Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, which operates the luxury hotel chain ‘The Park', has rolled out a Rs 1,500-crore expansion plan to double its room capacity to 2,200 rooms within the coming five years.
On the cards is a second hotel in Kolkata, and four new properties – one each in Jaipur, Pune, Goa and Kochi.
The Kolkata-headquartered hotel chain has 1,100 rooms spread across its own properties in Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Navi Mumbai and Hyderabad and its three managed properties in Goa, Kerala (including a cruiser service) and Chennai. The group opened its last property in Hyderabad in April last year.
Pan-India presence
“We plan to add nearly 850 rooms through our own properties while the remaining 250-odd hotels would be through managed properties. Managed properties help us have a pan-India presence,” Mr Vijay Dewan, Managing Director, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, told
Of these five hotels, the ones in Goa (to be inaugurated later this month) and Kochi (July 2012) will be managed properties. The remaining three –Kolkata, Jaipur and Pune – will be owned and managed by the group.
The Park in 2010-11 reported a turnover of Rs 300 crore.
Service Apartments
The hospitality major is also planning to enter the service apartments sector through its second property in Kolkata. A fourth (or 100 rooms) of its upcoming 400-room facility will have service apartments to cater primarily to the business class professionals. Its Kolkata property is expected to be inaugurated in 2016.
“With Kolkata emerging as an IT hub, we expect a good demand for service apartments in the region,” Mr Dewan said.
Margins under Pressure
According to Mr. Dewan, the global slowdown is likely to impact the hospitality sector in India. While margins were under pressure for most hotels; hikes in room rates are ruled out in view of increasing competition and global slowdown. Instead, boutique hotels “like The Park” will focus on firming up its value added services such as spa and restaurant, he added.
Currently, 50 per cent of The Park's revenues are through room rents while the other half is from value added services like spa and restaurants. “We hope added services to contribute nearly 60 per cent in the coming days,” he said.