Tata group's budget hotel coming up at Technopark

To invest Rs 10 crore in 'indiOne' hotel

The Tata group is nearing a step closer to the state by building budget hotel 'indiOne' at Technopark. The company is expected to invest Rs 10 crore to build 'indiOne' with 100 rooms like its other budget hotels, T Damu, vice-president, Indian Hotels Company, told Business Standard.

"indiOne hotel will be helpful for the IT professionals coming to the Technopark for meetings, knowledge transferring and other purposes. Even the employees, who have to stay back at the office for night work, can use 'indiOne'. The construction of the budget hotel has started and it will be over soon" Damu said.

Pioneered by the Tata-owned Taj group, the country's first budget hotel was built in Bangalore. 'indiOne' has air-conditioned rooms with wood laminated flooring, a work area, a 17-inch plasma colour television, clean toilets and even wi-fi rooms. All these come at a price of Rs 950 a night for two.

"Tata group had made its presence in the state through Tata Tea estates in Moonnar and Malakkipura in Thrissur. This was followed by Taj group of hotels coming to Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Varkkala, Kumarakam and Thekkady.

Later, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) came to Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi for investing. The group has made its presence felt in the state through Voltas, Tata motors, Tata Ceramics and VSNL, and 'indiOne' is one more to it," he said.

'indiOne' hotels are also targeting the five-star guests. To meet the needs of this group, Tata group is opening budget hotels in Pune, Nashik, Mysore, Durgapur, Haridwar, Panjim, Bhubhaneshwar, Varanasi, Jamshedpur, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Hyderabad too.

The 100-room 'indiOne' budget hotel in Whitefield on the outskirts of Bangalore is already reporting 80 per cent occupancy rate even though advertising hasn't started yet.

The group is scouring the country for potential partners and ambitiously hopes to launch between 100 and 150 hotels in the next three to five years. The Taj group harbours global ambitions and hopes that its low-cost model can be replicated in other parts of the developing world like Africa, China and neighbouring countries.