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Indian hotel chain eye London expansion
Upmarket Indian hotel chain Leela Palaces and Resorts is eyeing London for overseas expansion as it unveiled plans to almost triple its portfolio in India.
President Peter Leitgeb revealed the capital was among its targets in a move that would exploit the rapidly expanding business links between the two countries.
“The medium term aim is to get a property in London,” he said.
But Leitgeb said the immediate focus is to further expand into Leela’s core Indian market, with five new hotels earmarked for five key cities. It will bring the number of properties in the group to eight. Leela currently has properties in Mumbai, Bangalore and Goa.
The first of the new hotels, the 194-room Leela Kovalam Beach Resort, will open tomorrow in Kerala. This will be followed late next year by the Leela Palace, a newly-built 68-room property in Udaipur with a 360-room hotel in Chennai and 310-room property in Hyderabad coming on line in 2007/08.
Finally, expansion into New Delhi has been earmarked for 2010.
Leitgeb said the UK will remain key for the group and is already the number one overseas market at its Mumbai and Goa hotels and second at its Bangalore property.
He added it would look to forge closer ties with UK travel management companies to exploit the growing business links between the countries.
Leela is also aiming for a greater presence in the leisure sector and is targeting deals with Abercrombie and Kent, Thomas Cook and Cox and Kings.
Report by Steve Jones
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