The Lalit Suri Hospitality group plans to invest about Rs 1,200 crore in the next three years to expand its luxury and mid-scale brands. The company, which had a long-term investment plan of Rs 2,200 crore, has already spent about Rs 1,000 crore in the last five years.
The company will also open its first international hotel in London by 2014. But it has decided to put on hold for now the construction of its hotels in Dubai and Thailand, keeping in mind the economic and political conditions in these locations.
Talking about the company’s recent acquisition of a property in London, Ms Jyotsna Suri, Chairperson and Managing Director of the Lalit Hospitality Group, said, “We have invested £15 million to acquire the property and will invest another £12-13 million to restore the 70-room hotel, which will be positioned as a high-end boutique hotel.”
The company plans to make it an “authentic Indian hotel” in the city and expects the property to break even in the next three years.
The company is not keen on expanding to other international destinations for now. “We are completely focused on the Indian market as we believe we have not even touched the tip of the iceberg. We had been scouting for hotels in London for the past few years since the group had an emotional connect with the city. Besides, it is also one of the key gateway cities of the world which has high demand for hotels,” Ms Suri said.
The company is planning aggressive expansion of its mid-scale brand Lalit Traveller and expects to ramp it up to about 25 hotels. The Group will expand into new locations such as Chandigarh, Kolkata, Ahmadabad, Amritsar, Pune and Dehradun.
Talking about the impact of the current economic problems, Ms Suri said, “The recurring cost for the hotel industry has been going up with the increase in input costs such as power and manpower. Room rates are not increasing the way they used to.”