The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts has entered into a sale and marketing agreement with US-based hospitality major Preferred Hotel Group. The move is part of the company's efforts to further strengthen its brand positioning and market penetration. Headquartered in Chicago, Preferred Hotel Group is a global leader in the hospitality industry providing reservations, sales and marketing services to 600-odd independent hotels and resorts in over 65 countries.
According to Onno Poortier, president, The Leela Palaces, the US is the largest source market for the company and the alliance with Preferred Hotel Group will strengthen its brand positioning, awareness and market penetration.
John Ueberroth, CEO, The Preferred Hotel Group, stated in a press release that the collaboration would enable both the companies to complement each other in several areas such as strong leadership, dedication to growth in key strategic locations and vision for a new standard of luxury in India.

Meanwhile, a Leela Group spokesperson said the group was aggressively looking at expanding its pan-India presence to key cities in the next four years.
"The strategic alliance with the Preferred Hotel Group will provide The Leela extensive access to four of the largest consortia such as Ammex, CWT, BCD and Hogg Robinson and PHG's Airlines and creditcard partnerships. It is also expected to drive international sales through the 29 global sales offices of Preferred Hotel Group."
The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts is currently present in Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa and in Kovalam in Kerala. Hotel Leelaventure Limited will also open a new property at Gurgaon in November this year. It also has plans to open its Udaipur centre in January 2009. Its Chennai centre will come up by the end of the same year. The new centre at New Delhi will be opened in 2010, and Hyderabad and Pune in 2011, the spokesperson said.