<div>A spate of high profile hotel launches in Gurgaon including Hilton Garden Inn (201 rooms) on March 1 and Taj Vivanta (189 rooms) on March 7 has again put the spotlight on the NCR suburb. Can the market absorb this fresh supply? Especially as the Vivanta, Hilton are in the same vicinity (near the HUDA City Centre metro station) where a Double Tree (184 rooms) that opened last year already exists. <br /><br />From 1,980 rooms in 2009-10 to 3,782 rooms in 2011-12 it has been a 38 per cent annual growth in room supply in Gurgaon. And the pipeline is pretty long. The latest report by hospitality consultant HVS on ‘Trends and opportunities in Hotel 2012’ pegs the proposed supply in the NCR suburb at 5,818 rooms by 2016-17. <br /><br />During a quick walk-through of Hilton Garden Inn, owner Virendra Bhatia, Promoter and President of Baani Group, shows off the extra large hospital style elevator that can take in stretchers and says with Fortis and Medanta hospitals in the vicinity, there will be enough demand from medical tourism.<br /><br />Rajesh Punjabi, Vice President, Development – India, Hilton Worldwide says, “While the primary market in Gurgaon is business travel, it is developing into an important medical tourism hub. In recent months, the city has hosted several medical conferences. “<br /><br />In contrast, a Taj spokesperson, feels the medical tourism opportunity is nil and says the Vivanta target is going to be purely business and leisure. <br /><br />So who is right? Both, says HVS Global Hospitality Services, South Asia managing director Kaushik Vardharajan. “There is demand for medical tourism in Gurgaon but the demand reduces the higher you go up in positioning,” he says. So, it’s the mid market – 3 and 4 star category that can hope in to pull in the medical tourists.<br /><br />But are we staring at a supply glut in Gurgaon?<br /><br />Rajesh Punjabi of Hilton agrees that with commercial growth extending all the way to Manesar, there has been a sharp increase in the number of hotel projects under development. “Reports suggest, in the past few years, Gurgaon has had the highest completion ratio of projects under development in NCR. In the short term, this oversupply will strain occupancies and room rates. However, the long-term outlook remains positive and growing demand will absorb the new supply,” he says.<br /><br /> Vardharajan too feels it’s a short term pain. He feels that Gurgaon is one of the strongest market in the country right now, with almost all hotels busy on weekdays as well. “Every time a new hotel opened – be it the Westin, the Oberoi – we saw new supply getting absorbed without impacting the old supply,” he says. <br /><br />However, he says, what we will see is more conservative hotel pricing in Gurgaon now.<br /><br /> </div>
