Radisson targets young travelers with RED brand

The US hospitality company, which runs brands such as Park Inn, Radisson Blu, Country Inn & Suites as well as flagship upscale brand Radisson in India, will launch its latest brand with a property of 154 rooms in Mohali by December.

Zubin Saxena, Managing Director and Operations, South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group said, Radisson RED is a youthful, lifestyle-oriented millennial brand that caters to young travellers.

“This will change the way this segment, the lifestyle segment, operates and we look to add at least 10 more Radisson Reds in three to five years,” Saxena said.

Several other hospitality firms have also launched Millennial-friendly brands over the years. Marriott’s W Hotels and Hotel Indigo, a lifestyle brand of Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), fall into this category. Moxi is yet another brand from Marriott that targets the more cost-conscious millennial traveler.

The company also aims to bring its luxury brand Radisson Collection to India.

It is in discussions with potential owners to either set up properties in large city hotels, which are convention-driven, or in places such as Goa or Rajasthan, where some are aiming to convert palaces into luxury hotels. Will happen.

Radisson is present in 60 locations in India with over 100 managed properties.

It plans to enter 250-300 hotels in Tier-III, -IV and -V markets by 2027. “These are completely untouched markets. There will be growth in these markets,” said Saxena.

Last year, it opened Radisson Individuals in India, an affiliation brand that works with independent hotels that use the company’s distribution system to sell their room inventory.

In October 2019, the industry average for the hotel business was north of 65%. Saxena, citing analysts, said the number for October was 61-62% across categories in India.

“In terms of demand, there has been a strong return to recovery. It is very strong, especially considering that we have two (Covid) waves in the interim,” he said. Almost 100% of this demand is coming from domestic travellers, he said.

Saxena expects the demand for domestic travel to continue for the next three-four years even as a segment of high-paying, well-travelled customers return to offshore locations.

According to a report by Gurugram-based hospitality consultancy Hotelivate, the supply of organized rooms in India grew by 3.3% in 2020-21 as compared to the previous financial year. There are about 144,000 branded rooms in the country, including 4,093 rooms, which are open during the year.

Majority of this inventory came from major metros like Delhi, which has the largest branded room inventory base (15,181 rooms) in India.

It has increased by 1% as compared to the previous financial year. Mumbai (including Navi Mumbai) and Bengaluru had the second and third largest stores with 14,330 rooms and 13,901 rooms, respectively.

Marriott, IHCL and Radisson Hotel Group were the three largest hotel companies in India, followed by French hospitality firm Accor, Hotelivet said in the 2021 Indian Hospitality Trends and Opportunities Report.