Citrus Hotels & Resorts, a part of the MIRAH Group, announced its foray into the North Indian market with the launch of Citrus Gurgaon Central in Sector 29 of Gurgaon.  The Citrus Gurgaon Central, a 46 room property, has been taken on a long lease and is now fully operational. 

Kurian Varghese, General Manager - Travel Trade, Citrus Hotels speaking about the launch said, “The NCR region has a total inventory of 22,900 Keys of which 75% is accounted by the organized sector. The organized segment in the region has 17,550 keys in the pipeline over the next five years. According to the Airport Authority of India, the highest number of air arrivals was recorded in NCR (18.2 million) with the domestic arrivals accounting for 12.7 million and foreign arrivals of 5.5 million. We are, therefore quite confident, that Citrus will do well from the first year of operation. Being a smaller inventory hotel, we have the advantage of choosing the best price business.”

The hotel group plans to invest nearly Rs 500 crore to add 1,500 rooms and take its hotels strength to 18 by 2017.

"We plan to add 1,500 rooms and go to about 18 hotels in next five years and will be investing around Rs 500 crore," Citrus Hotels and Resorts Chief Operating Officer Gaurav Pallial told PTI.

Currently, the hotel chain has 475 rooms spread across eight properties. On being asked how the hotels chain plans to raise the finances for expansion, Pallial said: "The money will be raised through internal resources and bank loans".

The company said it has already started work for construction of hotels at Mumbai, Jodhpur, Pench (MP) and Nagpur. Besides, it is also looking for properties at other locations.

"We are actively looking for hotels in Aurangabad, Chennai, Agra, Shimla and Chandigarh," Pallial said. The business model for the upcoming hotels will be a mix of owned, leased and management controlled. But a majority of them will be owned by the company, he added.

The hotel chain is targeting the mid market segment and is focusing on domestic travellers to boost its business, he said adding the rooms will be priced at roughly $ 100. Apart from opening the new properties, the company is also adding rooms to its already operating hotels.

(You need to login first to read complete news).
New User? Register for FREE!
» Back to Travel News