Clarks Inn Group of Hotels, which claims to have launched India’s first mall-based hotel in Delhi NCR, is looking at expanding its footprint in tier-II and III and lesser know cities in the country. “We already have presence in Deoghar in Jharkahnd; Bareli and Moradabad in UP, Hubli and Gada in Karnataka; Haldwani and Corbett in Uttarakhand, Patna in Bihar and Alwar in Rajasthan among others. Moreover, we are also opening up our properties in Badami, BIjapur, Belgaum, Lonawala and Aurangabad, Surajkund, Faridabad, Vijaywada, Ambala, Mathura, Shirdi, Phagwara, Kurukshetra, Vrindavan, Purnea, Bodhgaya, Rajgir, Kanpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Gorakhpur and Allahabad etc.,” S N Srivastava, Executive Vice President, Clarks Inn Group, said. Moreover, the Group is also increasing its hotel count in Delhi NCR region. The Group has seven hotels in Delhi NCR and planning to open four more hotels in the region apart from hotel in Agra and Jaipur among others.
According to him, Carks Inn is the first hotel group to have forayed into most of the cities. Clarks Inn currently operates 24 hotels with an inventory of 1100 rooms. “We opened 11 hotels in 2012. In 2013, we already opened one hotel each in Deoghar and Moradabad. We will open eight more hotels this year,” he informed and added that the Group will have 100 hotels under its portfolio by December 2015. “We are already sitting on a pipeline of 38 hotels. We expect a total 5,000 rooms by 2015,” he revealed. Clarks Inn, which operates hotel on management contract, is also planning to build its own hotel in any of the metro cities.
Replying to a question over focus on tier-III cities, Srivastava said that these cities offer great growth opportunity as there is a good demand in the market. “The Return on Investment (RoI) is good and the competition is less in tier-III cities,” he said.
Srivastava also explain the reason for such a rapid growth for his Group. “We are focused on 3-star category and do not want to enter into all segments. We maintain complete transparency to owners and never over commit. Moreover, the quality of service we offer is always appreciated by our guests,” he said. The ARR for the group is around Rs 3,000.
To support it growth, Clarks Inn has a very strong sales team. “While we aim to satisfy our customers, we are also participating in national and international travel marts to enhance our brand. Every property has its own sales team which is well supported by centralised sales team,” he said and informed that the Group has a working force of around 1,700 people.
Currently, Clarks Inn enjoys a healthy average occupancy of 60 per cent. “The F&B and room contribute equally. The ratio of business: leisure guest stand at 80:20. We get 90 per cent of business from domestic market,” he said.
Srivastava is quite aware about the lack of manpower in hospitality industry. “To support our growth as well as to generate a pool of talented hospitality professionals, we have decided to open a hotel management institute, most likely in Meerut, soon. We have already collaborated with some of the reputed global hotel management school. With growing business, we are also aware of our responsibility and have initiated a lot of CSR activities,” he said.
