Ios on the bay

Tatas to open first five-star hotel in South Africa DURBAN: The Tatas are set to open their first five-star hotel in Cape Town in December. The 176-room Taj Palace Hotel, currently being constructed, is located in the central business district of Cape Town and will cost about $65-million or about Rs 50.0 crores. The Cape Town hotel is the first of a number of hotels the Tatas plan in South Africa,with one more each in Johannesburg and Durban, said the general manager of the hotel, Mr Michael Pownall, in an interview on Tuesday. Mr Pownall told the Business Report that the Taj, which already has hotels in 15 countries, including the United States and United Kingdom, wanted to have a “large foothold” in South Africa. The hotels would be part of the mulit-million dollar investment that the company has in South Africa. Mr Pownall said unlike many other international hotel chains, Taj prefers to own its own hotels, either alone or in partnership. He said many of its hotels worldwide are in historically significant buildings where the atmosphere of the past had been preserved in the same way as had been done in Cape Town's Mount Nelson hotel, of which Mr Pownall was a general manager. - PTI Prev: Tata Steel Q1 sales volume up 22% Next: Max India to convene EGM on QIP issue Business Line | NUS Index |