Sahara plans five-star hotel in Lucknow

HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN FOCUS

Sahara India Pariwar, a major player in the infrastructure and housing sector, is planning to build a five-star hotel in Lucknow. The company has plans to build a hotel in each of its 217 Sahara City homes.

"We will be coming up with a five-star property in Lucknow. We are still working on the project and will finalise the details soon," said a company official on the condition of anonymity.

Sahar India Pariwar runs a real estate arm called Sahara Infrastructure and Housing with an array of multi-dimensional ventures such as mini and mega townships called Sahara City, Shopping Malls and Commercial Complexes across India.

The conglomerate is also looking at establishing hotels in other parts of the country either through acquisitions or building its own property.

"We are aggressively looking to expand the hospitality division and have as many hotels as possible. We are planning to acquire or build more properties and establish our presence globally. We will have Sahara Hotels in all the Sahara Cities," said Vivek Kumar, CEO and design head, Sahara Star.

The company inaugurated its flagship five-star super deluxe hotel, Sahara Star in Mumbai on Monday. Sahara Star, located near Mumbai's domestic airport, marks the group's foray into the hospitality sector.

The Sahara Star hotel in Mumbai will open in two phases. In the first phase, the hotel will have 223 guestrooms and nine food and beverages outlets.

After the completion of the second phase, the hotel will have 412 rooms on offer with 13 speciality restaurants and a fully equipped business centre. An estimated investment of over Rs 500 crore has been made in the property.

Sahara Star, earlier known as Centaur Hotel, was owned and operated by the Hotel Corporation of India (HCI), a subsidiary of Air India under the brand name of Centaur group of Hotels, till AL Batra of Batra Hospitality bought it from the HCI in June 2002 for Rs 83 crore.

Batra later sold it to the Sahara group for Rs 115 crore.

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BRICK-BY-BRICK

Already, Sahara Infrastructure and Housing has multi-dimensional ventures such as mini and mega townships , Malls and complexes under its roof

The major player in the housing sector will complete its Mumbai five-start hotel in two phases