French hotel group Louvre Hotels is moving into the five star market in Mumbai with the opening of its first Royal Tulip property. The group remains upbeat over the Indian market with projects to operate up to 50 properties until 2015.
MUMBAI- Louvre Hotels Group, an affiliate of Groupe du Louvre, opened on August 15 its first ‘Royal Tulip’ property in South Asia near India’s economic capital Mumbai. Royal Tulip is the five-star brand of the group. Located in Kharghar, Navi Mumbai (Maharashtra) the 97-rooms Royal Tulip Navi is owned by Concrete Builders and will be managed by Louvre Hotels Group.
Vimal J. Singh, Managing Director – South Asia, Louvre Hotel Group, declared following the opening on August 15 that “Navi Mumbai is being well developed as an extension of our commercial capital. We are confident that the upcoming international airport at Navi Mumbai would have global visibility and thus we see tremendous potential in this market. We realise the dearth of luxury and quality hotels in this market and hence we decided to come up with our luxury five-star brand.” Royal Tulip hotels across the globe are different in terms of their architecture and style however, what remains same is the luxury and service standard. We have higher staff to guest ratio, he added.
The new property has a total 90 superior rooms, six premium rooms and one presidential suite. F&B outlets include Mukammal, a speciality Awadhi cuisine restaurant; Kahwa, a bar and coffee shop; the Plunge, a poolside bar and the Connoisseur Lounge Bar. Other amenities include a fitness centre, a spa as well as conference centre offering the latest technologies such as inbuilt video conferences.
Currently, with 12 properties operational of Louvre Hotels in India, plans are afoot to open Tulip Inn in Chandigarh and Mussoorie; and Golden Tulip in Goa by the end of this year. These properties will have around 80-100 rooms. In addition, the group aims to have 50 hotels operational in India by 2015 and looks actively for a partner.
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.