New Indian Express group forays into hospitality business

Express Infrastructure Private Limited, a subsidiary of one of the country's leading media houses Express Newspaper Private Limited, is foraying into the hospitality business, a four-star boutique hotel in Chennai to start with.

RR Aroon Kumar, chief financial officer of Express Infrastructure, said that the hotel, to be named as E Hotel, will have 50 rooms. Coming up near its Express Avenue Mall in Chennai with an investment of around Rs 30 crore, the hotel will be ready in the next three to four months.

Kumar was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Chennai Retail Summit – 2012, organised by the Retail Association of India (RAI).

The hotel and the mall business would be mutually beneficial and the company will look at setting up more hotels in future, depending on the performance of this project, he said, adding that even though the mall housed a food court on 50,000 sft with around 25 kiosks, the dining and bar and restaurant would attract a set of customers since it would offer different cuisines.

The mall also houses offices of several international companies and Express Infrastructure is expecting to attract these customers to the hotel. The hotel business, however, would be a separate division under the company.

Besides owning the hotel, the company has acquired talent to operate its hospitality business and would manage the E Hotel on its own, he said.

Express Avenue Mall, launched in 2010, was developed on 11 acre with 900,000 sft of retail space. Built at a cost of Rs 750 crore, the mall houses 210 premium national and international brands, including Big Bazaar, Lifestyle, Marks & Spencer and Volvo cars.