HDIL Leisure to set up hotels in Mumbai, Kakinada

HDIL Leisure, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HDIL, plans to set up hotels in Versova in Mumbai and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh, a top company official said.

Currently, the company is executing its first hotel project in Mumbai at Juhu. The hotel with around 250-rooms would be operated by the Hilton group under the brand Conrad.

"We have almost completed all the necessary procedures, including the funding for this project and expect to begin operations within 36-months. We are now exploring opportunities of setting up new hotels in Kakinada and Versova in Mumbai," HDIL Leisure's Chief Executive Officer Romel Bhog told PTI here.

Apart from its Juhu project, the company is already in the process of acquiring a majority stake in a 90-room budget hotel in Hyderabad, which has gone into soft launch and is operational since November 2009.

"We have our land-banks in these two places (Kakinada and Versova). We want to capitalise on the residential and commercial projects developed by HDIL by developing business hotels near our real estate projects," he said.

The company plans to own, develop and manage a variety of hotels, residential and mixed-use projects as well as fine-dining restaurants across the country, he said.

It would, however, not manage "our new proposed hotels, which would be based on the fine-dining concept", he said.

"We would only play the role of a developer. We would be tying-up with operators for managing the hotels," he said.

"There is a huge potential for growth in the real estate sector in Mumbai. We want to capitalise on this opportunity. We would be focusing on developing our base in Mumbai," Bhog said. However, he refused to divulge any financial detail.