ITDC to bring 35 hotels under ‘Ashok’ brand by next year end

State-run India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) on Thursday said that it is planning to bring up to 35 hotels under the ‘Ashok’ brand by the end of next year as part of its new franchise division.

ITDC, which today launched the ‘Ashok Alliance Scheme’ signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with hotel Welcome City in Chandigarh and Surat-based Riverfront hotel, bringing the two hotels under the ‘Ashok’ brand.

“We are in talks with number of real estate players, and hoteliers to bring more hotels under the scheme. Our aim is to get as many hotels as possible...may be around 33-35 hotels by the end of next year,” ITDC Vice-President Corporate Marketing and Human Resource Development Kuldip Verma, told reporters here.

He said, under the Ashok Alliance scheme, member hotels can use the Ashok brand and benefit from the operational management expertise, marketing inputs and other resources of the ITDC group.

“We will be working under the revenue sharing model with the member hotels...More than the commercial aspect, the primary reason why we are launching this scheme is to fill the gap of our hotels in many parts of the country,” ITDC Chairman and Managing Director Parvez Dewan said.

As part of the arrangement, ITDC will be getting three per cent of the gross room revenue from the Ashok Alliance scheme, he said while declining to give further details on the financial details.

“We will be signing another five hotels, out of which three will be in West Bengal, one in Punjab and another in Manesar under the scheme,” Mr. Dewan said.

ITDC currently has 17 properties, including the two hotels signed on Thursday.

“We will be looking both ways either building new hotels or bring existing hotels under the scheme. Work of refurbishing our properties is also on,” he said .

Over the last three years, ITDC has invested Rs 146 crore on refurbishing Ashok hotels, he said.