Expansion Projects

Berggruen to expand its Keys by 2011

Sayoni Bhaduri - Mumbai

Berggruen Hotels plans to expand its boutique budget brand Keys with 38 hotels in the country by 2011 with an investment of Rs 16-24 crore on construction only with additional budget for the land.

The first Keys resort will open in September in Candolim, North Goa. The 150-room resort will focus on the growing MICE segment. Others include a 100-room resort in Pondicherry with 7.5 acres of beach front and a 100-room resort under construction in Thiruvananthapuram. The group has already acquired properties in Kovalam and Kochi.

Other cities where the work is in various stages of progress include Bangalore, Vadodara, Pune, Ludhiana, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Surat, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Nashik, Nagpur, Aurangabad and Jaipur. Berggruen is also planning to take Keys global and is looking at China and Southeast Asia.

Partha Chatterjee, chief marketing officer and director of Berggruen Hotels, said that the expansion has been undertaken to fulfill the gap of 6,000-8,000 rooms in the country. The group intends to differentiate itself from other budget hotels with its "service philosophy providing travellers with value-for-money accommodation," Chatterjee said, adding, "We have placed strong emphasis on quality, low pricing, location and awareness through retail networking."