Indian Hotels Company (Taj) Plans London’s First Vivanta hotel
Date: August 2018
Location: Heathrow Airport, London, UK
Name: Viventa – opening 2021
No. of Keys: 108
Seller: The new hotel is a greenfield project,
Buyer: Hayre Group, headed up by Talwinder Hayre, established in 2004 in the UK, claim to be among the leading emerging real estate developers in the world.
Currently, the Group has in excess of 300,000 square feet of pipeline in the UK across hospitality, residential and commercial sectors.
The Indian Hotels Company Ltd. will open a new Vivanta hotel at Heathrow Airport in London in partnership with Hayre Group.
The new-build project, scheduled to open in 2021, will feature 108 rooms across from Terminals 1, 2 and 3.
Additionally, it will house the fourth outpost of the popular Indian restaurant, Bombay Brasserie, famed for its eclectic Indian cuisine.
“This signing is in line with our growth strategy of adding hotels in key locations globally,” Puneet Chhatwal, managing director and CEO at IHCL, said in a statement.
The hotel will be the first operating under the Vivanta brand in the UK; however, it will be IHCL’s third property in the region. The first—the St. James’ Court hotel, a Taj Hotel—opened in London in 1982, marking IHCL as the first major Indian hospitality company to enter the UK market.
The Taj 51 Buckingham Gate Suites and Residences in London also opened in the 1980s next to the St. James’ Court hotel. Both hotels are in the Westminster neighborhood near Buckingham Palace, the West End, Mayfair and St. James’ Park.
IHCL in June completed the renovation of the guestrooms at St. James’ Court hotel as part of a multimillion-dollar revamp. Architects and designers from Dexter Moren Associates redesigned the guestrooms at Almoners Townhouse along with interior design consultant Sue Freeman. The hotel’s spa is slated to open this month with new facilities as part of this renovation.
IHCL has an additional 25 Vivanta hotels operating in Asia Pacific and Africa. A majority of these operate in India with a total of 21 hotels.
IHCL announced in July it is on track to expand its company 30 percent in the next few years, and plans to double its guestroom count in the next five years.
IHCL, which operates a portfolio of 170 hotels, has another 25 hotels in the development pipeline across four continents, 12 countries and in more than 80 locations.
THPT Comment: Taj – IHCL is certainly stepping on the gas, with this first Vivanta brand hotel in London…more to follow in the rest of Europe?
IHCL, South Asia’s largest Indian hospitality company in terms of market capitalisation, brings together a group of Taj brands since founder Jamsetji Tata opened the Taj Mahal Palace in Bombay in 1903.
First Seen: Outlook India