GM Appointments at Radisson Blu Hotels in India

Carlson has made the following General Manager appointments at its Radisson Blu properties in India.

The three general managers appointed are Vikas Kapoor at the Radisson Blu Suites Gurgaon, Shshank Pundir at the Radisson Blu Hotel Indore and Mrinal Sarkar at the Radisson Blu Resort & Spa Alibaug.

Vikas Kapoor rejoins Carlson with over 16 years of hospitality experience in India. He has a strong past track record with the company and was previously general manager at the Radisson Jass Hotel Shimla.

Shshank Pundir has over two decades of Indian hospitality experience. As the general manager for the Radisson Blu Suites Gurgaon previously, he led the pre-opening team and successfully oversaw all operational aspects of the hotel.

IHG and Duet India Hotels to Develop 19 Holiday Inn Express Hotels

InterContinental Hotels Group has signed a joint venture partnership with Duet India Hotels Group (DIHL), the hotel investment arm of global asset manager Duet Group, to develop 19 new Holiday Inn Express hotels across India.

IHG will invest through a 24% equity stake, making a multi-year investment of US$30 million into the partnership. This investment will go into a fund to support the building of the 19 hotels over the next five years.

These 19 Holiday Inn Express hotels will add approximately 3,300 rooms to IHG’s current India development pipeline of over 10,000 rooms (46 hotels) and are expected to be operational by 2016.

Carlson to Open 19 New Hotels in India in 2011

Carlson is planning to open 19 additional hotels in India by the end of 2011 across its four brands: Radisson, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, Park Inn and Park Plaza.

“This will be another record year for Carlson. Our momentum is in line with our plans to have more than 100 hotels across India by 2015,” said Hubert Joly, Carlson president and chief executive officer.