Ceebros To Add Two More Chennai Hotels To Portfolio

Properties To Be Branded ‘Raintree’

Bhisham Mansukhani - Mumbai

The hospitality arm of South Indian real estate development behemoth Ceebros, is in the process of augmenting its presence in Chennai with two additional properties to go with the existing 106-room boutique hotel. The current hotel, located on Saint Mary's Road, the company's first which will open in June will make history as South India's first 'Ecotel' hotel. Ceebros has cited two locations on Mount Road and the airport vicinity respectively. While Ceebros remains open to the prospect of international branding and management contracts, all of Ceebros's hotels will be branded Raintree.

After a long stint with the Narang Hotels International in Chennai and Mumbai, Geoff Magee has come on board Ceebros as CEO. In an exclusive to Express Travel & Tourism, he revealed, "We are currently working towards an Ecotel certification for the first hotel. We have hired an environmental officer and followed the strict norms pertaining to the classification."

With regard to the Raintree brand, Magee said, "Raintree is an original Ceebros brand and all hotels and resorts that we develop will be branded Raintree irrespective of whether we enter into international management contracts. We are open to such synergies however as we recognise and appreciate their merits. That said, our own brand presence will also be strong."

On having dual properties in a metro, Magee sees it as a long-term trend. "With tourism and business interests towards India increasing, there is a danger that supply is falling behind the demand curve in key metro cities. In such conditions, it makes sense for established brands to consider dual properties. That is our strategy for Chennai. However, a vanilla approach will not be prudent as there are different niches of demand to be serviced within a given city. Ceebros cites a mix of four-star, budget and service apartments to be the ideal mix. For instance, our second hotel is slated to be built on Mount Road, centrally located on Chennai's main road. According to market information and studies coming in, it points towards the mid-market profile like a four-star deluxe. The company's approach is to let the market realities for the given location to determine the positioning of the hotel."

Ceebros's expansion which could also potentially include a resort in Mahabalipuram and a hotel in Coimbatore, ties in with the recent trend of property developers tapping the hospitality sector following the Rahejas and more recently Oberoi Constructions. The Ceebros approach, unlike its western Indian counterparts is a tad different. "Unlike the orthodox developer, while we are open to having international hotel management firms operate our hotels while we concentrate on building them, we are well contained to manage the hotels ourselves."