The hospitality industry in India is a growing and dynamic one, which comprises of a wide cross-section of firms and companies that serves both the domestic and the international visitors. Due to enhanced disposable income of the growing middle class and a rising domestic tourism, the service demand in hospitality has been on the rise ever before. This has resulted in development of many hospitality companies ranging from upscale hospitality such as resorts and heritage hotels or even the economy hospitality with budget hotel, each having its own customer niche hence unique experience and product offerings.
Among these, there are a few leaders of the hospitality industry which are not only nuancing their services but taking care of the environment and introducing novelties. These are the leading firms within the industry and as the industry expands, they will be the pioneers and the standard bearers or hospitality companies in India, and role models in service delivery. In this article let us discuss the ten leading hospitality companies in India and what they do and how they have emerged as leaders in this area of competitive business.
Best Hospitality Companies in India
This article is going to be looking at the top 10 hospitality companies in India and background information about them.
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
It will be pertinent to mention here that this organization is based in the United States of America and is one of the biggest hotel industries in the United States and now moving to India to bring a revolution into the hotel industries in India. Both organisations are famous for their excellent service and employee feedback. Hyatt has several hotels in India which are 5 stars and 4 stars hotels too.
Currently Hyatt brand has many products which include; Park Hyatt, Andaz, Hyatt Centric, Ziva, Hyatt, Residence Club among others. It is observed that the hotel that is the most popular is based in Mumbai while the company is based in Chicago.
First Hyatt House was established in the year 1954 by Hyatt Robert von Dehn and Jack Dyer Crouch as Hyatt house. This is a motel situated in the vicinity of the Los Angeles International Airport and, it was bought at a total price of $ 2. 2 million dollars. 10 years later, the company moved on from motels and opened its Regency Hyatt House in Atlanta.
Hyatt Hotels have now developed their brand in India which has taken off rapidly. They operate thirty hotels in eighteen locations and one of the leading centre of hotel’s business in India. This company has establishments in; Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Raipur, and many more.
The Oberoi Group
Yet again another hospitality group is in Delhi and it was started in the year 1934. The Oberoi Group are a very large organization that has 32 luxury hotels in its portfolio across six different countries but also has Two Riverine Cruisers.
They are also are also associated with many other activities such as flight’s catering services, airport restaurants, travel and tourism, car hiring services, project and corporate air charter hiring services. They also have their own Oberoi Centre of Learning and Development which, was developed in the year 1966. Programmes achieve aims of developing the quality training in the field of hospitality management.
Hotel Leela Venture (HLV Ltd)
Hotel Leela was originally established in Mumbai back in 1981 and, it was originally named after Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair’s wife. It now has a total of nine luxury hotels across India with the last one being opened in 2015 in Delhi.
It had a change of name back in January 2020 which was Hotel Leelaventure Limited to HLV Limited. It was bought out by a Canada based company called, Brookfield Asset Managment Inc. It included the properties located in Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Udaipur and Agra. However, it did not include the purchase of the property located in Mumbai. Leela Brand still control that property but it is licensed by Brookfield.
Radisson Blu Hotels
Radisson Blu Hotels are next on the list and, this is a well-known hospitality business from around the world. They also have around 140 hotels in India. Radisson was originally called SAS royal hotel and opened its first hotel in Denmark, in 1960. It was recognized as the world’s first designer hotel.
SAS Royal Hotel kept the same name up until 2009 when it rebranded to the name, Radisson Blu Hotels. Radisson Blu did not reach the United States until 2011 which was in Chicago, Illinois. Radisson Blu hotels are all over the world and, are in a total of 380 different locations across the globe.
Shangri La Hotels & Resorts
These were established in the year 1971 and is one of the leading company in the area of hospitality in India. They also have hotels all over the world and currently they have approximately one hundred and seventy six properties but they are present in only two locations in India.
Shangri-La is based in China as a hospitality company that was established In 1971. Where they first opened a hotel in year 1971. Today, they are over 100 luxurious hotels which can be found in Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Canada and Oceania. Shangri La’s most preferred country for operations is China having more than fifty establishments.
They are planning to open their stores in other cities like Mumbai, Goa , Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata in the nearby future.
InterContinental Hotels Group
This company began back in 2003 so it is relatively new to the hospitality business. However, it has proven to be a massive success with over 5,600 hotels in nearly 100 different countries. They currently have 36 hotels in India and they continue looking at expanding there.
The next hotel that they are looking to open up is in 2023 to mark the debut of the Holiday Inn Resort brand in the oldest national park in India. Which is a massive tourist attraction in India. Not to mention it is estimated to have one of the highest tiger populations in the country.
Marriott International India
Marriot International was founded in Washington DC back in 1927 so has built up a reputation for many years. The company originally started at a root beer stand and did not open its first hotel until 1957. They originally opened up up a chain of restaurants which were called Hot Shoppes. Which was then renamed to Marriot Corporation in 1967.
It was not until 1993 when Marriot Corporation split into two companies which were Marriot International Incorporation and Host Marriott Corporation (Now known as Host Hotels & Resorts).
Marriot Internation now owns a total of 84 hotels which is across 15 brands. They are also recognised for being the worlds biggest hotel chain and are forever growing larger. Back in December 2018, Marriot had over 6,900 properties and other 1.3 million rooms in 130 different countries. Marriot is competing to have the most hotels in India now as well and already has the most rooms in the country.
Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces
This is the longest hospitality company on this list with it being founded back in 1903. It is one of India’s largest corporations in the country with its headquarters located in Mumbai. The first hotel from Taj Hotels in Mumbai was called the Taj Mahal Palace.
Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces are now operating over 100 hotels and hotel resorts. With their main hub for their hotels and resorts with 84 across India. They also have 16 in other countries such as Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, South Africa, Sri Lanka, United Arab Emirates, United Kindom, United States of America and Zambia.
With the hotel being over 100 years old, it has some history behind it as well. One story says that Jamsetji Nusseranji Tata, founder of the Tata group, opened up the hotel due to him being racially discriminated against. It was very popular during the time of British India that many hotels across India only allowed Europeans. Another story said that the idea was in place for a very long time which came from a close friend of Tata called, Lovat Fraser. His intentions were trying to attract people to India and improve Bombay.
The Lalit Hotels
Lalit Suri Hospitality group were founded many years back in 1988 after by Mr Lalit Suri. Both are based in New Delhi and has emerged as the largest hotel company of India in the present scenario. Their different branches are located in New Delhi, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Udaipur, Kolkata, Khajuraho, Udaipur, Bangalore etc.
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Lalit Suri, was an Indian politician till 2002 till he died in London in the year 2006. Suri was the sole largest hotel owner with owning nearly 1600 rooms in seven hotels.
The Park Hotels
Park Hotels is the last leading hospitality company in India on this list. They were founded in 1967 and its headquarters are located in Kolkata, India. It has hotels in cities such as Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi, Visakhapatnam, and Goa.
Its hotels are recognised for their luxury five-star hotels in 11 different locations in India. With its most recent hotel opening up in Mumbai.
To Conclude
The hospitality industry in India can be seen as one of the most important economic sectors of the country’s economy as well as one of the manifestation of cultural and ethnic diversity. There are around 10 biggest hospitality companies in India including The Oberoi group ITC hotels and many others like Indian Hotels Company Limited IHCL these companies are setting up high benchmarks of service delivery and innovation. Chief among them are these companies have evolved from old dynamics of operation and shifted their priorities to factors like sustainability of business and guest satisfaction which are topical to the contemporary traveler.
Altogether, these leading firms are aptly placed to take advantage of the emergent trends that stem from the further expansion of this industry that has witnessed an upsurge in domestic as well as international tourism. The prospects of the hospitality industry are painted bright in India because of the government policies’ encouragement of foreign investment and infrastructure advancement.
The dedication of these companies toward making the experience of the guests unique but also more sustainable will be essential in the developments of hospitality in the future. This then brings us to the future prospects where the current leading Indian hospitality players will continue to set larger benchmarks of hospitality service in an ever transforming market.
Tourism will forever grow in India, especially with the amount of money they invest into this sector. Not to mention being one of the 20 best holiday destinations for this summer.
