Pune Hotels

Boom time for Pune Hospitality Industry

Destination Pune


It has been a blessing in disguise for the Pune Hospitality Industry. At a time when the Punya Nagari (Pune) had been craving for better infrastructural facilities the 3rd Commonwealth Youth Games 2008 have helped to boost the morale of the hotel industry, as it will encourage regular tourism apart from sports tourism.

“Pune will soon be transformed into a top class sports city as it boasts of the most modern infrastructure facilities created for the 2008 CYG. It will also lead to the development of city's roads, public transport and air connectivity to various parts of the globe. It will also boost hospitality industry, with more than 15 five-star hotels expressing interest in starting their operations, creating job opportunities for the youths in the near future,” says the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president and MP Suresh Kalmadi.

Apart from sportspersons and officials, the city will be brimming with tourists from all over the globe, which will flourish the economy of the local people, he said.
No doubt a beginning is made and with the number of people visiting the city on the rise, the hospitality industry in Pune is striving hard to cope up with the increasing demand for rooms.

Come festival season and the demand is likely to multiply umpteen times as the number of business class visitors to the city is also very much on the rise. According to a survey by the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI) 25-30 hotels are expected to be launched in Pune in next 3 years.

“The City is ready to take on with the future challenge as it is fully geared up”, says
Arun Nayar, president of the Poona Hoteliers Association and director (operations) of Pride Hotels. His optimism is not unfounded. Already many star category and budget hotels are coming up in Pune.

The new star category hotels coming up in Pune include ‘The O’, Royal Orchid Centre, Saint Laurn, Holiday Inn and Westin. There are some budget hotels also coming up. At Hinjewadi and Wakad areas many service apartments are on anvil.

Already two four-star hotels - Lemon Tree and St Laurn - and two three-star properties, Le Royce and ITC Fortune, have opened this year with 262 rooms between them. Sun N Sand, an existing five-star hotel in the city, added 35 rooms in the year. In the coming years additional 15 to 20 new hotel projects in four-star, three-star and budget categories are setting their foot on the Pune soil. These include big names like the Hyatt, JW Marriott, Marriott, Leela Kempinski, Inter Continental, Holiday Inn, Westin brand of Starwood Hotels and Resorts and Crowne Plaza. Most of them will be operational in 2009-10. Apart from this, Lavasa Corporation has signed an agreement with Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne of Switzerland to set up a hospitality learning centre in Lavasa Hill Town near Pune.

Panoramic Universal, the domestic hospitality major, is planning to invest Rs 150 crore in the city to set up a 185-room, three-star hotel. It will be operational from December 2009. In fact it is also planning another 8 hotels in India over the next two to three years.
Even Dawnay Day Hotels India had acquired property in the city to set up mid-price range of hotels.

The new chain of luxury business hotels which are eyeing Pune are from Kamat Hotels, Novotel, Ibis, Ista of IHHR Hospitality, Salimar Hotels, Berggruen Hotels, Red Fox Hotels and Jagdish Group of Hotels .

Apart from the domestic hospitality industry even the real estate players are entering the industry through management contracts with established hotel chains. This expansion in the hospitality business is taking place on account of the massive growth that India is likely to witness in the coming years. No doubt it will be a boom time for Pune Hospitality industry!