The burgeoning hospitality scenario in the northern region seems to be attracting major developers to set up their properties here. Another player to join the race is the Sarovar Hotel Group that has plans to develop three new hotels in Punjab and Chandigarh. The group has about 30 properties pan India under the brands of Sarovar Premiere, Sarovar Portico, Hometel, Park Plaza, and Park Inn. These encompass 3, 4 and 5 star categories.
Talking to FE, Anil Madhok, managing director of Sarovar Hotels and Resorts said, “We are developing two hotels in Chandigarh under the brand name of Park Plaza and Hometel. Another Hometel is also coming up at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh. The construction work for these hotels has already begun. Park Plaza in Chandigarh will be operational by April 2008. Also, both the Hometel hotels will be ready by December 2008. These three projects are likely to entail an investment of about Rs 100 crore. We are also renovating our Park Inn hotel in Ludhiana and are yet to finalize the joint venture with the Punjab government for three new Hometel hotels, which is expected to materialise within the next six weeks.”
As a part of its expansion plan, Sarovar Hotel Group has announced the launch of six new properties in the next 3 months. These include a Sarovar Portico, Goa, Grand Sarovar Premiere in Mumbai, Hometel in Hyderabad ,
Savannah Sarovar Premiere in
Bangalore, Hometel in Mumbai and Park Inn, Jaipur. ” While the brands Sarovar Portico, Premier and Hometel are owned by our group, we have got the master rights for Park Inn and Park Plaza of the Carlson Group in India. Besides these projects we are also establishing new hotels in Gurgaon, Jaisalmer and Ghaziabad . We have projected an investment of about Rs 500 crore within the next 2-3 years for our new properties,” shared Madhok.
The hotel chain plans to open a total of 20 new hotels in the next three years. Apart from the management route, Sarovar will now be investing in its own hotels too. Its first foray into ownership, Sarovar Portico, Indore, is already operational. “Out of the 30 properties, we own some and others are franchisee hotels. But now we are building five new properties which will be owned by us,” added Madhok.