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Rambow Reports: India's Hotel Scene

[Ed. Note: Fearless Jaunted reporter, John Rambow, has been staying in India on a long story assignment and has agreed to give us the full scoop on the Indian hotel scene. We asked him what is with all the buzz on India and how come there never seem to be enough hotels there? From the man who taught you how to eat thali, we present Rambow Reports. Enjoy.]

The short answer is that supply hasn't been able to keep up with demand for the high end business-class hotels, places for business people from the West who want (and can get their companies to pay for) all the comforts of Manhattan. Exhibit #1 is the Leela Palace in Bangalore, where Tom Friedman stayed while writing his book and where the rack is something like $550. This is a fortune here.

This demand is primarily in urban areas, where business people are going because of the continuing tech boom. Tourism has also been increasing by leaps and bounds, but I feel that this is secondary. India's only been getting three or four million visitors a year. Places like Spain get, what, 60 or 70 million visitors a year. [About 56 million-- Ed.]

There are lots of cheap places that Indians stay at. But there isn't a lot of places like a Hilton or something -- a midrange place in a city.

Maybe by 2010 there will be when Starwood puts up some of their brands.

Image via Wantnana/Flickr.

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· India: The New Cool Kid? [HotelChatter]
· Leela Palace reviews [TripAdivsor]