Hilton eyes tie up with Indian cos aside of DLF

Hospitality major Hilton international is looking to increase its operations in India. it is looking at tying up with companies other than DLF, with which it already has a 26:74 joint venture. In an application to the FIPB, Hilton said it wants to bring more brands into India and has also proposed a hike in its fee structure, claim sources. Hilton plans to operate in India with companies other than DLF. Hilton and DLF have 26:74 joint venture to own and manage 50-75 hotels. The fee payment to Hilton by the DLF JV and others has been revised upwards and no they will have to pay Hilton a trademark fee of 3% of revenues as against 2% earlier. They will also have to pay 10% of their gross operating profit for managing their properties and an additional 3% of revenues for international marketing as against 1% earlier. Also, companies will have to pay a lumpsum fee of USD 350,000 for hotels managed by Hilton. This fee hike is not for the 20 hotel deals closed by DLF and Hilton, wherein Hilton has stake in four of these hotels and the rest of the 16 hotels are to be managed by Hilton itself. The new fee structure would be applicable only if construction does not begin by March 10. The deal with Hilton was truncated from 50-75 hotels to 20 hotels six months ago.