Hilton to debut premium economy brand Spark in India with a 150-hotel target

Spark by Hilton, US hotel chain launches new brand in India.

Top US hospitality chain Hilton is bringing its premium economy hotel brand called Spark by Hilton to India, with a target of 150 hotels in a period of 10 years.

The company plans to keep the price range within the Rs 4,000- Rs 6,000 range and plans to target tier I and II markets in states like Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, and Goa, among others. The brand will be flexible in its pricing especially in smaller markets.

With the India launch, the new hotel brand has made its debut in the Asia Pacific market.

Hilton's premium economy brand comes to India after the launch of its luxury brand Waldorf Astoria last year in Jaipur.

Spark By Hilton was started in the US and then expanded to Canada and the UK. Hilton plans to launch it in other international markets like Germany and Austria.

Globally, Spark by Hilton has 67 trading hotels and there are as many 200 hotels in the pipeline across three countries.

Hilton, with 8,000 hotels globally, is the world's second largest hospitality company after Marriott, which has a portfolio of 9,000 properties. However in India, the gap is wide with Marriott having 150 hotels in India and Hilton only around 27.

For the new brand launch, Hilton has partnered with Olive by Embassy under strategic licensing agreement with the latter helping Hilton develop the upcoming properties.

Alan Watts, president, Asia Pacific at Hilton called this the largest hotel deal this year in Asia Pacific where Hilton has 1,000 hotels and a thousand more in the pipeline.

"India has huge potential for the midscale segment and already has 400 million midscale consumers with another 140 million to come in the next five years. It is India's time when it comes to travel and tourism growth with more expressways getting built than ever before, with airports getting privatised and more airports getting announced, with 700 million domestic air trips this year and with the fastest growing outbound market, the time for midscale in India is truly now," he said.

The midscale brand will give opportunity to new travellers to have quality hospitality experience at an entry level price, he added.

Spark will also give Indians access to Hilton's 24 brands across segments like Hampton, full service Hilton and luxury brand Waldorf Astoria.

The timing could not have been better with a surge in domestic travel in India. There is a need for high quality mid-market hotels in the country, said Kahraman Yigit, co-founder and CEO of Olive by Embassy.

Yigit also pointed out that it will cost around Rs 26-30 lakh to build properties under Spark by Hilton.