ITC Hotels, which is operating all sub-brands of hotels and properties under its subsidiary Fortune Park Hotels through partnerships and joint ventures, is planning to construct three hotels under the Fortune brand on ITC land in the next fiscal. The hotels may come up in Kolkata, Bangalore and Coimbatore at an estimated combined investment of Rs 120 crore. "In the last 12 years, Fortune Park Hotels has been operating under the management route. We tie up with some developer or hotel interested in Fortune sub brands. We were following this model since we had fair knowledge of the industry. Now, we find that the time has come for us to develop our own properties," Pawan Verma, senior vice president (operations), ITC Hotels, said today.Each of the three hotels planned will have at least 100 rooms. "The hotels will come up on land owned by ITC. The land has been made available to us as the cigarette factories are being either shut or moved elsewhere. The hotels will be operational before 2010," he added. The hotels are part of the company's nationwide expansion plans. At present, Fortune, a Rs 240 crore brand, has 40 hotels (3,100 rooms) under management control across 34 cities. "At present, 20 hotels are operational while 20 are underway and in various stages of construction and refurbishment. It is our aim to operate in 65 cities with 6,000 rooms over the next three years," Suresh Kumar, president, Fortune Park Hotels, said.
