India Boutique Hotels

There is a lovely piece in the Observer newspaper this weekend about Boutique Hotels in India. Some of the hotels do lovely rather nice indeed.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/27/india-boutique-hotels

A nose for good Business

You'll know you've arrived when you are greeted with a 'mélange of ginger, white tea, citrus and musk'. If however, you catch the distict whiff of 'sweet grass and green tea', then you know you've got a little way yet to go!

Yes, this is news that Holiday Inn's 3,300 properties across the globe are getting a $1bn (£600m) facelift, officially launched in New York this week. Battling ruthless mid-market competition, Holiday Inn is sharpening its act with a swish new logo, revamped public spaces, landscaping, better bedding and even a standardised scents (the full scale Holiday Inss will get the 'melange' while the cheaper Hilday Inn Express Sites have to make do with 'sweet grass and green tea')

Holiday Inn was founded with a single hotel in Memphis in 1952, the brainchild of Kemmons Wilson, an American entrepreneur who became frustrated on a family road trip at the gap between shoddy roadside motels and fussy, pricey posher establishments. The chain now has properties in nearly 100 countries, most recently opening in Vietnam and the Maldives.

Holiday Inn outlets will be obliged to spend an average of $100,000 to $200,000 per property on improvements. There will be new lighting, signature plant pots and a choice of soft or hard pillows in every room. Power showers will abound and staff are having friendliness drummed into them.

Properties unable, or unwilling, to smarten up will lose the Holiday Inn brand and older hotels with, for example, motel-style exterior corridors, face the chop.

Of course, many upmarket hotel chains are treading on the toes of Holiday Inn. No-frills offerings such as Marriott Courtyard, Hilton Garden Inn and Hyatt Place have appeared in the US over the past decade and beginning to appear in the Europe.

And the current economic climate has had an effect on occupancy – Holiday Inn's occupancy rate was 54% in the US and 61% in Europe during the first half of the year, with revenue per room down 17% to $51 in the US and by 16% to $66 in Europe.

But Holiday Inn is an iconic brand and it's essential that it 'does what it says on the tin'. Visitors know what to expect and the uniformity and reliability is appealling to routine business travel.

We only have one concern; apparently a global playlist of 1,000 soundtracks will greet guests, ranging from Sting to John Mayer and the Jackson Five!

There are a few local exceptions, in France, for example, Carla Bruni makes an appearance while Kylie Minogue will play in Britain!!

India: Making good progress. Can do better.

More good news arrives in the form of new data compiled by the Indian Ministry of Tourism. Figures show that North America and West Asia constitute the strongest growth for tourism to India. The number of foreign tourists visiting India increased from 7.99 million in 2007 to 8.27 million in 2008.

Growth in tourists has been greatest from Denmark, (by 24.1 percent), Brazil (by 21.8 percent), Russia (by 21 percent) and Norway (by 18.6 percent), followed by countries such as Israel, Bahrain and UAE. Traditionally, the UK has also provided the highest number of visitors but this year has been pushed to second place by the USA.Tourists from neighboring countries Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have also increased sharply.

After a drop of about 10 percent in foreign tourist arrival between October 2008 and June 2009, the inbound tourist market is showing definite signs of revival. Tourist arrivals in July 2009 have increased substantially although, less than July 2008 levels, but foreign exchange earnings have risen sharply in real terms.

The Indian ministry of tourism plans to continue its marketing campaign in the USA market with the colorful Incredible India ! campaign planned at the Oscar, Grammy and BAFTA award functions.

The top 10 source markets for Indian inbound tourism are :

1. USA
2. UK
3. Bangladesh
4. Sri Lanka
5. Canada
6. France
7. Germany
8. Japan
9. Australia
10. Malaysia

Compared to world statistics in terms of tourist arrivals however, published by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, India ranks 41st in the world.

India still gets far fewer visitors than much smaller nations like Ukraine, Tunisia, Croatia and Saudi Arabia.!