India’s hospitality market is bouncing back much faster than other regions post the second wave and that's the word coming in from Peter Fulton, Group President- SW Asia, Hyatt Hotels. He is group president for Europe, Africa, Middle East and Southwest Asia. In conversation with Shilpa Ranipeta of CNBC-TV18, he talks about Hyatt’s expansion plans here, the Hyatt Regency Mumbai issue and the recovery in the Indian market.

“We have seen a very buoyant start to the summer season and occupancies are all edging past the 50 percent mark already across the portfolio. We've seen some very strong performances in Mumbai and a couple of the hotels in Delhi. Hyderabad has been a little bit more relaxed. Chennai has been, coming through the middle roads there, but they have not been doing too bad.

When asked about their expansion plans in India, he said, “India sits number four in our pipeline for new hotels across the company in its growth. So the 23 hotels are 3800 rooms we mentioned across 12 markets a couple of months ago still stands, and we have added to that in the last couple of months, so that will be slightly higher. We do expect to see a couple of openings before the end of the year, one will be coming in Jaipur, our first hotel in Jaipur.”

The Hyatt Regency brand has been the broad driver for Hyatt Hotels in India but recently we saw Hyatt Regency in Mumbai owned by Asian Hotels (West), suspending operations due to the paucity of funds. However, the brand still belongs to Hyatt Hotels. So, when asked how they were viewing this situation?

He said they looked about this specific situation quite seriously because it is Hyatt's brand name that is there and the circumstances we find ourselves in is quite concerning. “We are working very closely with our owners to try and resolve the particular issues. It is a very complicated situation with regards to Asian Hotels (West), which we sincerely hope will be rectified very shortly.

For the full discussion, watch video.