Kochi: Aiming to woo more business travellers, Gateway Hotels and Resorts, part of the Taj Group,will open at least five new contemporary hotels in metro cities in India in the next two years.
Five Gateway Hotels are in the final stages of construction at Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Faridabad, besides Hubli, Chief Operating Officer of Gateway Hotels and Resorts, P K Mohankumar said. The Chennai hotel would be opened by March 2013, he said.
"The plan is to have multilocational presence in each Metro city', he said. These hotels would have modern architecture and contemporary design. Also in the pipeline are more Gateway City Business hotels in Tier I and Tier II cities," he said.
Management contracts have been signed for another 10 hotels in various locations, including Kholapur, Mumbai, Chandigarh and Pune, he said.
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces is one of Asia's largest group of hotels, comprising 99 hotels, including 22 Gateway hotels, in 56 locations across India with an additional 16 International hotels, including in the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, U.S.A and Sri Lanka.
The 22 Gateway hotels also includes 11 resorts. A new resort is coming up at Shimla.
The Gateway hotels are getting more business class travellers from India and Asian countries, including China, Singapore and the Philippines.
Mohankumar said Gateway was upbeat about further development in Kerala.
Taj group has eight properties in Kerala and another hotel is expected to be ready in two years time at nearby Kakkanad.
Pointing that Hotel brands were not investing in assets and were providing only technical expertise, he said "we give them technical expertise in architecture, design, interior design. After completion, a management contract is signed. We bring in the brand to manage assets and this is how the future hotel business is going to be."
PTI
First Published: Sunday, December 9, 2012, 11:40