ITC ‘Mementos’ gains momentum; signs up third property this month

NEW DELHI: Hospitality major ITC’s “asset right” strategy seems to be paying off. The hospitality major had recently launched two more brands — luxury “Memento” and premium “Storii”.


The key size of these has been determined to get owners of unique properties across India to let the same be run professionally as the pandemic has seen a rise in demand for branded stays for peace of mind that all necessary and enhanced sanitation and hygiene measures are being followed.

ITC has so far this month signed for three

Mementos

— Udaipur, Jaipur and Shimla — with Himachal being the first state outside Rajasthan to get this new luxury brand.

Spread over 10 acres,

Mementos Shimla

will have 297 keys including 40 villas of four bedrooms each.

ITC HOTELS

chief executive Anil Chadha said: “Himachal Pradesh is one of the key hill destinations that witnessed huge footfalls post pandemic. This state has unsurmountable beauty and is truly everyone’s favourite. From ‘white Christmas’ to green glory, our latest luxury outpost Mementos Shimla brings you the best of all seasons. With demand mainly stemming from road trips to nearby destinations, Shimla is poised to receive high influx of domestic tourism and destination weddings.”

Mementos Shimla owner

Pankaj Gupta

said: “We are building one of the largest hotels in the hills, in the heart of Shimla and so we had to choose a partner that has the ability and experience in managing large luxury hotels. We are delighted to get ITC Hotels on board with their Mementos brand."

ITC Hotels has over 100 hotels in over 70 destinations in the country across across four existing brands — ITC Hotels (ultra luxury, all owned by the group),

Welcomhotel

(premium hotels), Fortune Hotels (full service business) and

WelcomHeritage Hotels

(heritage hospitality). It recently launched two new brands — Mementos and

Storii

— to further increase its footprint in the country by adopting an “asset right” strategy.

A Storii property may have about 10 to 50 rooms, allowing owners of unique properties across the country to let ITC run them as premium management contract hotels. Mementos is ITC's latest luxury brand which will bring together a collection of unique hotels, across varied destinations and could have about 100 rooms.

The strategy is to add hotels “through collaboration with asset owners looking for institutional strength and hotel expertise,” said an official. During the pandemic, ITC has added a number of properties.