dewakar

ITC Hotels is looking to accelerate its growth in the luxury segment as the group's chairman, YC Deveshwar, announced an investment of approximately US$ 2 billion, spread over a period of seven years.

Three properties will come up in Bangalore with one hotel each in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. While the one in Chennai is claimed to be the country's largest luxury hotel, the properties in Bangalore will be in the super-deluxe category. The other two cities will get seven-star hotels.

The hotels business maintained its upward momentum in the current quarter with segment revenues growing by 11 per cent to touch Rs 221 crore, driven by improved RevPAR in most properties and higher F&B sales. ITC had recently entered into a new phase of its franchise agreement with Starwood Hotels & Resorts for bringing in its premium brand 'Luxury Collection' to India through seven of its properties: ITC Maurya in Delhi, ITC Maratha in Mumbai, ITC Sonar Bangla in Kolkata, ITC Grand Central in Mumbai, ITC Windsor in Bengaluru, ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad and ITC Mughal in Agra. The agreement included the rebranding of WelcomHotel New Delhi as a Sheraton, while the Chola and the Park in Chennai and the Rajputana in Jaipur continued to retain their Sheraton connections.