Inside Marriott’s 500th hotel in Pune, India

Deep in negotiation with a rickshaw driver one sunny Friday morning in Pune, India, my train of thought is suddenly interrupted by a seismic unsettling. Halfway down the street, rounding the corner and coming straight at us careens a cart pulled by a pair of two-ton oxen with long, red, vicious horns jutting from their noble heads. I take a moment to absorb my surroundings: on the other side of the thoroughfare, a bright and shiny new building towers out of the lush, west Indian landscape, surrounded by tall, grey stone walls, twenty some floors of steel, glass and wood. To my left, a faithful rickshaw driver who just drove me through the winding streets of Pune, patiently waiting in his black and yellow steed for me to produce the right number of rupees to make his trip worthwhile. Coming from the right and closing are the same massive bovines that broke my concentration earlier–though now, a little closer.

This is India, a constant stream of distraction and activities swirling around every person, the steady drumbeat of prosperity marching right alongside the poverty and cultural overload. I’ve come here to Pune, just a few hours’ drive outside of Mumbai, to witness the opening and inauguration of Marriott’s 500th hotel and convention center.

It’s a symbolic opening for both the hotel brand and the country at large, as both look to expand western brands inside of the rapidly growing Indian economy. But mechanically, this hotel is exactly as a Marriott should be: clean, well-appointed rooms, comprehensive food and entertainment offerings and razor sharp, attentive staff. And right behind these openings, another dozen Marriott properties are slated to begin operation in the Indian subcontinent in the next year.

%Gallery-109388%The grand opening celebrations were grandiose and lavish, with local and foreign media privy to the finest of pool deck parties, live entertainment and fireworks to top off the affair. With the festivities behind them, however, the Pune Marriot now has its work cut out for it: there are very high western standards to hold, hundreds of rooms and dozens of conferences to book and, most importantly, the trust and business of an entire culture to earn.

It’s the sort of situation encountered every day in India, navigating through passenger, bicycle and rickshaw traffic in a rented Mercedes, crowding the only Mexican restaurant in town with 300 other patrons, sitting inside of a Hindu temple while the security guard pecks away at his smart phone. Like the scene in front of me on the streets of Pune, India is all about thriving in the midst of chaos, and once the dust settles from this opening, the real test will begin.

Quickly I dig my SLR camera out of my bag and snap a shot of the hotel with the ox and cart passing by. Somewhere inside there’s a press conference waiting for me, a few quotes to collect, a few words still unwritten. For leisure I hope to one day return.

Fast Facts
Marriott Pune Hotel and Convention Center: SenapatiBapat Road • Pune, 411053 India
• Rooms: 416 with 44 suites
• Meeting rooms: 12 with 19,000 sq feet of space
• Marriott Rewards Category: 3
• Specialty restaurants; Indian, Asian and Italian
• Room rate at time of publication: $143/night

Editor’s note: Marriot invited Gadling to this event and provided some transportation and lodging. We were free to roam and write at will.

Celebrating Marriott’s 500th hotel opening

A major milestone was passed in the Marriott empire last month with the opening of their 500th flagship hotel and an adjoining convention center. The location: three hours outside of Mumbai through the Sahyadri mountain range and into Pune, an education and information technology epicenter in western India.

As a growing city of 3.5M people, Pune is quickly becoming a destination for both business and leisure travelers. Akin to a miniature Mumbai, it has many of the same characteristics: crowded, noisy streets, a slew of Hindu temples and sites, rich culture and most importantly an exploding business community. It was natural for Marriott to develop here.

The opening of this 500th hotel is also symbolic of the evolving economic and travel landscape in India. As this once third-world country catapults into the future, quality of life standards and are on the rise and international brands are more in demand. Realizing this, Marriot is growing aggressively here; after this opening, nearly a dozen more properites will begin operation around the country in rapid succession. So the gala at this 500th hotel opening was more than a party — it was the breaking of a dam, with thousands of worker’s lives, traveler’s journies and an entire portion of the Indian economy flowing brazenly in pursuit.

As members of the international media, Gadling had the opportunity to join with a group of a dozen bloggers, producers, journalists and editors from around the planet to witness the opening festivities. The night of the opening ceremony, things got kicked off with a press conference announcing the hotel and convention center with Marriott executives Arne Sorenson and Simon Cooper alongside a peppering of regional dignitaries.

Festivities then moved over to the outdoor patio and the pool terrace and bar, where guests were treated to live entertainment, drinks and a grand fireworks show to top off the event.

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It’s awkward in a way — as members of the media at a grand hotel opening, every corner of the hotel has been prepared to perfection. Guards stand at every floor paying sharp attention to each passer by and waving hello and farewell. It’s difficult to get into any elevator or visit one of the myriad, beautiful restaurants without finding a worker polishing a fixture or wishing you good day.

But beneath the layer of 409 and the starched linen shirts, after the fireworks have faded and the hotel enters normal operation, it’s easy to see how successful this hotel and convention center will soon be. It’s in a great part of the city just off of the main highway. The rooms are gorgeous and the showers are palatial. People genuinely seem to like their jobs here. And best of all, it’s a sweet slice of familiarity in this white-knuckle, rickshaw-riding, pollution-spewing, antique-market-hopping, sari-swirling, gorgeous, boundless country known as India. Like the exploding national economy, the growing education system and every single IT professional stacked into the Pune infrastructure, so too will this Marriott prosper.

Editor’s note: Marriot invited Gadling to this event and provided some transportation and lodging. We were free to roam and write at will.

Trekking to Death in India?

I was shocked that I wasn’t shocked to read this story about a man trekking in India and getting lost for 32 days. He wandered off from his group trekking trail, hit his head and fainted. When he woke up he couldn’t find his way back, ate grass and drank sewage water to survive. Over a month later was found by a local and taken to the hospital. The man is from Bombay, which is a 4-hour drive away from Pune – the city in the outskirts of which he got lost.

As much as India is truly “incredible”, and the tourism board is trying to get it’s act together; India is dangerously disconnected the minute you head off the standard marketed tourist spots. Comparing savage Indian outskirts with the Australian outback trails wouldn’t be fair, but in say Thailand, I think something like this would never happen.

I remember getting lost when I went on a school trail in the same area as this dude who got lost. We were missing only for a few hours. We didn’t move and all we saw was the odd snake, but it could have been worse; remote India can get wilder than you can imagine.

This is why I think Indian travelers are extremely daring, adventurous and courageous — I have uncles who have planned 60 day hikes in the Himalayas. Avid travelers in India don’t seem to be technologically well-connected (my uncles barely know how to send an email), unless of course you are from Bangalore (India’s Silicon Valley).

When I was in India last, I was thrilled to get in touch with OK TATA BYE BYE. It is the first and probably only website aimed at Indian backpackers – in India! There are dozens wandering off the beaten path in their own country, all the time (the Rupee doesn’t allow for much travel overseas), and the website gives great insight into traveling in India, stuff you won’t find in guidebooks.