JAL Hotels Company Ltd vice-president and general manager (development) Kenji Uda told reporters that the hotel aims to serve as the hub for Japanese and other international business activities in India. Uda said while there has been an economic slow down in many parts of Europe and Japan and parts of the western world, Asia continues to grow in tourism related industry. "It is with this focus that India is of strategic importance both for our tourism strategy and the presence of 14 other Nikko Hotels in the Asia region", said Uda. "With the opening of the hotel at Delhi, we hope to expose a flavour of Japan through culture, art and cuisine," he added.

Uda said the company intends to expand in the Indian market through a presence in the other metros. The company has an exclusive agreement with Sunair Hotels for all future properties in India. JAL Hotels company, the parent company of Nikko Hotels, operates 53 hotels worldwide with over 20,000 rooms.

"The company intends to expand the current base to 100 hotels by the year 2001," said Uda.

The Metropolitan Hotel Nikko New Delhi president Shashi Vagale said the hotel will be the first Indo-Japanese hospitality venture in India, which has been largely oriented towards the European and American concepts of hoteliering over the past 20 years. Vagale said the core operating philosophy at the hotel will focus on higher standard of service and reliability by harnessing the best of people, product and processes within our operating systems and adapting the well known Japanese management technique - Kaizen - and thus maintaining a competitive edge over others.

Jal Hotels has its own reservation centres at Tokyo, Osaka, United Kingdom and United States. Utilising JAL's computer reservation system - Axess - located at 170 points worldwide, these reservation centres make it possible for a guest to reserve a room and receive a confirmation at any Nikko Hotel in two minutes, said Uda.