Kerala-based Mir Group plans budget hotels

HOTELS: Mir Group plans hotels in Mangalore, Coimbatore, Thiruvananthapuram & Kochi.

With budget hotels being the in-thing among hospitality players, Mir Group, the Kerala-based Rs 100 crore firm with interests in realty, construction, biotechnology and international trade, has lined up a series of such hotels across south India.

"We are planning to open a series of budget hotels under the brand name 'Mirror' at different locations in south India," K Arun Kumar, managing director, Mir Group, said.

The group, which operates its travel and tourism division under the Mir Tours brand name, plans to come up with its first set of Mirror budget hotels in four locations "" Kochi, Mangalore, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram. "Land acquisition in these four locations is currently being done," Kumar added.

He said that the feasibility studies were over and "the company would invest up to Rs 6 crore on each Mirror hotel".

The group, which is a prominent name in Kerala's construction and realty sector, has also lined up service apartment projects.

According to Kumar, the Mir Group considers the service apartments business a booming sector and therefore, has decided to foray into this segment too. "We will construct service apartments, which would offer all facilities for business and leisure travellers, in different southern locations," he said.

"Plans are afoot to build service apartments and sell them to potential buyers. However, it would be mandatory for the buyers of the apartment complexes to lease them out to us, according to an agreement. We would then run the service apartments," Arun Kumar added.

The Mir Group, which is run by Indian businessmen and NRIs in Russia and West Asia, has a number of residential township projects coming up in Kerala. One of these is the 32-storey Green Metropolis project, which is coming up in Kochi. The building is slated to be the tallest tower apartment complex in south India.