Lighthouse Fund backed Concept Hospitality adding over 800 guestrooms by March '11

Lighthouse Fund-backed Concept Hospitality Pvt Ltd (CHPL) is all set to make a big splash in the Indian hospitality market in the coming quarters. A pure play hotel management firm, Concept has lined up a slew of hotel launches across the country in the five-, four- and three-star categories. In all, CHPL will add over 800 guestrooms across tier I and tier II cities across the country by the end of this fiscal.

Managing hotels under The Fern, The Fern Residency and Beacon brands, CHPL will open four 'ecotel' hotels in the five-star segment adding 391 guestrooms under its flagship 'The Fern' brand. These hotels are scheduled to open at regular intervals in the coming months going up to January 2011. The hotels are coming up in cities like Delhi (50 rooms), Mumbai (141 rooms), Ahmedabad (100 rooms) and Hyderabad (100 rooms).

One of its five-star hotel projects in Mumbai features 141-rooms and is christened Meluha - The Fern, an Ecotel Hotel. The property is being developed by the Hiranandani Group and it's the realtor's first five-star and second hotel project at Powai. The first one branded as Rodas - an Ecotel hotel is managed by Concept Hospitality as well.

Param Kannampilly, chairman and managing director, CHPL said that all the upcoming launches are greenfield hotels designed and developed by following strict 'ecotel' standards and certification norms. “These are properties constructed by a mix of new and existing, realtors and hoteliers, with a focus on eco-friendly hotels. Concept has been roped in as a specialist hotel management company to brand and operate the properties. Being pure management contracts we don't have an equity position with these developments,” Kannampilly said.

The company has also signed up management contracts for The Fern hotels in Chennai and Kolkata which will start receiving guests a couple of years from now. With work on these hotels just commenced, another 400 five-star guest rooms will get added to the portfolio by 2012. On an average, the cost per key for The Fern hotels ranges between Rs 45 to Rs 50 lakh excluding land and financing costs.

In the three- and four-star categories, CHPL is bringing in another 438 guest rooms that will be managed under 'The Fern Residency' brand. Currently under various stages of completion, these hotels are coming up in locations like Goa (20 rooms), Solapur (58 rooms), Cochin (75 rooms), Delhi (120 rooms), Mahableshwar (40 rooms), Mysore (50 rooms), and Chembur (75 rooms). The average cost per room for this category of hotels is Rs 20 to Rs 23 lakh excluding land and financing costs.

“These hotels will get operational by March 2011 and are pure management contracts as well,” said Suhail Kannampilly, VP-operations, CHPL. “We have also signed management contracts in tier II locations like in Nagpur, Ghaziabad, Tezpur, Raipur, Tirupur, Baddi, Bhubaneshwar and Lucknow. These hotels are still under construction and will take some time to get operational,” he added.

The company currently manages close to 700 hotels in 10 cities and will add another 12 locations to the portfolio taking the total to 32 cities across the country in the next 3 to 4 years from now.