Destination Pune for five stars

City to add 2,000 hotel rooms in next two years

Pune's infotech revolution seems to have rubbed off on the city's hospitality industry. For long content with just one five star hotel, the city is witnessing a growth-on-steroids of sorts with no less than six major chains planning to set up their hotels in the next two years. International majors, including J W Marriot, Radisson, Hyatt and the Four Seasons, are expected to pump in around Rs 600 crore to create an estimated 2000 five-star rooms over the period.

"In two years, there is going to be a demand for more than 2000 rooms in Pune, whereas the existing capacity is only around 650 rooms and that's why so much activity is seen in this sector," says Vascon Engineers Managing Director R Vasudevan who is the head of a consortium putting up two hotels.

While the first one on Pune's Airport Road will have 325 rooms including 75 service apartments, the Shivajinagar project will increase the city's five-star capacity by 120 rooms. The two hotels, to be run in partnership with international hotel chains, are expected to cost around Rs 120 crore to put up.

Another mammoth project is the giant 400-room Convention Centre and hotel being developed in the city's Chattushrungi area by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA).

"We are holding talks with Hyatt and J W Marriot for management tie-ups and total investment in convention centre is around 400 crore," D K Abhyankar, director-general, said.

Other projects being developed include one by the Amrit Runwal group in the Shivajinagar locality and one each by the Leela and the Banglore-based Orchid group. While the Runwals are learnt to be negotiating with the Radisson group for a tie-up, hospitality giant Renaissance is also rumoured to be on the look out for suitable projects in the city.

"Besides being a centre for the IT and BPO activity, Pune has become a major hub for the auto and auto-components industry," points out real estate consultant Frank Knight's head of hospitality and leisure Akshay Kulkarni.

He points out that Pune's growth story may have just begun, taking into account the city's strong educational infrastructure and its proximity to the overstretched state capital.

"Connectivity with Mumbai has improved so much over the last few years that even making a one-day business-trip to Pune is no big deal. Besides, Pune is now well-connected by air with all the regional hotspots like like Hyderabad, Banglore and Chennai," he points out.

Another factor which is encouraging mega-bucks investment in the hotel sector has been the changing profile of the incoming-traveller. While a mere 22.4 per cent of those who stayed in the city's hotels were business-travellers in 2000, the figure has touched 75.5 per cent over the last five years.

The hospitality sector, especially the five-star segment, has been stagnating for the last few years with just 515 rooms available in just one hotel in the city right now.