EIH Mgmt To Lay Emphasis On Active Growth Strategy

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Kolkata, Aug 18: EIH Ltd has outlined an active growth strategy. The company would concentrate mainly on the management contract rather than acquistion or setting up of new hotels, according to chairman PRS Oberoi.

"We no longer want to own new hotels just for the sake of it. Our policy will now be mainly to manage hotels owned by others by entering into management contracts with interested parties," he told reporters at the end of the 54th annual general meeting (AGM) of the company here Wednesday.

He said that the management will pursue the strategy by acquiring management contracts both in India and abroad. "The company will continue to strengthen its marketing efforts across the globe to optimise worldwide brand recall through its specialised public relations companies in the United States and Europe," he said.

Mr Oberoi said that the EIH management is already in talks with a number of interested parties both in India and abroad for entering into management contracts. However, he refused to disclose details. He said that apart from India, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific regions will be the principal areas of focus for the company to pursue management contract efforts," Mr Oberoi said.

He said that in case of managing a five-star deluxe hotel through a management contract, the brand name "Oberoi" will be used. He said that apart from hotels, the management is also considering managing service apartments in cities like Bangalore.

When asked whether the EIH management had any plans to set up base in China, Mr Oberoi said, "Right now China is not in our focus but in future it may be." He also said that EIH will continue with its own properties and ruled out any possibility of selling any of its own properties.

When asked whether the merger of the erstwhile ITC Hotels with ITC Ltd will have any impact on the revenue or the ranking of EIH, he said, "We own the maximum number of properties in India as well as abroad. As a brand, Oberoi is most popular and hence this merger is not expected to have any impact on our company," Mr Oberoi said.

When asked whether there will be any drastic change in the promotional plans of EIH following the merger, Mr Oberoi said that EIH plans will not be guided by the merger issue.