Madhumita Mookerji

Kolkata: Fortune Park Hotels, a subsidiary of ITC Ltd, is taking the highway route to commence its brand extension programme.

It is planning to set up highway hotels called Fortune Stops along the Golden Quadrilateral, the express highway project by the National Highway Authority of India’s.

Abinash Manghani, head of sales and marketing, Fortune Park Hotels, says quality of highway hotels in India is generally poor.

“So, there is a clear need for high quality and secure accommodations along the country’s highway network.”

Fortune Park will leverage on the fact that the country’s road infrastructure is improving and also more people own cars these days.

“With higher earning levels, more people are taking shorter but frequent holiday breaks,” Manghani added.

The company’s other brand extensions will into Fortune Spots, Fortune Indovilles, Fortune Lodges and Fortune Adventure.

For Fortune Spots, the company is also exploring strategic alliances with oil and gas majors for setting up hotels along key arterial roads. These hotels will provide accommodation facilities along with other valueadded services in transit.

Fortune Indovilles will be “ethnic” villas and cluster cottages that will be set up in upcountry locations. Also, it will open serviced apartments targeted at the extended stay segment.

Fortune Lodges will be 20-50 room hostelries, which will be opened in smaller towns and the countryside.

These will be set up in conjunction with ITC’s international business division (IBD) at Choupal Sagars, ITC’s rural malls.

Fortune Adventure will be activity-oriented hotels/resorts aimed at adventure tourists. These will be opened at locations providing opportunities for adventure sports such as rock climbing, mountain trails, snorkelling, diving and river rafting.

With the brand extension, the company is aiming to almost double the number of rooms to 6,000 from 3,416 currently with a holistic thrust on all categories.

Source : DNA