Berggruen Hotels, a venture backed by Berggruen Holdings Inc, a private investment company headquartered in New York, is looking at setting up 40 budget hotels christened ?Keys? and 8-10 four-star hotels and resorts, most probably extension of the ?Keys? brand, in India by 2011-12.
?We are still to christen the four-star hotels and resorts. It may be an extension of our ?Keys? brand,? said Sanjay Sethi, MD & CEO, Berggruen Hotels.
The company is looking at Tier I, II and III cities, and has identified 15 locations including cities like Bangalore, Kolkata, Pune, Trivandrum, Kochi, Ludhiana, Jammu, Baroda, among others for the budget hotels.
?Construction has begun at five locations. Of these, the one at Mahabaleshwar will be not owned but managed by us,? he added.
The company has signed a management contract with Evershine Builders for the 92 rooms Mahabaleshwar property, expected to be operational by October 2008. The company expects to have 4-5 budget hotels up and running by then.
An investment to the tune of $75-100 million will go into Berggruen?s India dream. It is looking at ownership, lease and management models for the 50 odd hotels including budget, four-star hotels and resorts, indicated Sethi.
?The room rates will be in the range of $45 -55, depending upon the city,? he added.
Earlier, the company had planned to spend 2-3 years in the Indian market and then foray into the international market. However, citing better opportunities abroad, it now has plans to set up six hotels in Egypt and five each in Morocco, Turkey and the UAE. By 2008, it hopes to start construction on 1000 rooms in the area and will have 3000 rooms by 2012.
Also on the cards are China and Vietnam. The company plans to invest another $100 million abroad, taking its total global spent to $200 million.
?The investment will be a mix of equity and debt,? he added. It is primarily looking to develop greenfield projects but is also open to strategic partnerships through joint ventures, lease arrangements and acquisitions of existing hotels.