Hospitality chain Orchid Group of Hotels is planning to invest over Rs 1,000 crore in the next 18 months to set up seven 5-star hotels across major towns of the country, as it mulls an international foray with properties in China and South Africa."The group has essentially been into management contract business with a few completely owned properties. Going forward, we are looking at adding nearly 2,000 completely owned rooms at seven locations across the country," Pushpinder Kumar, CEO, Orchid Group, told PTI.He said the company invests in a range of Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore in setting up each room.In addition to the seven new completely owned hotels, the company has also entered into management contract for 10 new hotels which would come up in various parts of the country over the next two years.The company's completely owned hotels would come up in tier-I cities including Bangalore, Chennai, Jaipur and Kolkata among others.Kumar said the company would soon foray into the international market and has acquired sites for two hotels in China and another in South Africa.Orchid Group would launch a new luxury boutique hotel brand - O Hotels - in Pune in the next two months and might extend it to other parts of the country based on the response to the Pune property.
