Hotel Leelaventure plans Rs. 22,000-mn investment

Mumbai: Hotel Leelaventure Ltd has drawn up a capital expenditure plan of Rs 2,200 crore for the next three years for developing hotel properties spanning the major cities in the country.

An amount of Rs 1,100 crore has already been invested and the rest will come from internal accruals, said Mr Rajiv Kaul, senior Vice-President, Hotel Leelaventure Ltd, at a news briefing here on Tuesday.

The company has cash reserves of Rs 600 crore and will be able to generate the remaining funds that it needs through cash accruals going ahead, he said. In April, the company had raised $100 million through a foreign currency convertible bond issue, and earlier $60 million through an euro issue.

The company has new properties or expansions happening at Chennai, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, New Delhi and Udaipur. The company already has properties in Mumbai, Goa, Pune and Bangalore. And there is likely to be an announcement regarding its plans for Jaipur and Kolkata shortly, said Captain C.P. Krishnan Nair, Chairman.

Altogether the company will be doubling its room count from the current 1200. Each room will be 50 square metres in size, and will cater to the premium class segment, he said.

CLUB CONCEPT


Leela is expanding the ‘Club’ concept at its hotels, said Mr Kaul. These are like hotels within hotels, and are like suites with exclusive swimming pools, plunge pools and so on, designed to provide the super rich or famous privacy, luxury and exclusivity, he said.

About 20 per cent of its space belongs to this `Club’ segment where the tariff is about 30 per cent higher than the regular room rates.