-president, South Asia, Marriott International, said, “The opening of the Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa underlines our focus on enhancing and building the Marriott Resort portfolio within India. Chennai as a high potential market is witnessing a positive influx of business and leisure travellers alike, thus making this launch perfectly timed to meet the growing hospitality demands of the city.”
“This has been designed to provide the best in-house service and facilities for both business and leisure travellers,” said Shibil Malik, General Manager, Sheraton Grand Chennai Resort & Spa.
Meanwhile, Chennai headquartered GRT Hotels and Resorts, which has 16 hotels for business and leisure travellers in South India, plans to invest Rs 900 crore to open nine new hotels in the South by 2025. The company opened its 16th hotel, the Radisson Bengaluru City Center, a boutique lifestyle hotel offering 90 rooms, with an investment of Rs 80 crore.
The Goldman Sachs-backed SAMHI Hotels Pvt. Ltd., will be focusing mainly on Tier-I cities for the next few years, as this market has diverse demands. Also, most of the Tier-I cities have some bit of manufacturing, telecom, IT, and banking, that makes them more preferable. The company led by Ashish Jakhanwala, CEO and MD, SAMHI, currently owns 29 hotels, one each in Coimbatore, Vizag and Nashik, while the remaining 26 are in Tier-I cities.
“From January 2018 to June 2019, we will spend around Rs 200 crore in just renovations and rebranding. If I include the acquisition cost, then the figure will be Rs 500 crore,” Mr. Jakhanwala said.
