The company would set up 200 five-star rooms and another 300 four-star rooms in Tamil Nadu through the three projects, said Palani G Periasamy, chairman, Appu Hotels Ltd. With the two hotels in Chennai and Coimbatore, it is currently offering around 510 rooms. “We intent to remain in the five and four star hospitality segments. Our aim is to increase the total number of rooms to 1,000 by 2015,” said Periasamy.

Of the three projects, it is expected to complete the Rs 200-crore high-end beach resort, Le Meridian Resorts and Spa, coming up between Chennai and Mahabalipuram, by 2012. It has commissioned consultants from the US, United Kingdom, Singapore and Thailand to work on the project.

The investment would be from internal accruals and equity. The Chennai-based company is also preparing documents to issue initial public offering (IPO). However, he said the company was yet to finalise the amount to be raised through the IPO.

It is also exploring possibilities of expanding its presence to European and US markets through setting up operations there. It is also looking at properties in some of the states in India for hospitality projects.

Appu Hotels started operations of its hotel in Coimbatore with 255 rooms, from April, 2011. The project cost was around Rs 400 crore. The company is a part of the PGP Group that has presence in segments including education, real estate, sugar manufacturing and finance.

India’s hotel industry is no exception. But what’s striking about recruitment shortages in the hospitality industry is that they reflect a buoyant job market with multiple, rapidly-expanding sectors.

When recruiting, hoteliers in India face stiff competition, not just from rival hotels (who are not above poaching staff) but also from aviation companies, the banking sector and other client-facing industries.  As international hotel chains form a beeline to set up shop in the country, hotels are likely to face perennial shortages of skilled manpower, high wages and staff retention issues – all damaging to profit margins.

“Once you have trained as hotel staff, restaurants, airlines, banks, retailers and other industries where you service a client on a regular basis get interested in you. Second reason is that pay scales in the hospitality industry have been lower than other industries, so people in the hospitality industry are looking at other industries such as the IT sector to get the same kind of remuneration as their peers,” said P R Srinivas, an analyst at Deloitte India.

The “great Indian hospitality” – a tourism department tagline – was built on the low cost of labour. Many hotel chains spend a lot of money on training staff for several years to meet customers’ high expectations, but then pay them low salaries at least for their first few years. Previously, the benefits of working in an air-conditioned hotel made up for low pay; but as tempting opportunities appear in other sectors, this is no longer necessarily the case.

Recruitment at entry level has become a problem, especially as starting salaries remain low. A chambermaid at a luxury hotel can expect to earn Rs13,000 to Rs15,000 a month, compared to the Rs20,000 a month she could get working in a call centre, says Ratan Morathia, president of the federation of hotel industry associations.

“There is a shortage of staff – from bellboys to general managers,” said Morathia.

Staff-to-customer ratios tend to be higher than in many non-Asian markets, reflecting the preferences of Indian customers used to staff at home. That makes it hard for hotels to cut staff even as the cost of labour continues to rise in an industry where staff costs account for about 45 per cent of all expenses.

“Given the competition, wages are bound to go up. There has been high inflation too and so you have to increase starting salaries,” Mohan Rao, director of human resources at Leela Hotels, a premium hotel chain, told beyondbrics.

At more experienced levels too, staff retention is difficult. Trained bellboys are easily absorbed in an increasing number of luxury restaurants in the country, while general managers are in high demand at the human resources departments of private corporations.

“Out of a total of 36 students in my class [at the hospitality training school], currently only six remain in the hospitality industry, others are doing a variety of different things,” said Srinivas.

“I expect salaries for general managers of hotels to grow 50 per cent in the coming year,” said Morathia.

Hoteliers keen on attracting the best talent and retaining it have started to offer promotions, transfers and other opportunities. The Leela group, for example, now offers its staff an opportunity to progress onto its management trainee scheme after a few years in service.

But such opportunities remain few and far between.

As the country adds another 70,000 rooms to its existing stock of 120,000 in the organised sector over the next two years, according to Deloitte, the competition for individuals able to provide high standards of customer service is bound to remain high.

Best Western India part of the Worlds Largest Hotel Chain Best Western International along with the Maryland Group of Zirakpur today announced the launch of the Best Western Maryland, Best Western India’s 1st Hotel in Zirakpur, Chandigarh and 2nd in the state of Punjab. Best Western International the largest hotel chain in the world has over 4000 Hotels in 80 countries.

The newly opened 4 Star category Best Western Maryland at Zirakpur, Chandigarh also thus becomes the 18th Operational Hotel in India and 3rd Operational Property in India along with Baddi and Amritsar. Both the properties have been well appreciated by patrons.

The 40-room property boasts of a host of facilities which include well appointed and contemporary designed luxurious Guest Rooms, Rooftop &, Multi-Cuisine Restaurants, Discotheque and Lounge Bar, Swimming Pool along with a Health Club as well as a Shopping Arcade.

The hotel also boasts of banquet space for 400 guests with 3 Conference & Meeting Rooms. For the travelling business man the Hotel has a well equipped business center.

Speaking during the announcement, Mr Manish Aggarwal, Managing Director, Maryland Group said, “We are extremely happy to announce the opening of Best Western Maryland Hotel at Zirakpur. We would like to thank The Best Western group for giving us the opportunity to partner with them and offer the groups’ facilities to the travelers coming to the region. The association with the Best Western brand will bring two most important components to this location. The foremost being, the international standard of hospitality and second being international bookings based out of their robust chain of hotels across the world.”

The Hotel’s lavish interiors are beautifully appointed with elegant furnishings and artwork. Best Western Maryland is conveniently located close to the main city airport, with easy accessibility to commercial districts and key corporate houses in Haryana and Punjab.

“Good connectivity, low operational costs and high disposable income make Zirakpur one Of India’s hottest emerging destinations. The proximity to important destinations like Chandigarh, Panchkula, Mohali and Dera Bassi also necessitate an International standard hospitality system for the large number of expats and foreigners that visit this city during various marriages and commercial activities. Best Western India is well equipped with experience to handle this kind of varied hospitality”. said Mr. Sudhir Sinha, President and Chief Operating Officer, Best Western India.

Best Western in India which recently set up its Hotel Management and Training at Bhubaneshwar, is setting scorching pace of growth for itself and are firmly committed to the India growth story of One Hundred Hotels in India by 2017. The Chain has added 10 hotels into its portfolio of operational hotels in 2010 taking the company from 9 operational hotels in 2009 to 19 operational hotels in 2010.

Best Western India currently has sellable room inventory of around 1200 keys, which is expected to increase to around 2400 keys (30 hotels) by the end of 2011.

The addition of these hotels will also expand the Asia-Pacific portfolio which consists of 360 hotels and over 55,000 rooms under the Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, Ramada, Howard Johnson , Days Inn, Super 8 and Microtel Inns & Suites hotel brands.