From Moscow to St. Petersburg, luxury hotels hope for Indian managements
New Delhi: Russia’s top luxury hotels, once managed by Ritz Carlton, Four Seasons and Park Hyatt, are looking at leading Indian hospitality firms to run these properties, after the international brands checked out of the country following its invasion of Ukraine. Russian officials have sounded out Tata group’s Indian Hotels Co. Ltd (IHCL), which operates Taj luxury hotels; and East India Hotels (EIH), which operates The Oberoi hotels, a person aware of the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Neither company is keen to pursue the offer, the person added. Queries emailed to IHCL and EIH remained unanswered till press time. Once western hospitality chains like Marriott International and Hyatt Hotel Corp.
left Russia in the wake of sanctions, the luxury properties in Moscow and St. Petersburg disappeared from their international networks, cutting out the hotels’ global distribution system or online booking reach and management expertise. There are also other luxury hotels under construction, which now need branding and global distribution.
A third category of mid-scale properties in other parts of the country also need hotel operators. Lemon Tree Hotels would be open to running such hotels if the opportunity arose, chairman and managing director Patanjali G. Keswani said in response to a query.
Executives of Sarovar Hotels & Resorts, which operates Louvre hotels in India, discussed and evaluated some hotels in Russia, managing director Ajay K. Bakaya said, but it did not strike any deals. Travellers looking for accommodation at a luxury hotel that was previously under an international brand will not find it on a booking aggregator, but they could search online for these hotels directly and book on their own websites, a
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