Regent International, the seven-star luxury brand of the US-based Carlson Group, is scouting for properties to introduce the brand in Delhi.
The group is weighing options including a greenfield project which would include rebuilding an existing hotel and upgrading an existing five-star to the Regent standards.
According to sources, the existing hotels which would qualify to be upgraded include Le Meridien and Bharat Hotels-owned Intercontinental hotel.
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The company has also submitted an expression of interest for the India Tourism Development Corporation properties including Ashoka, Lodhi and Samrat.
While Ashoka is being considered for upgradation, Lodhi hotel will be a greenfield project because it will have to be brought down and built again, sources said. Lodhi has been chosen because of its premium location.
While Carlson Hospitality India senior vice-president K B Kachru denied being in talks with Bharat Hotels or Meridien, he said that the company was in talks with leading industrial houses and existing players in the hotel industry.
Kachru said that the company would be inviting the financial bids from interested parties in the next 30-45 days. The company is working with international agencies including HVS International and Vickers Ballas on the issue.
"Possibilities of upgradation of existing hotels to Regent Standards in Delhi are very few. We are talking to some leading players in hotel as well as other sectors for an association. We would be inviting financial bids soon," Kachru said.
Though the investment plans will be finalised later, Kachru said that a Regent room entails an average investment of around Rs 1 crore. The first Regent hotel in the country has already come up at Bandra in Mumbai with 540 rooms. The group has kept a target of 8,00 Regent rooms in the country by 2005.
Kachru said that the group, which has made an investment of around $8-10 million during the last six years in infrastructure, technology and networking, expects to break-even by 2003-04.
The group plans to give its franchise and management system to the private developers or groups which will develop the hotel. In Mumbai, the promoter of Regent Mumbai is Siraj T Lokhandwala. The total investment in the property has been to the tune of Rs 302 crore.
According to Kachru, the Regent brand is associated with the luxury group of hotels and offers striking architecture, spectacular locations, superior accommodations, innovative amenities and personalised guest facilities.
In 1997, Carlson Hospitality had acquired the right to develop, manage and market the Regent brand through new management contracts and franchise agreements from the Four Seasons Hotels Inc.
The Oberoi group is understood to be in talks with five to six leading transnational hotel companies -- including both the Carlson group and the Four Seasons -- for a branding and co-branding alliance. The final decision reportedly has not been reached as yet.