Aus Hotel Group to enter India

Australia's hospitality brand, Country Comfort Hotels, has begun initial franchise discussion with a Mumbai-based group as it looks for business opportunities in India. "We have just embarked on initial discussions with a group in Mumbai about the possibility of a Country Comfort franchise. We are focusing India as we see huge opportunities there. We aim to sign 14 Area Development Agreements in the country, which commit to the development of 100 properties. We are targeting to have over 20 of these open in five years," Sean Flynn, Executive Vice-President for brands at the Singapore-based SilverNeedle Hospitality, that owns Country Comfort brand.

Country Comfort model has an average of 101 rooms and looks to put its franchise on hotels with 80-150 rooms each in major cities as well as secondary and tertiary cities in India. Business travellers contribute the largest share to the market mix at 39 percent to the Indian hotel industry, he said. Flynn backed his market strategy in India with industry estimates showing that Indian cities recorded a growth of 11 percent in hotel room supply with demand increasing by 9.2 percent in 2012-13. The 28-year old brand has 23 hospitality properties in Australia and New Zealand.