With the scheduled expansion both within and outside India, Oberoi Group will double its room inventory in the next five years. This information was given by P R S Oberoi, Chairman, The Oberoi Group in Delhi to announce the Group’s remarkable achievement at the recently held Travel & Leisure World’s Best Awards. Also, present on the occasion were Liam Lambert, President, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts; Sujit Banerjee, Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Vikram Oberoi, Joint Managing Director – Operations, The Oberoi Group.

Four Oberoi Group hotels in India – The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambore; The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra; The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur and The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur have been adjudged as the top four hotels in Asia, as well as ranked first, fifth, thirteenth and fifteenth in the world respectively.

Oberoi said, “I am extremely proud that four of our hotels have gained international recognition. Our guests have given us high ranking because we have built and maintained our hotels with care and our employees have exceeded their expectations. The exceptional ranking is a recognition of our excellent hotels and the best employees in the hospitality sector.”

Talking about the Group’s expansion plans, Oberoi said that the company’s Board of Directors has taken a decision to explore about the brand’s expansion through management model, at places which are not ‘strategically important’ for the Group. He said that The Oberoi Gurgaon, a 200-room property, will be operational in early 2011. Similarly, the Group will open two hotels in Hyderabad, one under the Oberoi brand and other under the Trident brand with equity participation from a local partner.

Besides, the Group is also working on projects, which include a property under the Trident brand in Dehradun and another hotel near Chandigarh. Oberoi informed. “We have land in Rajasthan and also have a heritage palace near Khajuraho in Madhya Pradesh (MP). We want to develop the heritage palace, but lack of availability of water in the area is hampering the work. For the same, we are in talks with the MP government.”

Internationally, the Group will open a hotel in Dubai in 2011 and plans to set up a hotel in Marrakech, Morocco. The Group will have 20 per cent equity participation in the Marrakech venture, which will be 60 per cent debt and 40 per cent equity project with a local partner. When asked about the capital investment, Oberoi said that the Group has spent around Rs 150 crore in renovation of their properties last year and will spend around Rs 100 crore this year for the same purpose.