CapitaLand’s wholly owned serviced residence business unit, The Ascott Limited, has secured a contract with Sandhya Hotels (SHPL) to manage three new serviced residences in India. Two properties are in the cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore, and a third serviced residence is in Sri City, less than an hour’s drive from Chennai. The upcoming Citadines Financial District Hyderabad, Citadines Sri City and Somerset Bellandur Bangalore will strengthen Ascott’s position as an international serviced residence operator in India with 10 properties across seven cities with more than 1,800 units. In addition to these three new serviced residences that will open between 2019 and 2021, Ascott will be opening Citadines OMR Chennai later this year and Somerset Galleria Bangalore next year. Ascott Ireo City Gurgaon and Somerset Diplomatic Greens Gurgaon are slated to open in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Lee Chee Koon, CEO, Ascott, said, “India attracted over $39 billion worth of foreign investments in 2015, a 37 percent increase compared to 2014. Tourist arrivals are also on an upturn as India welcomed more than eight million visitors last year. India’s fast-growing economy, increasing visitor arrivals and rising affluence present immense opportunities for international brands like Ascott. Our strategy for India is to expand in high-growth cities where there is strong demand for international-class serviced residences from expatriates, project teams and business travellers. We will establish more strategic alliances and seek investment opportunities as well as management contracts. India will be a key market as part of Ascott’s global expansion to achieve our target of 80,000 apartment units by 2020.”
Sreedhar Rao, MP of SHPL, added: “Sandhya Hotels is venturing into the serviced residence segment with the development of these three properties in Hyderabad, Bangalore and Sri City. We are delighted to have Ascott manage these properties. Given its strong expertise in attracting expatriates and business travellers, we expect our serviced residences to do well.”
