ITC's 600-room Chennai hotel to open doors by end 2011 - The Hindu Business Line
January 12, 2011
ITC-Welcomgroup's upcoming Chennai project is likely to be launched in the last quarter of the current calendar year, said Mr Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC Ltd.
This "will be one of the largest integrated upmarket hotel complexes" and will be based on the group's philosophy of 'responsible luxury', he said. The hotel will have 600 rooms with nine food and beverage destinations. Besides, the complex will house 100 serviced apartments, a 'luxurious preview theatre', over 40,000 sq.ft of retail space, and 55,000 sq.ft. of conference and exhibition facilities, which, according to Mr Anand, will be the largest that any hotel in the country offers. The hotel will carry the tag of 'Luxury Collection' - one of the brands franchised from international hospitality group Starwood Hotels. This will be the ninth 'Luxury Collection' hotel of the group.
Though the company officials refuse to mention the total investment in the property, industry sources say it could be anywhere between Rs 1,000 to 1,500 crore. "Each room of a luxury five-star quality will cost at least a crore," they say.
Mr Anand also mentioned that the company is planning to double its room inventory in the next two to three years at an investment of $2 billion.
"Though the focus will be on developing super-premium hotels, since we are committed to competitive growth, the growth trajectory will be across our four brands with over 7,000 rooms in the next few years," he said. As of now, there are 40 hotels under various stages of development which will be either owned or managed by ITC under one of the four brands. In the super-premium category, besides the Chennai property, the company is developing another 400-room hotel adjacent to its ITC Sonar hotel in Kolkata.
