Shangri-La opens hotel in Chennai

Hong Kong-based hotel group Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts on Friday opened its first hotel in India at Chennai and announced that it would open four more hotels in the country -- one in New Delhi and three in Bangalore -- before December 2008.

The Chennai property, which will function under 'Traders Hotel' brand name, has 162 guestrooms and was constructed at an investment of over Rs 300 crore (Rs 3 billion), said Giovanni Angelini, CEO and managing director of Shangri-La Hotels.

"The opening of Traders Hotel, Chennai, is a significant milestone, marking the first entry into India for the Shangri-La group and particularly the Traders brand," he told a news conference in Chennai.

Chennai-based J-Hotels Ltd, is the developer and owner of the Traders Hotel. "We selected Shangri-La to manage the hotel due to the strength of its brand and its long-standing reputation for delivering service excellence," said J Sandeep Annand, director of J-Hotels Ltd.

Commenting on the future plans, Angelini said that the Shangri-La Hotel, New Delhi will open by mid-2005. The three new properties in Bangalore will be opened between August 2007 and December 2008.

The group had recently signed management contracts with Adarsh Group to operate the three hotels in Bangalore. This would add over 1,000 rooms to the group in India. Out of the three, one hotel would be a 'Traders Hotel', which will open near the International Tech Park at Whitefield, Bangalore.