City-based hotelier Lait Suri is planning to do a Donald Trump, albeit on a smaller scale. Just as Trump set up the Taj Mahal hotel on the sands of Las Vegas, Suri is planning to follow suit by setting up a hotel in Dubai on an Indian theme in association with Rajan Kilachand, who has business interests there.
"It will be somewhat along the lines as Trump's Taj Mahal hotel, but it will be smaller," Suri said. He is planning to build a 200-room hotel in the desert city at a cost of around Rs 100 crore. "As land is cheaper there, the cost of construction will not be very high," he said. At the moment, land is being acquired for the hotel, Suri disclosed.
For the reason behind selecting Dubai for the purpose, Suri said Dubai attracts a large number of Indian travellers. In all likelihood, the investment in the hotel will be done by Bharat Hotels, Suri's flagship, though he disclosed that another of his group company has got RBI mandate for investing abroad.
This will be Suri's first overseas venture. Bharat Hotels operates three properties in the country: one each in Delhi, Bangalore and Srinagar. The company is constructing two more hotels -- one each in Mumbai and Goa. In addition, Suri is targeting one more state-owned hotel in Delhi (Bharat Hotels had picked up ITDC's Ashok Bangalore recently) and ITDC's Laxmi Vilas hotel in Udaipur and its hotel at Kovalam in Kerala. He is also scouting for heritage properties in Rajasthan which can be converted into small hotels. "All told, we are looking at 8-9 properties in 4-5 years' time," Suri said. He has contracted debt worth Rs 300 crore to bankroll his acquisition plans.
He has also come out with his own brand of hotels -- Grand. All his properties in India now use Grand in their names. The Dubai property will also be run under this brand.
Commenting on the current business scenario, Suri said that in-bound tourism has been affected very badly after the events of September 11 and December 13. "Normally, this is our peak season but the bookings this year are very low. This is the first quarter when we will be making an operating loss in so many years," he said.
