Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels to invest Rs 1,200 crore in 5yrs

Hospitality chain Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels today said it will invest Rs 1,200 crore over the next 4-5 years to set up four new properties that will add over 800 rooms.

The company, which announced a new brand identity, also said in about the same period of time, it would consider expanding its footprints into global markets.

"Currently, we are developing a property at Cochin which will be operational by the middle of this year. Three more properties are also in the pipeline which will add a total of over 800 new rooms and they will be ready in the next four to five years," Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Chairperson Priya Paul told reporters here.

The other three new properties are at Pune, Kolkata and Jaipur, she added.

Currently the chain has 12 properties with over 1,200 rooms in total.

When asked about the investments, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels Managing Director Vijay Dewan said: "Overall it will be Rs 1,200 crore. We are funding it through internal accruals and debt."

While the Cochin property will have 170 rooms, the Pune hotel will have 250 rooms. The company's second hotel in Kolkata will have 350 rooms and the one at Jaipur will have 100 rooms.

Out of the total of Rs 1,200 crore investments, Dewan said the biggest chunk will go to the new Kolkata hotel at Rs 500 crore, followed by Pune at Rs 350 crore. The company will invest about Rs 100 crore to set up the Jaipur property and the rest will be for the Cochin hotel.

Commenting on the company's new brand identity, Paul said: "As we have grown, we realised the need to communicate our brand strength more boldly. We felt this is the time we needed to communicate our brand in a more coherent manner."

The new branding will be rolled out gradually across its properties in India through the year starting April.

The hospitality chain has been working on the new identity for about two years, spending Rs 12 crore.

 When asked about plans for global markets, she said: "We would love to expand internationally. In four to five years time, we will be actively looking at it."