Auckland Hotel, which opened in the city during the British Raj in 1841 this day, today reopened in its new avatar as Lalit Great Eastern Hotel, the latest addition to the list of five-star deluxe properties in the metropolis.
Inaugurating the re-launch of the hotel here, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said it was because of the great dreams of late Lalit Suri that led to the reopening of the hotel.
From Auckland Hotel, the hotel's name got changed to Great Eastern. The Delhi-based Lalit Suri group acquired the property from the West Bengal government in 2005 at a price of Rs 52 crore.
Banerjee said it was good to see that many new hotels were coming up in the city which indicated more visitors were coming here from outside the state and abroad.
Chairperson of Lalit Suri Hospitality Group Jyotsna Suri said the hotel had immense historic value due to its heritage status and was reopened today to coincide with the birth anniversary of the her husband who expired in 2006.
She said the hotel was called 'Jewel of the East' during the British Raj and was host to guests like Queen Elizabeth II, Rudyard Kipling and Mark Twain.
The total renovation cost of the hotel would be around Rs 320 crore, she said, adding the entire hotel would become operational in six months time after completion of work in the two heritage blocks.
Today, only two blocks consisting of 200 rooms were opened.
