New Delhi, 26 December, 2019: Global hospitality firm Hyatt Hotels Corporation is looking to open 11 new hotels across India by the end of 2020 as part of its expansion plans in the country, a senior company official has said.

The Chicago-headquartered firm currently has 32 hotels across 20 destinations under its eight brands in India. The eight brands under the Hyatt portfolio in India are -- Hyatt, Hyatt Centric, Hyatt Regency, Hyatt Place, Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Alila and Andaz.

"We plan to open 11 new hotels across the country by end of 2020 as India is a very important growth market for us," Hyatt, Vice President- India operations, Sunjae Sharma told PTI.

Hyatt is one of the first international hotel management brands in India, having entered the market over 35 years ago with the first hotel under the Hyatt Regency brand in Delhi in 1982, he added.

"The new hotels will be under our three brands -- Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Place and Hyatt Regency," Sharma said.

While the hotel at Gurugram will be under the Grand Hyatt brand, the hotels at Vadodara, Jaipur and Bengaluru will be under the Hyatt Place brand, he added.

"The hotels at Thrissur, Kochi, Jaipur, Dehradun, Trivandrum and Udaipur will be under the Hyatt Regency brand," Sharma informed.

When asked if the company is also looking at acquisitions for future growth, he said the company is open to it, if there is a merit in it.

On the business model, it follows in India and about plans in future, Sharma said: "We are mainly into management contract model, but we are also looking at franchise model with select partners in India. We follow the asset light model".

The company is also looking at expanding in tier II and tier III cities with suitable brands, he added.

"India is a very important market for us. It is one of the top three global growth markets for the company after the US and China and there is a huge scope of growth here as the demand still exceeds the supply," Sharma said.

Hyatt India's 2020 goal is to reduce water consumption per guest per night by 25 per cent compared to a 2006 baseline, and by 30 per cent in water-stressed areas, the company said.

Founded by Jay Pritzker in 1957, Hyatt is currently present globally across 60 countries, with 18 brands and 875 hotels