IHG posits Mumbai as next possible Regent hotel location

InterContinental Hotels Group is interested in bringing the Taiwan-based Regent Hotels & Resorts brand to Mumbai, India, according to a report from The Economic Times. 

IHG is currently eyeing opportunities to strengthen its foothold in the luxury hotel segment worldwide, naming Mumbai as a possible location for a new property under the luxury brand. "It has to be a mega city and a business location like Mumbai or locations like Delhi or Bengaluru as the Regent brand is not just for the domestic travelers, but international travelers as well," Pascal Gauvin, MD for India, Middle East and Africa, at IHG, told The Economic Times.

After IHG acquired a 51-percent stake in Regent Hotels & Resorts for $39 million in March 2018, the hotel group set plans in early April 2018 to add 100 more properties in India over the next two to three years and introduce five brands to the country. These are Regent Hotels, Kimpton Hotels, Hotel Indigo, Staybridge Suites and a convergence brand that still hasn't been announced, according to a report from PTI News. The new hotels will join IHG's 31 existing properties in India along with another 43 in the development pipeline. IHG already has a Holiday Inn and an InterContinental Hotel in Mumbai.  

In Asia-Pacific, there are Regent hotels in Singapore, China and Taipei, Taiwan. Regent also has one residence building in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. IHG has planned to increase Regent Hotels' number of guestrooms fivefold from its current total of 2,000 guestrooms. Three new Regent hotels are already slated to open in Jakarta, Indonesia, Harbin, China and Phu Quoc by 2020.