RelatedPosts
Hard Rock International is opening a resort hotel in Goa, the first in India for the famed hospitality and casino chain.
Reports indicate that gaming will not be included at Hard Rock Hotel Goa, as it’s called, although casinos are legal in the state, one of only three jurisdictions in India that allows them.
The 135-rooom property will open in March at the site of the North 16 GOA Resort in the popular beachfront district of Calangute. It will be owned by Spectra Hotels & Resorts, a joint venture between Convention Hotels India, a hospitality investor and the owner of North 16, and Spectra Hospitality Services, a development and consulting group also based in India.
The venue also will feature an outdoor pool, a spa and fitness facility, meetings space and signature Hard Rock dining and retail attractions.
CHI and Spectra Hospitality Services are also exploring other hotel opportunities in
India in partnership with Hard Rock, the latter said in a press release.
“Tourism is core to India’s growth and our association with Hard Rock will enable us to reach a new market of travelers,” said CHI Director Prataap Wadhwa,
Hard Rock is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, a major US casino operator whose flagship Hard Rock casino hotels in Florida are the state’s largest gaming operations. The company is chaired by James Allen, long-time head of gaming for the Seminoles. The Hard Rock brand includes 10 casinos in the US and worldwide, including one at Melco Crown Entertainment’s City of Dreams in Macau. In all, the HRI portfolio contains 194 venues in 60 countries, including 148 restaurants and 21 hotels.
Goa, on the Arabian Sea coast, is one of India’s most popular destinations for domestic and foreign tourists and is the center of legal casino gambling on the subcontinent.
The tiny state, the country’s smallest in area and fourth-smallest by population, is home to a dozen or so casinos, the best-known situated on cruise ships plying the waters off the capital of Panaji.
