Newstrack

Leela group looks at national expansion

Gayatri Vijaykumar - Bangalore

The Leela group is in expansion mode. Speaking about the group's future plans, Kenneth Hill, corporate director (sales & marketing), Hotel Leela Palace Kempinski Bangalore said, "Our focus is on growth. We are looking at building six new properties over the next three years." According to him, properties in Gurgaon and Udaipur are in the pipeline for 2008. The group will then target Chennai and Pune in 2009 and Hyderabad and Delhi in 2010. According to Hill, the property in Delhi will be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games with a total investment of Rs 1,500 crore.

Renovations and expansions are also on at Leela properties in Mumbai, Goa and Kovalam. While the one in Goa will see an increase in the number of rooms by early next year, it has finished upgrading the Kovalam property. Meanwhile, Leela Palace Kempinski in Bangalore has added 105 rooms to its existing inventory of 252 rooms bringing the total to 357. Hill said, "We went through 15 months of renovation and added 105 large-sized premium rooms, which we were nominated in the Best Rooms category in the Conde Nast Gold List 2008."

Designed by Thomas Associates, each room is approximately 55 to 58 square meters, above the industry average of 40 square meters. The additional rooms include five extra large deluxe suites and 80 Royal Premiere rooms with a total investment outlay of Rs 40 crore. According to Hill, future plans are on to add a new Italian restaurant and a gourmet shop. "We also plan to build a separate entrance for the new wing containing the 105 premium rooms. The work will start in the first quarter of 2008," he added. The Leela Palace is also considering building a 2,500-3,000 seater convention centre adjacent to the hotel.