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The four-star Vesta Maurya in Jaipur

With the opening of two properties in Bikaner and Jaipur last year, the Rajasthan-based Vesta Hotels & Resorts, a newly formed hospitality company promoted by the Warren Tea Group, has entered the hospitality sector and plans to expand beyond Rajasthan.

It would also look at managing hotels. The company has earmarked Rs200 crore for hotel development and will look to have at least six operational hotels in the first phase.

“We are opening our second property in Jaipur (Vesta International) in March this year. Additionally, we are in the process of opening hotels in Jaisalmer, Udaipur, and Jodhpur by 2012,” said TK Murthy, group general manager, Vesta Hotels & Resorts.

He said the Jaisalmer and Udaipur properties could be either green-field or brown-field development. “We are in serious discussions with people to either acquire a property, or go the development route. For the Jodhpur property, we have already acquired land which is going to be a green-field property and slated to open by mid of 2011,” Murthy added.

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Vesta Bikaner Palace has 48-rooms and cost them Rs14 crore, whereas the 56-room Vesta Maurya Palace cost Rs13 crore. The project cost for the Vesta International Jaipur is Rs40 crore and it will have 83-rooms.

Murthy said the infrastructure in Rajasthan has improved tremendously which has motivated them to open hotels in the state. “Whether it’s Delhi-Jaipur Highway or Jaipur-Ajmer Highway or Jaipur-Udaipur, the infrastructure is much better now in Rajasthan,” he added.

Vesta hotels are positioned in the four-star category. “We want to fill the gap between midscale and luxury hotels. Customers today want value for money and all our Vesta properties are going to offer just that,” he added.

Murthy said they are not looking at metro cities now and would rather stick to Rajasthan and nearby states. In its second phase of expansion, Vesta wants to look at other cities such as Ajmer, Pushkar, Mount Abu, and Ahmedabad.

The company will manage the hotels on its own and will not tie up with any international hotel chains. However, Vesta plans to get into management contract for others’ properties in future once they establish their brand.