'Asset-heavy' EIH to focus more on managing hotels

Kolkata, Aug 7 (IANS) Hospitality major EIH Ltd, which runs the Oberoi and Trident hotel chains, Wednesday hinted that for the new projects in home and abroad, its focus will be more on managing than building properties as it has become "asset heavy".

The company, which currently manages 11 properties with some partial ownership, is looking for partners in China to manage hotels there and it will probably go for a management contract to run a hotel to be set up in Navi Mumbai.

"We are looking for markets in China. Shanghai has to be the starting point. It would be a managerial contract," EIH Ltd chairman P.R.S. Oberoi told reporters after the company's annual general meeting here.

"We are looking for somebody in China who has suitable land to build the hotel. And we will manage," Oberoi said.

He said the company would probably go for a management contract to manage a hotel to be built on a 15-acre land, owned by the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), in Navi Mumbai.

"The hotel will be under the Trident brand. It will probably be a management contract. But it has not been finalised yet," he said.

The hotel, along with service apartments, will have 160-180 rooms.

Asked whether the company is now focussing more on managing properties than building new hotels, Oberoi said: "Yes, we have enough (property)."

Going forward, the company would like to be asset light, he said.

On the expansion projects of the EIH, the chairman said its hotel at Hyderabad under Trident brand, which is under construction, will be open in December this year or in January next year.

On its Bangalore project, company's vice chairman S.S. Mukherji said: "It is awaiting environmental clearances. We are actively working on environmental clearances."

The luxury 252-room The Oberoi, Dubai, was expected to open later this year, Mukherji added.