Indian hotel family plans for big time
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Nine years after opening his first hotel in India, HCL founder DS Puri, and his son Vikram, are planning to roll-out their Astor brand nationally. The Times of India has reported that following the original 34-room Astor hotel in Kolkata, the Puri’s plan to invest INR250-300 crore (US$52-63 million) to establish a further five properties in key locations across India. The eventual aim is for Astor to emerge as a national hotel chain by 2015, the report said.
“We have plans for at least five hotels, a mix of greenfield projects and acquisitions. ‘Til we set up a hotel management company, these five-star properties will be managed by ITC (Welcomgroup). Once we arrive at a critical number, we will form a management firm and all hotels will be brought under the Astor brand,” the newspaper reported Puri senior as saying.
The Puris have reportedly already acquired land in Agra to set up a 103-room luxury hotel. Talks are also underway to purchase a plot in Jaipur, while locations are being considered in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Goa. In addition, the ambitious Puris plan to set up a hotel management institute.
“When six of us set up HCL in 1975, we had a capital of INR1.75 lakh (US$3,700),” Puri senior said. “Today, it is a US$5 billion company. After 20 years of frantic activity, I decided to take a break. But with Vikram and his wife Ekta joining me, the zest is back to build another brand,” he added.
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