Realty players plan new hotels to shore up revenues

OVER HALF A dozen top property developers, including Tata Realty & Infrastructure, Oberoi Realty, Prestige Estates, Ambuja Neotia Group and Panchshil Realty, are looking to build new hotels and also manage global hospitality brands.

- RAGHAVENDRA KAMATH

The business can work as a hedge against the residential segment, which is cyclical.

Eastern India-based Merlin Group on Thursday announced a partnership with Indian Hotels (IHCL) for the IBIZA resort near Joka, in Kolkata. The resort will now operate under IHCL's SeleQtions brand as “IBIZA - an IHCL SeleQtions", Kolkata.

Last month, Prestige Estates signed a deal with Marriott International to develop six hotels at an investment of ₹1,000 crore. Suresh Singaravelu, ED retail, hospitality & business, said the operations at the current hospitality assets have shown sustained performance. "We believe that we are riding the upcycle," he said. He added that the company is looking to spread itself across all real estate classes, so as to hedge cyclical risks and tap into valuation upsides.

Brand choices in the segment reflect a focus on both business and experiential travel with hospitality assets coming up in Goa and Sakleshpur besides Bengaluru, Singaravelu added.