Hotel Leelaventure plans $500 mn capex by FY 12

It is setting up new hotels at Gurgaon, Udaipur, Chennai and New Delhi over the next three years, apart from acquiring land in Agra and Jaipur, a top company official said here.        

"Our room capacity will go up from the present 1,100 to 2,400 by FY 12 after the Leela Palaces, Kempinski at Udaipur, Chennai, New Delhi and Hyderabad and the Leela, Kempinski at Gurgaon and Pune becomes operational. The cost of the project is estimated at $500 million," Hotel Leelaventure's President, Onno Poortier, told PTI.        

Hotel Leelaventure owns and operates The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts in Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa and in Kovalam (Kerala).        

"We are also acquiring land in Agra and Jaipur to set up luxury hotels to attract foreign tourists and renovate our existing hotels at Goa and Kovalam," Poortier said, adding that "our focus is a pan-India presence and after that we will be looking at expanding overseas.