Shruti Shibulal-promoted Tamara Leisure Experiences Pvt. Ltd. will be adding 400 rooms in the next few years.
“Currently, we own and manage 600 rooms in India and Germany,” said Ms. Shruti Shibulal director - strategy and development, Tamara Leisure Experiences Pvt. Ltd. “Today, we are entering into Tamil Nadu by setting up a luxury heritage resort in Kodaikanal. By year-end, we will open one more hotel in Thiruvananthapuram,” she added.
Ms. Shruti, daughter of Infosys co-founder S.D. Shibulal, has an ambitious target to own and manage 1,000 rooms globally by 2025.
“The expansion will be happening in India and abroad. It is too early to say about the location and in which segment. Going forward, we think our presence in India and abroad would be 50:50,” she said.
Asked about the composition of hotels, Ms. Shruti said right now luxury resorts dominated the segment. With the opening of new hotels, this would change drastically, she added.
The hospitality player has luxury resorts in Coorg with 56 rooms, Kodaikanal (53 rooms), budget hotel Lilac in Bengaluru (28 rooms) and a boutique ayurveda resort in Alleppey (5 rooms now to be expanded to 18 soon).
Tamara was also exploring the possibility of opening budget hotels in religious places and small towns in South India, she said. As a first step, it would be setting up a hotel in Guruvayoor, she added.
Stating that business hotels would be operated under a different brand name, she said that first such hotel with 150 rooms would be opened inThiruvananthapuram in phases, with the first phase having 80 rooms. Lilac would house the second hotel in Bengaluru.
On Tamara Kodaikanal, she said that the comany entered the hill station as it did not have any luxury hotel.
“It took nearly 10 years to set up this property. We are bullish and this property is set to transform tourism in Kodaikanal,” she added.
