Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, one of Asia's largest hospitality chains, is expanding its business hotels in the country to add over 1,000 rooms during the next two-three years.

Riding on the hospitality boom due to the economic rebound, the company is setting up new hotels in Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai and Gurgaon near New Delhi to meet the growing demand from business travelers and executives.

"We have already acquired lands in the three metros and are in the process of identifying one at Gurgaon to set up business hotels with 100-150 rooms in each of them," Taj Business Hotels chief operation officer Jyoti Narang told IANS.

"The estimated cost per room works out to about Rs. 4.5-5 million ($99,700-110,800), excluding the land cost," she added.

The company is also opening business hotels in Coimbatore and Pune where demand for such hotels has been on the rise in the last two years.

As part of its plans to enter second-tier cities, Taj will soon operate a 100-room hotel at Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh under a management contract and explore similar opportunities in other cities.

Though Taj already has a major presence in Bangalore with three hotels -- West End, Taj Residency and Taj Gateway, it is setting up another business hotel near the International Technology Park Ltd. (ITPL) at Whitefield on the outskirts of the city.

"The upcoming business hotel will largely cater to the clientele from ITPL and software firms, including multinationals located across the IT corridor between Whitefield and the electronics city, that is home to IT bellwethers Infosys and Wipro," Narang said.

Of the total 56 Taj hotels in 39 locations across the country, 19 are business hotels. In addition, the company runs similar hotels in Sri Lanka, South Africa and the Gulf. A majority of them have about 70-80 percent occupancy rate on weekdays.

(www.ehotelier.com)