The Oberoi Group, which is reopening 100 rooms of the Trident portion on Sunday, said on Saturday that the Oberoi portion, badly damaged in the November 26 terror attack, would take six to seven months to start business.
"We are still carrying out structural assessments at The Oberoi. It is difficult to say anything at present. The Oberoi may take 6-7 months to reopen," Trident Hotels president Rattan Keswani told reporters in Mumbai.
The Oberoi-Trident at Nariman Point in South Mumbai was one of the three important buildings attacked by terrorists last month. In all, 162 people were killed and several others injured in the attacks.
The two landmark properties of the Group are insured for Rs 1,430 crore (Rs 14.30 billion). Present insurance value of Trident is Rs 780 crore (Rs 7.80 billion), while that of The Oberoi is Rs 650 crore (Rs 6.50 billion).
"The pace of bookings at the Trident has improved during the last two days, but the hotel has seen a drop in overall bookings by 30 to 35 per cent," Keswani said and added that the bookings for Trident began in the first week of December.
The damage to Trident in the attacks was a meagre Rs 40-50 lakh (Rs 5 million), but in The Oberoi it could be as high as Rs 40-50 crore (Rs 400-500 million), he said.
Keswani said the New India Assurance has released Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million) to the Group for restoration. He, however, did not give details of what amount of the said Rs 25 crore has been earmarked for carrying out works in The Oberoi and Trident.
"The New India Assurance has released Rs 25 crore for damage restoration of the hotels," he said.
Keswani said security has been ramped up both at Trident and The Oberoi by way of multiple checks. It has also joined hands with law enforcement agencies to improve security.
"We have gone to the experts to help us out. There would be surveillance systems, laser beams. There would be a large baggage scanner and we would not allow anyone to walk in without proper identification like a passport or a PAN card," Keswani said.
"I think all of us are concerned about a complete deterrent (to such incidents in the future). We need armed presence and we are adding to it," he said.
Keswani confirmed that law enforcement agencies had, on the day of the attack, okayed the hotels' security measures for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit on November 28 for an award function.
"It is time to restrict ourselves from going into recriminations," he added.
Keswani said, "A lot more security will be seen by the customers," henceforth.
However, he said the hotel would still have a welcoming environment in spite of the stringent security steps.
"It's not that a person would not be allowed to walk in into the hotel lobby or sit in one of our restaurants, even if he doesn't have a booking," he said.
"We would allow valet parking only after we are confident and the car has undergone all the necessary checks," he said, adding that the hotel would spend largely on honing its manual safety skills.
"We would spend a fair amount of money to get the best security," Keswani said, refusing to give details of which security firm it is in talks with for enhancing safety measures.
He, however, admitted that security is "something that needs to be worked on," in spite of the practices that were already put into place.
Image: Trident Hotels President Rattan Keswani (right) and Devendra Bharma, executive vice president, Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, in Mumbai on Saturday. | Photograph: Arun Patil
