Royal Orchid to soon launch Ramada brand

Bangalore-based hotel chain Royal Orchid Hotels Ltd (ROHL) is all set to open the first Ramada hotel brand in India next month. The company is relaunching its budget hotel in Bangalore, Hotel Harsha, as the first Ramada hotel.

An year ago, the company had signed an agreement with US-based international hospitality chain Wyndham Hotel Group to develop at least 10 Ramada hotels in the country over the next five years. All these hotels will be in the 4-star category aimed at business traveller.

Said Chender Baljee, ROHL Chairman and Managing Director, "We are launching the first hotel under the Ramada brand in Bangalore and will open at least 10 hotels in south and western parts of the country as well as in Rajasthan over the next few years. We have planned to invest close to Rs 500 crore for our hotel chain expansion which also includes hotels under Ramada brand."

The company is also in talks with many other hotel owners for a tie up to expand the network of hotels under franchisee model, he said.

He said the company is investing Rs 10 crore to renovate and upgrade hotel Harsha which will be completed next month. The hotel is being upgraded to four-star category and will see an addition of 20 rooms to increase the capacity to 100 rooms.

Baljee said the company is also investing another Rs 30 crore to renovate Doddi's resort at Yalahanka to upgrade it to five-star category. The room capacity at the resort will be increased to 150 from the present 55 rooms which will be completed in a month's time. "We will use this resort to attract new business travellers to the city as it takes only 20 minutes to reach the new international airport from this resort," Baljee said.

Royal Orchid Hotels is also planning to set up a hotel at Hampi, the UNESCO World Heritage Site in north Karnataka.

"Hampi is very much on our radar for the near future. The tax exemption for five years for hotels being set up at world heritage sites by finance minister in the Union budget surely makes the proposition more attractive than before," Baljee said.

The company has also announced its international foray with an intention to develop a resort at Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania in the next two years. The company has acquired 30 acres land for Rs 10 crore.

Royal Orchid presently operates 10 hotels in Bangalore, Mysore, Pune, Jaipur and Hyderabad. It is planning a pan-India presence in the next three years by opening hotels in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Shimla, Delhi. The room capacity will be doubled from the present 830-rooms. The expansion will be funded through a mix of internal accruals and bank debt.