For India’s tourism and hospitality industry it possibly can’t get any better than this. Outbound, inbound, MICE, business and leisure — the segments are firing on all cylinders. Which also means that there is a severe room crunch. So for most hospitality majors worldwide, all roads lead to India. And the latest to join the bandwagon is the hospitality major Starwood Hotels and Resorts. The company has chalked out plans to manage and operate up to seven Westin-branded luxury properties across India over the next five years, investing loads of “passion” in the
projects,” as Westin general manager Bipan Kapur puts it. He speaks to Ranjeni A Singh about the company‘s plans for India.

    Tourism boom: Our economy is growing fast, leading to a rise in disposable incomes of Indians. An increasing number of people are going on holiday trips within the country and abroad resulting in the tourism industry growing wings. India is now chalking up one of its strongest growth charts in a long time. This is a good sign for the country but not so good for the hotel industry. More and more people are now flocking to India — business as well as leisure travellers. The number of hotel rooms, however, is not increasing that fast and it is creating a very alarming gap between demand and supply.
    Residency and not hotel: We prefer to call ourselves a residency rather than hotel because we are not a hotel in the traditional sense. Ours is a one-to-one relationship with our guests. That’s why we don’t have a traditional reception area in our hotel. For us the guest checks in the moment he/she boards the transfer vehicle from the airport. We believe our guests don’t spend merely two or three nights at our resorts but spend those particular days of his life here. We would like to emotionally connect with our guests. Because with it comes loyalty. We even try to understand the body language of our guests and try to serve them
    Retreat from daily drill: We want to position ourselves as a retreat from the fast-paced city life. There will be special weekend packages for families with focus on the ‘renewal experiences’, that will include use of the spa, healthclubs, apart from the stay and fine-dining. Unlike many hotels which limit the use of the spa to just guests, we would encourage walk-ins. Personal renewal and rejuvenation will be the essence our resort.
    Future plans: The first of the high-end premium luxury properties from the Starwood portfolio will roll out in June this year in Sohna, Gurgaon. This will be followed by another one in Gurgaon early ’08, with Bangalore, Goa and Jaipur joining the network by ’10. For all the five properties we have tied up with the Delhi-based Vatika group.
    More rooms: We expects to have an inventory of 1,200-1,500 rooms under the Westin brand in India over the next five years.
    Guest profile: Our guest profile will largely be young professionals or executives. On week-days we hope to target the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions market (MICE) segment. We will have a 250-capacity ballroom, three 100-seat meeting rooms, an amphitheatre and lawns. And of course we would be open to hosting theme weddings.