Westin sets foot in Chennai
The hotel chain has entered the city which has intense competition, growth opportunities and challenges for hospitality giants with Westin Chennai Velachery.
ANITA JAIN Starwood
Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. has launched its 215-room Westin Chennai Velachery property in Chennai. This is its sixth property in India and first of seven new Westin hotels opening this year in Asia-Pacific region. The property has a 24-hour gym, outdoor swimming pool, a spa and a group-running programme called Run Westin. It has three restaurants – all day-dining Seasonal Tastes, Pan Asia EESTTM and the Poolside Grill and Barbeque along with a cricket-themed lounge bar Willows. The hotel also houses more than 1,170 sq metres of meeting space, including two pillarless ballrooms and 12 breakout rooms for MICE events.
According to Shrikant Wakharkar, General Manager, The Westin Chennai Velachery; after the successful launch of the Westin brand in cities like Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Mumbai and Pune, Westin brand’s entry into Chennai as a major metro city had to follow.
Chennai has tremendous potential for MICE segment as the city has hosted some high-profile international conferences in the recent past
According to Wakharkar, the hospitality scene in Chennai has metamorphosed over the last year or so with highly reputed new entrants across all brands and categories opening hotels in the city. Explaining the current scenario of hospitality sector in Chennai, he said, “The city has tremendous potential for MICE segment as the city has hosted some high-profile international conferences in the recent past. The lodging demand will continue to be dominated by the business segment, but MICE is bound to grow at a rapid pace in the next few years. The continued addition of branded rooms inventory in the city, especially over the last 18 months, has led to a compression in the city, but we are optimistic that the strength of our brand, the power of Starwood and its distribution system and the value that our loyalty programme, SPG brings will give us a definite edge to ramp up our business and outperform the market.”
Many of our SPG members travel frequently to Chennai which is the gateway to the south. Besides being an important IT hub, the retail sector is also poised for quantum growth. “So we want to be a part of this growth story as this is an exciting time for Chennai,” adds Wakharkar. He informed that the average local has a lot more spending power now than a half a decade back due to rise in income level. Hotels with innovative F& B offerings have a great opportunity to tap the growing segment of locals who are spending more on F&B. With Chennai airport modernisation, more domestic and international flights are expected to fly from the city in coming years.