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Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which runs the luxury brand Taj Hotels, is looking to expand in the east and northeast. The company, which announced the opening of Raajkutir, an IHCL SeleQtions hotel in Kolkata on Monday, said that it was on the lookout for more properties in West Bengal and Northeast.
According to Rohit Khosla, Executive Vice President – Operations, East, West and North, IHCL, West Bengal serves as the gateway to northeast and the company is looking for strong expansion in the State.
“We have 14 operational SeleQtions properties at present and 8 more are in the pipeline. We are on a constant lookout for properties and we should be able to expand in West Bengal and Northeast,” Khosla said at a virtual press conference to announce the opening of its SeleQtions hotel in Kolkata.
The company would look at adding more Vivantas in the northeast and coming up with more Taj and SeleQtions hotels in West Bengal.
IHCL does not expect any major disruption in business due to the current surge in Covid-19 cases. Though there has been some decline in occupancies due to the new variant-led spike in numbers, this is not expected to last too long and things are expected to recover by February.
“During first wave we took time to recover but with the second wave we witnessed recovery within three months. Now with the current wave we expect recovery by February,” he said.
According to Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja Neotia Group, the company has acquired three-to-four properties in Sundarbans, Dooars and Sikkim in West Bengal. These could be developed into a hotel moving forward. The company is also exploring other heritage properties for expansion. He further said that the Taj City Centre New Town (formerly Swissotel) hotel will be operational by March this year.
Talking about the 33-room Raajkutir, he said, it recreates an old world traditional Bengali Raajbari in spirit, design, décor and cuisine.
With the addition of this hotel, IHCL will have six hotels across brands in Kolkata, including two under development and it also takes the total SeleQtions portfolio to 24 hotels including 18 in operation.
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