Appu Hotels, which owns Le Royal
Meridien (part of the US-based Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide), Chennai,
is planning to set up hotels one each in Coimbatore, Puducherry and Tuticorin.
The company is planning a Rs.250 crore
five-star hotel in Coimbatore and Rs.100 crore apartment hotel in Puducherry. It
is still scouting for land in Tuticorin for its third hotel, for which
investment is yet to be finalised.
The Coimbatore hotel will have around
250 rooms, while the Puducherry apartment hotel and the Tuticorin hotel will
have 150 rooms each. The company is also planning to increase the total number
of rooms by 450 in the three hotels by the end of 2009, with an investment of
Rs.350 crore
The Coimbatore and Puducherry hotels
are expected to be operational by mid-2009.