Hospitality brand Tamara to increase footprint in South India

KOCHI: The Bangaluru-based private hospitality brand Tamara Leisure Experiences Pvt. Ltd. aims at creating a national brand and increasing its footprint across the country.

"We want to create an Indian brand and we are looking at long term sustainability. We are amenable to other models like lease properties in India too,’’ said Shruti Shibulal, director and CEO of the group. At present it has three properties on lease in Germany apart from five own hotels in India.

"We have 309 keys in India from five hotels and 800 in all including properties in Germany. We are aiming at expanding it to 1000 globally by 2025,’’ she said. The group plans to invest Rs 300 crore to build hotels in Kerala in the next three years.

The properties in Kerala will spread across all its three brands. Already, O by Tamara, its five star brand, has become operational in Thiruvananthapuram with 152 rooms and the largest convention centre in the city. A luxury resort in Alappuzha and two mid-segment hotels under its Lilac brands are coming up at Kannur and Guruvayur. A Lilac brand hotel at Kumbakonam is also in the pipeline.

It has two luxury resorts in Coorg and Kodaikanal apart from two Lilac brand hotels in Bangaluru. The hotels currently have 50 to 80% occupancy across different brands, said Sarath Sankar, head of sales and marketing. The luxury resorts, Shibulal said, are planned in such a manner to be unique. " Our Coorg property is inside an organic coffee estate. The Kodaikanal resort is converted from over 160 year old monastery. The newly proposed one in Alappuzha will be an ayurvedic resort.’’

Tamara currently has an employee strength of 540 and hopes to reach 1000 in a couple of years. " Hospitality is one industry where demand for job will not decline in the coming years,’’ Shibulal said, adding that she expected steps on increasing air connectivity and ease of business in the coming union budget.