February 4, 2023 TnH Global

First of its kind in India: Expo Inn, Suites & Convention in Greater Noida

India Exposition Mart Limited (IEML) Greater Noida, which owns and operates India Expo Centre and Mart in Greater Noida, recently announced the opening of its upscale hotel Expo Inn, Suites & Convention. The 134-room business hotel, the first of its kind in India that offers stay options within an exhibition complex, is located in IEML’s 56-acre premises at Greater Noida. The new hotel was built during the pandemic years of 2021-22 at an investment of Rs 100 crore. It is operated by Four Season Hospitality.

Speaking about the new hotel, Rakesh Kumar, Chairman, IEML, Greater Noida, said, “We started building this hotel during the pandemic years, the most of the construction works were completed during the covid.” He added, “During the Covid we started building more infrastructure facilities in our complex in addition to our exhibition and conference facilities.” Kumar added, “During the pandemic, people were painting a very horrible picture of the coming years, predicting that nothing was going to change; the pandemic was here to stay for a long time, so it is better to wait and watch and do nothing. But there were some organisations like IEML, which did not get carried away by their unfounded prophecy and pessimism, remained hopeful and kept working for the return of good days.” He said, “We were quite optimistic that the prevailing gloom will end soon, so kept upgrading our facilities and built this hotel.”

Emphasising the need of having such a hotel inside the venue complex, Kumar said that for people coming to conventions, conferences or exhibitions, hotel rooms are their very first requirement. “This is the first of its kind in India. At present no convention or exhibition centre has a hotel inside their complex,” added Kumar.

He added that guests staying at this hotel will have more time to spend at exhibitions. They will be able to save their commuting time. They will not have to bother about the parking issues. Moreover, “If visitors stay at the hotel, they will have more networking time,” said Kumar.

Kumar informed that IEML has built this hotel as part of its pre-planned integrated venue project. “Right from the beginning when this project was conceived, we adopted an integrated approach of development that included the development of hotels, helipads and other facilities in a phased manner. The new hotel was planned right at the beginning when this Expo and Mart was conceived. We had planned to develop this hotel as part of Phase –III of our overall project.”

Talking about the features of an integrated venue, Kumar said that an integrated venue complex has all kinds of facilities in one place besides exhibition, conferences and convention facilities. “There is a huge benefit of having a hotel inside the complex, and we are very glad that we have been able to fulfil this need for an integrated venue complex in the country,” he added.

According to Kumar, IEML will build another hotel inside its complex by 2024, as part of its integrated project. The company’s second hotel will be built from its initial public offering (IPO) proceeds. Last year in March, the company filed its DRHP (draft red herring prospectus) for IPO.

Commenting on the post-Covid business scenario in the country, Kumar said that post-covid things have much improved as far as business is concerned. “Lots of activities are happening at our venue. During more than two years of the pandemic and related restrictions, businesses lost lots of opportunities to host events that are important for their growth,” said Kumar. There is strong pent-up demand in the market and with the pandemic under control; companies are rushing to host events to make up for the lost opportunities. “I think post-Pandemic business is growing strongly in every sector including travel and tourism, hospitality, meetings, exhibitions, etc. Not to mention, these are among the sectors which suffered most during the pandemic as they were the first to be closed and last to get opened,” observed Kumar.

Post-pandemic, MICE is probably one of the few segments in the larger travel and tourism sector to bounce back swiftly, said Kumar. “Luckily, there is tremendous demand in this segment at present. People are unwavering in their commitment to covering for losses made during the pandemic. Hopefully, the gap between the demand and supply will be filled with the upcoming venues and properties,” he added.

India Expo Centre and Mart, Greater Noida has consecutively been conferred with the best standalone convention centre award in the country by the Ministry of Tourism, the Government of India. “I am very glad that we have been awarded standalone best convention centre in the country by the MoT consecutively two times, in 2022 and the preceding year,” said Kumar.

India Expo Centre and Mart, Greater Noida is one of the country’s leading venues for worldwide business-to-business exhibits, conferences, congresses, product launches and promotional events, among other things.