Brigade Group ropes in Banyan Tree for spa

The Bangalore-based Brigade Group, with interests in property development, property management services, hospitality and education, has roped in Singapore-based Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts.

It will manage its spa coming up on the slopes of the Western Ghats, amid the coffee plantations at Chikmagalur.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, Brigade group's managing director M R Jaishankar, said the spa and health resort on a 33-acre plot will be group's first venture in the resort category of the hospitality sector.

"The resort is to be located 12 km from Chikmagalur town, where Brigade Group has its roots, and it is being designed with a focus on eco-tourism," he added.

The Rs 100 crore project is to be funded through internal accruals and involves building 50 villas under the Banyan Tree brand and about 100 rooms and a spa under the Angsana brand.

Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts, which launched its first spa in Laguna Phuket in Thailand in 1994, now manages and has ownership interests in 18 resorts and hotels, 49 spas, 53 retail galleries and two golf courses in the Asia Pacific.

The company has agreements to operate and manage 21 hotels and 29 spa projects over the next three years.

Speaking on the occasion, Ho Kwon Ping, executive chairman, Banyan Tree, said, "This is the third project committed by us in India. Others are a 50-room hotel in Goa and 70-80 villas on two islands in Kerala. This quiet plantation town and its environs are best suited for operating a health spa and outdoor activities where we will target Bangalore-based companies initially and later link it to the Asia-Pacific network," he added.

Talking about Brigade's hospitality business, Jaishankar said, "Through the creation of Brigade Hospitality Services, the Group plans to broadened its activities to include management of serviced apartments and corporate residences, senior citizens' residences, as well as clubs, and most recently resorts and spas."

The group's hospitality project underway include a 250-room five-star hotel at Brigade Gateway in Rajajinagar being set up in partnership with an international hotel chain. Brigade Homestead is the city's first serviced apartment project. Now the group has branched out in several locations.

"Homestead will soon be adding 200 more serviced apartments and corporate residences to its portfolio," said Jaishankar.