Taj Residency having facelift

Hyderabad-based Taj Residency, a Taj business Hotel, is currently in the middle of giving a facelift to the hotel at an approximate cost of Rs 7 crore.

Addressing a press conference, Rajiv Narain, general manager of Taj Residency, said, "The hotel has already renovated around 70 rooms, and from April we will renovate the other 50 rooms at a cost of Rs 1.5 crore."

He said that apart from the renovation of the rooms, the hotel is also planning to renovate the public areas and other amenities at a cost of around Rs 4 crore.

Narain also said that they were contemplating on the increase in the number of rooms in the hotel. "The renovation of the rooms is expected to be over by May this year and the other renovations by the end of the next financial year," he said.

Taj Residency is also going in for a audit for HACCP ( Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) certificate in March. "The HACCP certificate is a worldwide benchmark in food hygiene. It entails stringent compliance to process, which ensures food handling and processing are of the highest standard," Narain said.

The hotel has recently been awarded the 'National Tourism Award' for the year 2003-04 for the best 5-star hotel in the country by the Ministry of Tourism, government of India.

"The award was given to the hotel for the incremental increase in the forex earnings over the previous year and also because of highest foreign exchange earnings per room," he said.

Taj Residency's foreign exchange earning had increased 35 per cent from Rs 3.65 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 4.93 crore last year. The foreign exchange per room had increased from Rs 2.43 lakh per room to Rs 3.29 lakh.

The hotel, Narain, said expects to close the current financial year with a turnover of Rs 35 crore as compared to Rs 30 crore last year, an increase of 16 per cent.