Hotel chain Hilton will set up 50 hotels in the next five years, out of which six hotels are operational in New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai. It means launching one hotel in the country every 45 days. Hilton wants to
re-establish the Hilton brand in India and expand the hotel chain quickly to benefit from the impending boom in the hospitality sector.
While Hilton and Hilton Garden Inn have already been launched in the country, the company will be introducing its luxury brands Waldorf Astoria and Conrad besides upscale brand Doubletree and the mid-market brand, Hampton. According to the reports these six hotels will open under the Hilton and Doubletree brands in Gurgaon, Bangalore, in various cities of Gujarat and in the Mumbai region.
Hilton will operate through the management contract route. In recent times, international hotel companies like Intercontinental and Marriott have picked up minority stakes in JVs with developers. Hilton also has a five year old joint venture with DLF, in which Hilton owns 24% shareholding to build several Hilton Garden Inn properties. But the company has not launched its plans yet. In the meanwhile, DLF has announced it will sell non-core assets to raise funds and retire mounting debt, giving rise to speculations about the fate of the partnership.
