Great Eastern Hotel to open to clents by next year

Kolkata, Apr 25(UNI) The heritage Great Eastern Hotel, under private ownership, will be open to clients by the end of next year.

" The renovation work for the hotel is going well. There are only a few tenants who are yet to shift from the ground floor. We expect to open the doors of the hotel by the end of 2008," Bharat Hotels Chairperson Jyotsna Suri today told reporters.

Ms Suri, who met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to apprise him of the progress of work, said the total investment for renovation of the hotel might exceed Rs 128 crore.

Ms Suri's late husband Lalit Suri had acquired majority shares of the 165-year-old state-run hotel from the West Bengal Government last year for Rs 52 crore.

All the 500-odd employees were given VRS by the State Government prior to the takeover.

After she took over after husband's death, Ms Suri announced that along with a two-phase reopening of the hotel in 2007 (and ending in 2008), at least two other greenfield properties, including one in Bekal, Kerala, would be opened in 2007 by the group.

The other new hotels are in Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and one at Dubai (this would be an acquisition which is nearly finalised).

UNI