Keys Hotels to invest Rs 550 cr to open 15 properties

Keys Hotels, the mid-market brand of New York based Berggruen Hotels plans to develop 15 hotels across India in the next three years with the total investment of Rs 550 crore.

Keys has recently opened a 59-room resort at Mahabaleshwar which is developed by Mumbai-based Evershine Builders Pvt Ltd. It will be managed by Keys Hotels. This is the sixth Keys hotel in India and the third brown-field project after the launch of brown-field projects at Mumbai and Khandala.

Speaking to Business Standard about the expansion plans, Sanjay Sethi, managing director & CEO, Keys Hotels said, "We are planning to expand in the Indian metros and tier-II cities. Keys has planned to develop 15 properties all over India in the next three years. For this, we will adopt asset light model and our target is to have 2,500 to 3,000 odd hotel rooms under ‘Keys’ brand."

 

He added, "We will also pitch for Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) business. The company has so far invested Rs 300 crore comprising Rs 200 crore as equity and Rs 100 crore debt and the rest of the funds will be a combination of equity and debt."

Also, the company has plans to enter into service apartments segment in India. The 70-room hotel in Whitefield, Bengaluru along with another 40-room apartment near Hinjewadi, Pune are likely to be completed by March 2011 and by the end of 2011 respectively. Berggruen plans to open a property in Pimpri comprising 102 rooms and 40 service apartments. The property will be operational by December 2011.

Also, it will have nine hotels operational across India having strength of more than 500 employees. Around 280 hotel rooms are expected to be operational under the Keys brand by the end of this fiscal year.

The operational properties include Mumbai, Khandala, Thiruanantapuram, Ludhiana and Bangalore while proposed ones include Gurgaon, Pune, Aurangabad, Goa, Kochi, Kovalam in Kerala, Vadodara and Chennai.