The company will take over Hyatt’s beachfront (Arossim beach) property located at Cansaulim, South Goa in September. It will run the hotel, which has 5 suites and 9 food and beverage options, under the brand ITC Grand.
ITC plans its first luxury hotel in Goa after it takes over the 252-room sea-facing resort property currently run by US-based hotel chain Hyatt under the Park Hyatt brand.
The company will take over Hyatt’s beach front (Arossim beach) property located at Cansaulim, South Goa in September. It will run the hotel, which has 5 suites and 9 food and beverage options, under the brand ITC Grand.
Although the Kolkata-based company already has an operational property in Goa under the mid-market brand Fortune, the state remains the most under-represented for ITC in terms of hotels.
The company has a collection of 12 luxury hotel properties across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and Jaipur.
ITC bought the Park Hyatt property from its owners Blue Coast Hotels through an auction held by IFCI (the erstwhile Industrial Finance Corporation of India) for INR 541 crore in 2015.
But the promoters of Blue Coast Hotels moved courts to stall the sale, stating that the property has been undervalued by IFCI and that it was worth INR 1,200 crore. The hotel was kept as collateral against a loan taken from IFCI. But earlier this year, ITC won the case along with a guarantee that the property is handed over to it within six months.
“We regret to inform you that we anticipate a change in ownership and management of the hotel on September 19, 2018. From and after this date, the hotel is expected to no longer be affiliated with Hyatt,” Hyatt said in an advisory.
ITC’s hotels business is currently concentrated in India. The company operates 107 properties under four distinct brands – ‘ITC Hotel’ in the luxury segment, ‘WelcomHotel’ in the upper-upscale segment, ‘Fortune’ in the mid-market-to-upscale segment, and ‘WelcomHeritage’ in the leisure and heritage segment.
Goa is one of the country’s premier leisure destinations, thanks to the number of flights connecting it to various parts of the country.
Branded luxury hotels account for an 8 per cent share of Goa’s overall total. That’s expected to rise to 14 per cent by 2018. International brands set to enter the market include W Retreat & Spa, Grand Mercure, The Fairmont, The Hyatt Place, Holiday Inn, The Four Seasons Golf Resort and Hard Rock Hotel.
ITC Hotels plans to launch six new hotels by 2018. The company will soon open resort properties in Manesar near Gurgaon and Mahabalipuram near Chennai, followed by upcoming premium hotels in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Ahmedabad, slated to be launched in 2014-2017. ITC’s first overseas hotel in Colombo, being built in conjunction with the Sri Lankan government, is expected to open in 2018.
Currently, ITC operates more than 90 hotels under four distinct brands–ITC Hotel at the luxury end, WelcomHotel in the 5-star segment, Fortune in the mid-market to upscale segment and WelcomHeritage in the heritage leisure segment.
