Rashmi

The severe hotel room shortage is attracting new players to set up hotels. The latest to join bandwagon is Rs 2,000-crore Gurgaon-based MDLR Group which will be opening four luxury hotels with a proposed investment of Rs 1,000 crore (excluding land price) in next three years.

MDLR, with business interests in real estate and multiplexes will be opening four hotels in Manesar, Gurgaon (near Delhi), Shimla and Jaipur. "The land for two hotel sites in Gurgaon and Manesar was acquired last year from Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC).

The 11 acre land on which the Gurgaon hotel will be built today has marketable value of Rs 350 crore almost double of the value that it was bought at, thanks to the escalating land prices. While the Shimla property will start operations in the next three months, for NCR properties they are targeting the 2010 Commonwealth games. Delhi and NCR region are short of 30,000 rooms for Commonwealth games. It is this shortage which most of the hotel developers are trying to cash in on.