Leela Ventures plans hotel management institute

Mumbai: Hotel Leela Ventures plans to set up a hotel management and culinary arts institute in Kerala shortly.

The company would be finalising a foreign partner for a tie-up of the same in next three to four months.

The Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Leela Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, Mr Vivek Nair, said, “The company would be investing Rs 15 crore on the institute. It would be set up under a trust or society of the company according to the guidelines of the Human Resource Development Ministry for getting the AICTE approval.”

The course will be of three years duration and would lead to a graduation degree. The candidates will also have the option to pursue a one-year post graduate degree course.

According to Mr Nair, the candidates will be free to join any company after the completion of the course. “There will be no compulsion for them to come only into Leela, however, we hope that the institute will help resolve our manpower requirements too.” The institute will be operational in a year and a half’s time, he added.

The company’s employee cost has been increasing between 18 and 20 per cent for the last two years. Right now Leela has 2,500 employees at all levels. It plans to increase its employee count by 4,500 more by 2012 when it will have 10 operational properties across India.