Aloft Hotels, the well-known brand from Starwood Hotels and Resorts Group Worldwide Inc, will soon have an India address.
Urbanedge Hotels, the special purpose vehicle (SPV) of Auromatrix Holdings with Citi Property Investors, plans to set up 11 properties of Aloft hotels in the country. The first two of these would be operational in Chennai and Bangalore by next month. The budget for the 11 properties is $200 million (around Rs 900 crore).
Work is also in progress at upcoming projects in Coimbatore, Ahmedabad and Chandigarh. These will be launched by the end of this fiscal. Aloft Hotels will be in 4 -star deluxe category and will mainly target the IT and business community.
Urbanedge Hotels will be expanding into cities like Kochi, Mysore, Jaipur, Nagpur, Vizag and Hyderabad.
Suresh Badlaney, vice-president, operations. Aloft, told FE ?Aloft Hotels would have a completely fresh concept in customer service and we will adopt newer methods in client dealings. We are aiming at young IT professionals and businessmen who would get an ideal platform to unwind themselves. Testimony to our vision, Aloft Hotel in Chennai, is coming up on Old Mahabalipuram Road, Sholinganallur, in the IT corridor of the city.?
Badlaney said the demand for business hotels had increased on the back of rising economic growth and creating room for world-class lodging has become imperative. The Chennai property will have 135 rooms and the Bangalore property, situated at Whitefield, will have 170 rooms. The Coimbatore property will have 130 rooms, the Ahmedabad property will be of 180 rooms. The Chandigarh property located at Zirkapur will comprise 180 rooms. He added: ?For travellers to enjoy a seamless experience between destinations, and to maintain the comfort zone that the clients are sure to develop, the Aloft Hotels have a common theme across the country.?
Auromatrix began its operations in 1990 as a technical, management and marketing consultant for various hotel developers in India. The company has completed more than 40 projects pan-India. Auromatrix recently commenced construction of Sparsa Resort at Pasikuddah, Sri Lanka . It has also entered into a management and marketing agreement with the Deccan group for a 59-cottage Deccan Park resort at Ooty, which commenced operations in March.
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 890 properties in more than 100 countries and 145,000 employees.
