Suba Group opens 100th hotel in India

 NEW DELHI: Suba Group of Hotels, the company that runs the Comfort Inn brand in India, has expanded its footprint with the launch of Comfort Inn in Udaipur, Rajasthan. This is the 100th hotel of the group’s in India and 63rd Choice Hotel in India.The company has about 5,100 rooms in 57 locations across India and was founded by Abubaker Mehta. It has about nine brands under upscale, budget, upper-midscale categories. In July, Choice Hotels signed a 15-year deal with Suba to transition from a direct franchise market to a master franchise model. The Suba Group had then assumed the responsibility as the master franchise holder for 58 of its properties open and under development. The company also owns the rights to develop the Clarion, Quality, and Comfort brands in the market. The hotel targets business and corporate travellers and has a small inventory of 35 rooms. Mansur Mehta, MD of Suba Group of Hotels said, “The launch of Comfort Inn, Udaipur is special as we cross a milestone and account for 100 hotels in India. As a growing hotel chain, we endeavour to offer a great hospitality experience to all our guests every time across all properties.”The hotel’s operations manager, Pankaj S Garasiya, said, “Udaipur is famous as a tourist destination, but with growing business opportunities there is a growth in the demand for good stay options for business and corporate travellers in the budget category.”India has about 1.5 lakh branded hotel rooms. Based on the research that hospitality consultancy Hotelivate has done, about 59,000 new rooms are expected to come across the country in the next five years. Of this, 72%, or about 35,000 rooms, are under active development, said the consultancy.In 2020, pre-Covid, only about 35,000 rooms were being developed. The active development ratio has gone up by at least 10% now when compared to 2020. The consultancy said it takes into account projects that can be eligible to become a “chain-scale“ hotel.