Le Meridien plans Rs 1,000 cr investment

Le Meridien plans Rs 1,000 cr investment
ENS ECONOMIC BUREAU

NEW DELHI, JULY 15: Britain's largest hospitality chain Forte Group of hotels plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore over the next three to five years with the aim of making Le Meridien the largest international hospitality brand in India.

"With an investment of over Rs 1,000 crore in 10 properties in India, we want to duplicate the same position as that of in Britain by developing our hotel business in India," Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts president and managing director Bernard Lambert said at a press conference here on Saturday.

He said following the opening of the 243-room Le Royal Meridien Chennai recently, Le Royal Meridien Mumbai next month and Kochi later this year, the company would become the "largest international hotel brand operating in India."

"India and the Middle-East were instrumental in helping the brand target of more than doubling the Meridien global portfolio in three years," Lambert said adding "we would like to operate 250 properties worldwide by 2003."

Lambert said that the group was well on its way to hit this target with 150 hotels and resorts expected to become operational in 55 countries by the end of this year.

``Our flagship Indian hotels showed a 14 per cent increase in the first quarter of 2000 results over the previous year. This indicates the potential for both tourism and corporate business in the country,'' Lambert said and added that the group's expansion strategy calls for a presence in all the major commercial and tourist centres like Kochi and Goa.

Continuing the focus on expansion, Lambert confirmed that the group's growth strategy includes `expansion by merge and alliance.' Recently, the boards of Granada, the owning company of Forte Group, and Compass hospitality announced the merger of the two groups to form Granada-Compass.

Lambert also mentioned that key to expansion plans were the hotel owners and confirmed that the brand has developed strong relationships with experienced, proven professionals in India, "the driving strength behind the success of Le Meridien in India and elsewhere, are the owners themselves and we acknowledge their important role in the brand's development," he added.