Leitgeb: Room for more

Mumbai, Nov. 6: Peter J. Leitgeb, the president of Leela Palaces and Resorts, is on a mission. And, in that quest, he wants to do to hotel tariffs what airlines have done to their fares.

?I am a firm believer in economics. We?ll do what the airlines are doing. The year has 365 days and hotels should have rooms occupied during all seasons,? he says.

Some could snigger at the link between hotels and plane fares, but Leela?s Austrian helmsman knows just how intertwined the two could be. ?Look at Goa, with so many new airlines flying to the state, accessibility and low air fares have helped increase business for hotels. ?Money saved on plane tickets can be spent on our hotels.?

Leitgeb also spies an opportunity in the swarm of foreign airlines descending on Mumbai and Bangalore, cities that are Leela?s bailiwicks. British Airways is touching down daily at Bangalore and twice a day at Mumbai.

The target is the well-heeled tourist ? foreign and local. Signs that the strategy could pay off lie in the Leela?s Goa and Kovalam hotels, where premium suites recently fetched a never-seen tariff of Rs 19,000 for a day.

?Business has grown over 35 per cent over last year. The peak season, too, has just started for the industry, and we hope more records will be broken in the coming quarters,? says the passionate golfer and hotel industry maven.

Leitgeb is not stopping at India?s Silicon Valley and the country?s financial capital. Sniffing a boom in smaller towns, he plans to repeat the Bangalore success story in Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, New Delhi and Udaipur.

The first three cities are the future hotspots for business travellers.

The Chennai debut is part of the Rs 1000-crore expansion that Krishnan Nair, the chairman and founder of the Leela hotel chain, has drawn up for the company.

And, Leitgeb is giving that vision a wing. ?In the coming weeks, I?ll be talking to Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet to replicate what they did in Goa.? The new carriers introduced maiden flights to Goa at bargain rates, which helped pull in city-weary tourists from far and wide.

Leitgeb would like to refer to Leela as a palaces and resorts chain, rather than a hotel.

?The Indian tradition and design will be displayed with aplomb in all our rooms and lobbies and restaurants.? He talks the debate he had with state tourism ministers and officials.

?I often tell them that we shouldn?t undersell India. The country is not for the backpackers alone.? The message ? Leela will munch on the upper crust and leave the rest to others.