Indian Hotels readies for Ginger launch in Mysore
Business Standard — March 29, 2006

Indian Hotels spelt out its concept of Ginger' smart basics hotels in Bangalore on Tuesday in anticipation of the launch of their brand in Mysore during the city's peak tourist season of Dasara. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Uday Narain, chief operating officer, Roots Corporation, a subsidiary of Indian Hotels, said since the hotel sector was booming and domestic travel on an upswing, the company felt it should not limit itself to only one property but go in for exploring the option of multiple hotels.

The company on March 21 rolled out its first Ginger Hotel in Haridwar and has plans to open hotels under this brand in Bhubaneshwar, Pune, Mysore, Thiruvananthapuram, Durgapur and Goa by the end of the year. "Work will also commence on hotels in Agartala, Tirupur, Pondicherry and Nashik within the next couple of months. These locations have been identified after detailed studies across various parameters such as potential of the market, clusters of clientele and peak periods," said Uday Narain.

Indian Hotels launched its first 'smart basics' hotel indiOne in Whitefield, Bangalore in June 2004. Having completed the test marketing of the concept and subsequent fine-tuning of hotel facilities and services, the smart basics concept is now ready to roll out across India. Intensive research was conducted on the first prototype (indiOne) hotel in Bangalore. Based on guest feedback and operational learnings, several features have been changed and upgraded.

According to Uday Narain, these hotels will now be launched with a new name 'Ginger Hotels' that implies something fresh, simple, warm, yet stylish. Priced between Rs 900 for a single room and Rs 1,175 for a double room, Ginger Hotels has created a new category in the domestic hospitality landscape, hopefully giving a fillip to Indian tourism and other ancillary industries.