Hotel Leela Venture, which presently owns 4 five-star properties in the country, is planning to expand abroad in the next 2-3 years.Charles de Foucault, general manager, The Leela Palace Kempinski, Bangalore, said the group is looking to set up five-star hotels in Maldives, Mauritius, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.The group has also opened offices in London, Dubai and New York to strengthen its international marketing and distribution network."We are looking for partners best suited to our style of management. Leela would typically like to own and manage properties, and not merely manage it for someone else," Foucault said.Earlier this year, the Leela Group became a member of the Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), an international alliance of independent luxury hotel brands. Set up in 2004, the GHA partners hospitality groups like Kempinski, Omni, Pan and Pacific, and comprises 190 luxury hotels and resorts.Plans to leverage the GHA partner sales network, sales road shows, frequent flyer programme partnerships, trade shows, public relations and advertising campaigns and preferred partnerships are also on the anvil. The group has announced its expansion plans in India, and five-star properties are likely to come up in Gurgaon, Udaipur, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune by 2009.
