Royal Palms plans Rs 1,000cr expansion

Royal Palms, a leading hospitality player, is planning to construct two more hotels - a 438-room palace hotel and a 250-room 5-star hotel - with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore.

The hotels are expected to be constructed at its existing location at Goregaon, Mumbai, and are likely to be completed by 2010.

The Rs 200 crore company of the Royal Palms Group has entered into a co-branding and marketing tie-up with Great Hotels of the World, a leading name in global hotel sales and marketing chains, for its upcoming 116-villa luxury hotel at Goregaon in North Mumbai. The Palms, scheduled to be opened this month, becomes only the second in India to be a part of the Great Hotels of the World chain after Taj Exotica, Goa.

This is the second hotel of the Royal Palms Group, and has been built at a cost of Rs 175 crore. The first hotel, a 237-room, 5-star hotel is also located in Goregaon, has a tie-up with Park Plaza of the Carlson group and has been operating at over 80% occupancy since its inception in Sept 2005.

The Park Plaza Royal Palms has generated revenues of Rs 130 crore in the two years of its existence. "From The Palms also, we are expecting revenues of upwards of Rs 75 crore in the first year itself,"  says Dilawar Nensey, joint managing director of the Royal Palms Group.