Within means

New Delhi, July 3: Berggruen Hospitality Pvt Ltd plans to set up a chain of budget hotels under the brand name Keys. The company, promoted by the US investment firm Berggruen Holdings, aims to set up at least 38 hotels comprising about 4,500 rooms over the next five years across India.

The first resort, having a capacity of 150 rooms, will come up at Candolim in Goa in September. According to officials, Berggruen Hotels has acquired 10 sites in India and is planning to acquire 20 more.

After the 38 hotels became operational, another 12 were expected to be under construction, Berggruen Hotels managing director Sanjay Sethi said.

Some of the cities where the company will have hotels are Thiruvananthapuram, Kovalam, Kochi, Pune, Calcutta and Jammu. It will develop three hotels in Bangalore to cater to the demand for quality budget hotels.

The company is looking at managing hotels for other developers as well.

Berggruen Hospitality also plans to set up 50 vocational training institutes at an initial investment of $10 million in the next three years.

The venture will be branded as United Education Institute (UEI) Global and offer courses in hospitality management. It plans to add more courses in the future, including aviation, retail management and travel and tourism.

Praveen Roy, MD, UEI-Global said, “The course fees will vary from Rs 45,000 to Rs 75,000. Related courses in retail, aviation, residential schools, nursing, equipment rental and radio taxi will also be started soon.”

The first institute will come up at Rohini in New Delhi on July 15.

UEI Global, which will offer both one-year hospitality management programmes and short-term vocational courses, plans to open four more academies in Noida, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Pune by September 2007.

Ashish Kesharwani, head, hospitality, said, “Some of the programmes are designed to upgrade skills of those who are already in the industry.”