Sarovar Park Plaza Hotels to diversify into restaurants

The Mumbai based, Sarovar Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts Ltd, the hotel management company started in 1994 by Mr. Anil Madhok, former vice president of the Oberoi group of hotels, is diversifying into restaurant business.

Following the success of Sunuk Thai - an exclusive Thai cuisine restaurant in Mumbai, Sarovar Park is soon to open a multi cuisine restaurant, Hyde Park in the city of Chennai. According to Mr. Abhi Thakur, regional director and general manager of the company, with food and beverages business is growing leaps and bounds, restaurants with entertainment facilities have good market potential.

In order to tap that potential further, the company will be opening a theme bar under the brand name Geoffrey's in Ansal Plaza, New Delhi. The theme bar will have bowling alley, drinks bar, food court etc. According to Mr. Thakur, the company intends to open more such theme bars in Chennai, Goa and Bangalore where it manages several properties.

The Rs95 crore-income company, is Indian franchisee of the US-based Park Plaza International Hotels & Resorts. The company offers three different brand tags viz Park Inn (for 3/4 star hotels), Park Plaza (5 star hotels) and Park Plaza Resorts (for resorts). Sarovar Park now has 15 up and running hotels/resorts/restaurants under its management fold.Another nine hotels are in various stages of construction in different parts of the country.

The company recently bagged two more hotel projects for management. The two 100 rooms hotels will be located in Hyderabad and Pondicherry.

Launching the first phase of the two phase-resort project Poovar Island Resorts located in the scenic Kerala backwaters, Mr. Thakur claims that the Poovar Resorts is the only resort in Kerala to have floating cottages. The project has a total of 58 cottages of which 6 are of floating ones.