Acquisitions & Hotel Openings

Chatwal Announces Additional Expansion into India

January 20, 2012 - As part of its plans to expand the highly successful international hospitality brands Dream® and Night® globally, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts, the management arm of Chatwal Hotels & Resorts unveiled an aggressive brand building initiative in India with the announcement of a five year plan to launch fifty-two hotels (forty Night hotels and twelve Dream hotels) in India. Currently courting franchise and management opportunities for both these brands, the initial launch sites will be a Dream® resort in Goa and India’s first location for Night® in Chennai. These will be followed by New Delhi and Mumbai along with Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Jaipur and Udaipur. Dream® and Night® hotels are currently in operation in New York, Miami, Bangkok, Thailand and Cochin, India and its international expansion plans include hotels in Vienna (Austria), Prague (Czechoslovakia), Budapest (Hungary), Berlin (Germany), Zagreb (Croatia), Sao Paulo (Brazil) and 10 other properties within the USA including Los Angeles.

“For me, India has always been the ultimate hospitality destination”, said Sant Chatwal, Chairman & CEO, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts. “The multifarious lifestyle, culinary and cultural opportunities that this great country offers to the hospitality industry are immensely untapped. With our Dream® and Night® brands, we aim to give consumers, both international and domestic, an eclectic experience that will be both memorable and enjoyable”, he added.

“Both Dream® and Night® are brands that are built on the foundation of lifestyle hotels. The emphasis and philosophy of both these brands revolve around the three concepts of stimulating imagination, entertainment and engaging the senses of our customers and guests. By increasing the spread of these two brands, we hope to offer a multi-tiered experience to the Indian consumer”, said Vikram Chatwal, Founder, Vikram Chatwal Hotels & Resorts.

Chatwal Hotels & Resorts have already invested more than 180 million dollars in India and have another equity investment of more than three hundred million planned that will go towards setting up of initial infrastructure towards operation of the large chain.

Both the Dream® and Night® brands of hotels are the brainchild of maverick hotelier Vikram Chatwal and have proved to be highly successful benchmarks for the future of the hospitality industry. Dream Downtown in Manhattan, New York, launched in June 2011 has proved to be one of the most successful new-age hotels of the world and has set international records for style, design and profitability. The six Food & Beverage outlets, each offering a unique and differentiated experience to the customer, generate a staggering revenue approaching fifty million per year.

Recently, Chatwal Hotels and Resorts had announced a partnership with the world’s largest group of hotels, the Wyndham Hotel Group, giving exclusive rights to franchise its Dream® and Night® boutique hotel brands.

Vikram Chatwal Hotels is an international collection of upscale hotels in coveted destinations around the globe – from chic New York boutique properties to an alluring Bangkok retreat. Each address shares a connection to the atmosphere and energy of its city, combining intuitive high design, world-class service, unique food and beverage and modern accommodations to offer guests a truly cosmopolitan experience.

The Night brand, which Chatwal plans to develop in primary and secondary markets, will be positioned as an ‘affordably chic’ hotel option featuring innovative designs and services such as guest dj’s in lounges and gourmet quick-serve food and beverage options.

Developers will be able to adapt the product to both full-service and limited-service models that offer a ground floor ‘living area’ with an attractive space for social interaction.

The Dream brand is positioned as a full-service, lifestyle brand for gateway cities and resort destinations. The brand’s personality is light-hearted and fun, embracing the use of vivid visuals and trend-setting design. The progressive service offerings will emulate those of luxury hotels, but with a more relaxed point of view.

The Dream brand ethos is defined by its tagline “It’s your dream, we provide the room service.” Innovative and locally popular food and beverage offerings will be one of the brand’s core tenets and contribute to its appeal as the choice for customers seeking to add a little adventure to the demands of time away from home.

Dream and Night locations presently include the 316-room Dream Downtown in New York’s Meatpacking district at 355 West 16th Street; the 216-room Dream New York at 210 W. 55th St. in midtown Manhattan; the 72-room urban Night Hotel at 132 W. 45th St. in Manhattan; the 108-room Dream South Beach located in the heart of South Beach; the 195-room Dream Hotel Bangkok in the heart of Thailand’s capital city; and the 151-room Dream Cochin, located in Ernakulum City, the commercial capital of Kerala, India. For more information on Dream Hotels, visit www.dreamintl.com. For details on the Night hotel, visit www.nighthotelny.com.

Chatwal Hotels & Resorts, headquartered in New York, owns and manages 10 hotels in New York, two in India, one in London and one in Bangkok. Chatwal Hotels & Resorts opened its first independent, four-star boutique hotel in New York in 1999, the Time Hotel at 49th Street and Broadway.

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