Newstrack

Kolkata hotels display ‘no-rooms’ board

Joy Roy Choudhury - Kolkata

Business for Kolkata hotels this winter is hotting up. All star-category hotels in the city have put up a houseful notice, with even the posh clubs apologising for non-availability of rooms.

A slew of mega events including an international conference organised by NASSCOM and the 50th All India Obstetric & Gynaecological Congress, combined with high season, have caused an unprecedented rush for rooms. The top two hotels Hyatt Regency and ITC Hotel Sonar Bangla Sheraton & Towers are the hot favourites. Other hotels like Taj Bengal, Apeejay Surrendra-owned The Park, Peerless Inn, The Kenilworth, Lytton Hotel and even the smaller hotels too are popular. However, the crisis will ease in a couple of years once the proposed hospitality projects become operational. S K Khullar, president of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India (HRAEI), says, "By 2009, nearly 2,000 rooms will be added in the five-star category. There could be more additions with the state keen on selling off plots to five-star hotel developers." The Emaar-MGF combine is setting up a five-star deluxe property next to ITC Sonar Bangla on the busy Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, while city-based Shristi Infrastructure Development Corporation (SIDCL) along with HUDCO has tied up with InterContinental Hotels Group to set up a five-star hotel complex on the outskirts of the city. ITC has also decided to set up another 300-room hotel in the city at a cost of around Rs 350 crore.

Meanwhile, the first phase of the renovated and refurbished 'Grand' Great Eastern Hotel will be commissioned by the end of 2007. Steel baron Bipin Vohra's SPS Group recently took over the decade-old Hotel Rutt-Deen and plans to make it over as a star property shortly. Sources indicate that the hotel (re-christened as 'The Loudon') may enter into a management contract with Fortune Park Hotels, a subsidiary of ITC to cater to the mid-priced market segment in business and leisure travel.

However, it is in the high-demand budget-hotel category that the crisis will deepen with no major additions lined up. Alok Chowdhury, secretary general of HRAEI, points out "There's an immediate need for 2,000 rooms in this segment. By 2009, the demand may double. At present, only 400-odd budget rooms are available in the city."