The Hindu Business Line : Ginger hotel in Agra soon

Mumbai, Sept. 5 The city of Taj Mahal, Agra could see a Ginger Hotel soon. Speaking to Business Line, Mr Prabhat Pani, CEO of Ginger hotels, said, “We are keen on the city given the tourism potential and fair amount of commerce there.”

The property would be on lines of Ginger’s other properties with 100 rooms and would be constructed and operated by it, he added.

The budget hotel brand is run by Roots Corporation Ltd, 100 per cent subsidiary of Indian Hotels Company that operates Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.

On the way ahead for Ginger, Mr Pani said, “We are planning to tweak our model a little by also looking at management contracts and coming up with hotels on top of malls.” The hotel will come up with its first property over a mall in Ludhiana in Punjab by the end of current financial year.

“We have signed up for the same in Amritsar and Mohali, and will be closing for a similar model in Ahmedabad soon,” he added. The company would be investing around Rs 24 crore in the three projects with around 100 rooms each.

Need for model

Speaking on the viability and need for the model, he said, “It works in favour of our model as we get access to prime location of these malls, which would otherwise be difficult to enter given the high land cost. Given the high number of footfalls etc gives us the visibility and also saves us from spending on real estate cost for separate food and beverage outlets or a restaurant unlike at our other properties.”

He added, since malls have food courts, Ginger’s guest profile gives it the advantage to phase out another restaurant facility. However, arrangements for breakfast through smaller setups would be made in the mall model.

As part of the no-frill hotel’s expansion plans it would add six more hotels by March 2008, with an investment of Rs 12-15 crore each.