Lalit Suri Hospitality Group today said it would invest nearly Rs 2,200 crore for expansion in luxury and mid-segment hotels in next five years both in India and abroad.
The company that plans to have 45 properties in all by 2017, said it will have its first international hotel operational in London by 2014.
"The road map for us is clearly defined in India and we have not even touched the tip of the iceberg that is there in the travel, tourism and hospitality sector in the country. Our expansions will focus in India, although the London property will be up and running by 2014," Lalit Suri Hospitality Group Chairperson Jyotsna Suri told reporters here.
Asked about the expansion plans of the group, she said: "Over the next five years we will be investing Rs 2,198 crore on development of new hotel properties, including 25 mid- segment hotels in India".
The group would have a total room inventory of 3,600 rooms with 45 properties in the next five years, up from 1,796 rooms from 17 properties at present.
On the funding of the investment, she said it would be through a mix of internal accruals and debt.
Commenting on the international expansion plans of the group, Suri said: "Apart from the London and those planned in Dubai and Thailand, we are not really looking to add more properties".
The group will be investing a total of 28 million pounds on the London property.
"The London property to be named 'The Lalit London' will be a four-star high end boutique hotel with 70 rooms. We have bought the property from Berkeley Homes for a guide price of 15 million pounds," she said.
Another 12-13 million pounds will be invested in restoration and development of the property, she added.
"This property will be operational by end of 2014 and we expect to break-even in three years time from the start of operations for this hotel," Suri said.
Commenting on the other two international properties of the group, she said: "We are not developing our properties in Thailand and Dubai at present due to political and economic situations in those places".
The group had invested Rs 100 crore mainly for purchase of land in Thailand and another Rs 30 crore for the Dubai project, which was proposed to be taken up in a 50:50 joint venture with the Nakheel group.
On the expansion in India, she said the group would be setting up new properties in Kolkata, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Pune and Dehradun.
To meet these expansion targets, the group would also be hiring about 1,000 people and take the total employee count to about 5,000.
