JHM Interstate Hotels & Resorts plans India exit

Hotel management firm JHM Interstate India Hotels & Resorts, a joint venture between US hospitality firms Interstate Hotels & Resorts and JHM Hotels, is preparing to shut down its operations in India.

The Surat-based firm, which manages six properties in the country, has already dismissed its Gurgaon-based team and plans to wrap up operations in India gradually, according to The Economic Times of India.

Suresh Mathur, chief operating officer of JHM Hotels India, commented: “[The company] could not achieve the scale it had hoped for and third-party management did not take off in India. We are scaling back operations, closing the Gurgaon office and will be operating on a very limited basis from the company’s registered office in Surat. The Gurgaon office is expected to close on March 31.”

The firm employs approximately 50 people in India. It has teamed up with, and invested in, Duet India Hotels – a UK-based real estate investment fund dedicated to hotel business in India.

The Duet fund has raised roughly US$175m (€151m, £116m) in equity since 2008 and replicates its global model of building hotels and striking deals with hotel brands and management firms for branding and operations. JHM Interstate’s tie up with Duet Hotels in Jaipur and Pune has allowed it to franchise with Starwood and it operates two of Starwood’s Sheraton Four Points-branded properties. The tie up also manages two unbranded hotels in West Bengal and Pune, in addition to Turtle on the Beach at Kovalam and Estuary Island at Poovar in Kerala.

Mather said that once JHM Interstate pulls out, Duet will work directly with Starwood for management of the two Four Points properties.