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The 117-room U Grand Varanasi Hotel signed this week is the beginning of Absolute Hotel Services’ (AHS) master plan to have 1,200 rooms across India by 2012.
“Five properties will be announced in fourth quarter 2009 and an additional six properties will be announced by first quarter 2010,” said Jonathan Wigley, CEO at AHS, the Bangkok-based hospitality management and consultancy company.
AHS says it is close to signing properties in Mumbai, Jaipur, Goa, Bengaluru and Delhi to start with. These will be for its two brands U Hotels & Resorts and Eastin Hotels & Residences, both of which are in the luxury or five-star categories. Wigley’s main push in India will be for his U hotel brand.
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AHS has not confirmed whether it will partner with the KBJ Group, owner of the Varanasi hotel, for the latter’s remaining four hotels planned. KBJ has announced its intention to set up luxury properties in Lucknow, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Goa, taking its hotel portfolio to five. It too has not hinted whether these properties will be given to AHS.
Work on the U Grand Varanasi will begin in next month and scheduled to complete by third quarter 2011. Project cost is estimated at US$12 million, partly funded by dedicated hospitality lender, the TFCI.
Signalling its seriousness in the Indian market, AHS intends to register itself here and open a Mumbai regional office by Jan 2010. The company meanwhile is busy opening 15 new properties across South East Asia with work underway in home country Thailand and Vietnam.
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