In Brief

Hilton Residences Bangalore To Launch In 2007

The Hilton International has signed a management contract with the Embassy Group for a 250-unit Hilton Residences in Bangalore at the Embassy Golf Links Business Park. Koos Klien, president, Hilton Middle East & Asia Pacific, said “Bangalore is India’s most prolific city at the moment and the service apartment segment in India especially Bangalore is slowly emerging as a viable option for long staying corporate guests. It is our hope that Hilton Residences will become a short and mid-term home for the world’s top engineers, software specialists and business people especially from the USA, UK and continental Europe. The Hilton Residences will be Bangalore’s first five-star service apartments.” Due for completion in 2007, the Hilton Residences Bangalore will sport four restaurants, a trendy bar, a state-of-the-art business centre, health club and a golf course.

Kenilworth To Set Up Business Hotel In Hyderabad

The Kolkata-based Kenilworth Group has announced its plans to set up a business hotel in Hyderabad. Confirming the development, Raju Bharat, managing director of the group said, “We are toying with the idea of setting up a hotel in Hyderabad. Though the project is in the drawing board stage now, it is likely to be a greenfield project. It will be a 100-120 room business hotel. The modalities for the project like investment and precise inventory etc are yet to be worked out. We will be soon visiting Hyderabad to hold detailed talks with the officials of the Department of Tourism, Government of Andhra Pradesh for finalising the land for the proposed project.”

Replying to a query on why he chose Hyderabad for setting up the hotel, Bharat said, “Once the airport gets operational, it will become an international hub offering major business potential. Thus, we decided up on Bangalore.” The proposed business hotel will come up next to the greenfield international airport coming up at Shamshabad near the city. The project is likely to be completed by 2008.

Baljee Group Looks At Adding Six Properties To Portfolio

The Baljee Group of Hotels that currently operates three properties in Bangalore and one in Mysore, is looking at increasing their portfolio by adding another six properties in the country. The company is looking at a total investment of Rs 250 crore approximately for the expansion, out of which about Rs 100-150 crore would be through equity and the rest through debt.

Revealing this Chander K Baljee, managing director, Baljee Group of Hotels said, "The six properties that we plan of will fall under the Royal Orchid brand name, which is our premier brand, but there will be sub-brands falling under the 5-star, 4-star and budget categories. We are in the process of branding these sub-brands."

The group is planning to open hotels in Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Delhi and Shimla. "We firmed up our tie-up for our property in Hyderabad with our plan for a joint development with Harminder Bagga, who is into liquor trading and real estate. Negotiations are on for other cities," said Baljee.

Armani Hotels And Resorts Launched

Following the signing of a Letter of Intent in 2004, Giorgio Armani Spa and EMAAR Hotels & Resorts LLC have announce that their respective chairmen, Giorgio Armani and Mohamed Ali Alabbar, have executed the formal contractual agreement between the two companies for the development of a unique international collection of 'Armani Hotels and Resorts'.

The agreement foresees the opening of at least seven luxury hotels and three vacation resorts within the next ten years backed by an investment of over US$1 billion from EMAAR. The first hotel is expected to be opened by the first quarter of 2008 and it is already under construction being part of EMAAR Properties' Burj Dubai development, which when completed will be the world's tallest residential and commercial building.

Alongside the hotel, the Burj Dubai will offer 160 luxury residential apartments all designed by Giorgio Armani and fully furnished also with a specially designed line of products from the Armani Casa home furnishings collection. The schedule of openings to follow Dubai will be Milan, London, and New York along with the first resort.