Bharat Hotels to expand budget hotels

NEW DELHI: Embarking on an expansion spree, leading hotel chain Bharat Hotels Ltd on Friday said it will open up to 25 budget hotels in the country in next 2-3 years while also opening one luxury hotel in Dubai.

"In the next 24-36 months we will open 20-25 budget hotels in different cities," Chairperson Bharat Hotels Ltd Jyotsna Suri said on the sidelines of the Hoteliers Conclave here.

She said the group will come up with the budget hotels also in Tier-2 cities like Jalandar, Surat, Ludhiana, however, declined to comment on the investments to be made for the expansion programme.

Yet, Suri said the group which are also owners of The Grand hotel chain is opening a resort in Bekal, Kerala entailing an investment of Rs 45 crore that would be operational by the end of this year.

The company is also planning to expand overseas. "The group will be opening a luxury hotel called The Grand Fort in Dubai," Suri said.

In the luxury segment the company is planning to open seven more hotels in different parts of India.

"We will open seven more hotels in the country taking the total number of our luxury hotels to 21 by 2009-10," she said. However, she declined to give any investment figures.