The Oberois of EIH Ltd will be returning to the Darjeeling hills after more than four decades, amping up the luxury quotient of the tourism sector in north Bengal.
The company, which runs some of India’s best-known hotels including the Grand in Chowringhee, is partnering with the owners of the famed Makaibari tea estate to set up a boutique hotel at the tea garden.
EIH once operated a hotel, Mount Everest, in Darjeeling town but it burnt down in the early 1980s. After it remained closed for decades, the Oberois eventually sold the property in 2015.
The new hotel will initially feature 25 keys, with a provision to double the count later. The launch has been set for 2030 but the garden owner, the Luxmi Group, hopes to make it ready in two years from now.
The Luxmi Group, a leading producer of tea in India and Rwanda, will arrange the estimated investment of ₹100 crore while EIH will manage the hotel.
Once the hotel is operational, Makaibari tea estate — spread over 500 hectares in Kurseong — will have the rare distinction of playing host to two of India’s top hospitality chains.
Tata Group company IHCL already operates at Makaibari a property, Taj Chia Kutir Resort and Spa, that brought luxury hospitality to north Bengal at scale, prompting players like EIH and the ITC to look at the region favourably.
IHCL has firmed up plans to open more properties in the hills and the foothills, buoyed by the positive response to Chia Kutir.
The signing of the management contract was formally announced on Monday.
Rudra Chatterjee, managing director of Luxmi Tea Co. Pvt Ltd, said he was “delighted” to partner with EIH and the Oberoi Group to create a resort that “reflects Makaibari’s heritage and brings a new dimension of experiential luxury to Darjeeling”.
Arjun Oberoi, executive chairman of the Oberoi Group, said The Oberoi, Makaibari Tea Estate, Darjeeling, signalled “exceptional potential in the broader eastern Himalayan region, including parts of (the) Northeast”.
“Makaibari’s natural beauty, artisanal traditions and historical significance make it an extraordinary setting for an Oberoi resort,” Arjun said in a statement.
The 25 stilted bungalows that the property will initially feature have been designed by Nava Design Studios Co. Ltd, Bangkok, which has also designed the Four Seasons Resort, Chiang Mai and Anantara Lyan Phuket Resort, according to its website.
The hotel will come up on a 20-acre plot, taking advantage of the Mamata Banerjee government’s policy of allowing garden lease holders to use part of the estate land commercially for non-tea businesses such as hospitality.
Makaibari tea estate grows about 80,000kg of tea annually. The land earmarked for the Oberoi hotel is part of a non-tea-producing tract.
Chatterjee said the hotel would help give skills training to local people, enabling long-term employment opportunities within the Oberoi Group.
Vikram Oberoi, CEO of the Oberoi Group, said: “We are committed to creating sustainable employment, advancing skill development and strengthening long-term community initiatives.”
Storied past
Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi, the founder of the Oberoi Group, had ventured into Darjeeling by acquiring the Everest Hotel (later renamed Mount Everest) in the late 1930s from a Briton, who had leased the building from a Bengali solicitor who used the property as his summer residence.
After the wood-dominated structure was gutted in the early 1980s, the efforts to rebuild it coincided with the Gorkhaland agitation. The Oberois later gave up trying to restart the hotel and sold it.
Industry observers say that luxury properties suchas those with room ratesabove ₹25,000 a night are likely come up in tea estates or in secluded areas, away fromthe din of Darjeeling town, which remains a destination predominantly for budget-friendly travellers.