The rooms in the Heritage Wing are not standardised. Each room is of a different size (400 sq ft on an average) and shape (rectangular, oblong, semi-circular, etc) with an exclusive safe.

The old-style teakwood furniture in these rooms, including king-sized and queen-sized beds with high, carved bed-posts, is reminiscent of one's grandparents home.

Geoff Magee, the general manager at Ambassador Pallava, said about 30-40 per cent of the hotel's existing clientele opt for the rooms in the old wing, which enjoys an average occupancy of 80-90 per cent. About60 per cent of this occupancy comes from foreign corporate clientele, added Naushad Ahmed, the sales manager with the hotel. "Some of our regulars, especially the long-staying guests, even insist on specific rooms," he added.

The hotel is planning to increase the present tariff of Rs 2,650 per day for a single room in the old wing by 20 per cent. Magee is confident that this hike will not make a dent in the brand loyalty for the old-wing, once the clientele see the extra amenities provided, including a swing in the balcony and exclusive hand-made paper stationery and special cottage-made soaps.

The hotel expects that its sales will increase by 20 per cent next year, from Rs 12 crore this year and that 10 per cent of the sales could be attributed to the revamping of the old wing. Magee, however, thinks that the profits will stay at 30 per cent, like this year.

According to Ahmed, the occupancy for the Heritage wing will soar to cent per cent from September onwards, thereby increasing the hotel'soccupancy to 80 per cent from the present 70 per cent.

The hotel plans to promote the Heritage rooms through direct mailing, using the multiple-shot technique and print ads released in the business dailies and inflight magazines like Jetwings, Namaskar and Swagat, etc. They plan to woo high-end executives (general managers and above) of domestic corporate houses, which have earlier been using five-star hotels.

``We are a four-star hotel with all facilities of a five-star hotel,'' he said. The Heritage rooms will also be marketed by direct contacts with their target domestic clientele through their sales officers located in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore.

The wing will also be sold to the new guests who check-in at the hotel by offering them a tour of the heritage wing. Plans are afoot to open sales and marketing offices in Hyderabad. Discounts for these rooms will be generally discouraged, said Naushad. However, an introductory discount of 10 per cent will be offered for corporate bulk bookingsfor the first month, he added. From September onwards, the tourist season will start and the hotel hopes to have a fully occupied heritage wing.