"India has been a priority for our brands. We have at present 34 hotels in operation in India and we are looking at increasing the number to 60 by 2010," Carlson Hotels executive vice-president (South Asia) K B Kachru said.
Carlson operates under five brands - Regent, Radisson, Park Plaza, Country Inns and Suites and Park Inn - which offer luxury and economy accommodation.
The company would bring two-three hotels under Regent brand in India. Besides, it would add five hotels under Park Plaza, eight under Country Inn and the rest under Radisson.
Kachru said that all the hotels would be under the franchisee-management model and the company was in talks with developers for entering into such contracts.
Asked about recent trend of joining hands with realty developers, Kachru said, "The synergy between real estate developers and hospitality firms is fantastic".
Carlson today also announced its tie-up with Assotech and Supertech Groups for managing their 5-star hotel in Rudrapur under 'Radisson' brand.
The company would very soon add nine hotels in the national capital region. Carlson has global business interests in travel, hospitality and marketing sectors.
"We are among the first three in the world in terms of offerings to our customers," he said. India at present has one lakh hotel rooms and has a shortage of about similar numbers.