Bharat Hotels unveils new brand name, says investment plans on track

New Delhi, Nov 19 : India's leading private hotels company Bharat Hotels Wednesday announced its new brand identity 'The Lalit', which will be the brand name for all its top line hotels.

“This is a proud moment for us as we have embarked on a new journey with The Lalit. While we carry forward the legacy of Lalit Suri, our new identity also reflects an evolving, progressive and dynamic group,” said Jyotsna Suri, chairperson and managing director of the Lalit Suri Hospitality Group, the new name of Bharat Hotels.

She added that the group was not affected by the current downturn and it would continue with all its investment and hiring plans without any change.

“We will go ahead with our Rs.1,200 crore (Rs.12 billion) investment over the next three or four years to increase the number of rooms from 1,500 now to 3,600 and there will not be any firing of our employees,” Suri said.

She said Rs.6 billion of the proposed amount will come from internal accruals and the other Rs.6 billion will come from borrowing.

The group now has seven operational and 10 under-developed hotels.

Speaking on the group's franchise agreement with Intercontinental, Suri said: “We did not gain from Intercontinental franchise and we don't see any reason to continue with that as we can market our products our own.”

The Lali Suri group has started a central reservation system from Oct 1.

The group is also opening offices in London and Dubai to market its products.

--IANS