Calcutta, Aug. 2: The Oberoi group, which runs hotels under the Oberoi and Trident brands, hopes to improve its revenues with an early opening of the refurbished 218-room New Delhi property in January.

"The Oberoi, New Delhi was originally scheduled to open in April 2018 after a complete renovation. However, the progress on site has been very satisfactory and the new hotel is likely to open in January. The Oberoi, New Delhi is expected to retain the iconic position it enjoyed in the capital since it first opened in the year 1965," executive chairman P.R.S. Oberoi said.

Oberoi was speaking at the 67th annual general meeting of EIH Ltd, the corporate entity of the Oberoi Group, in Calcutta today.

He added that with an early opening, the hotel could start contributing to the company's revenues and profitability from the fourth quarter itself.

The tariff of the refurbished hotel is expected to be higher even as the room count has changed from 283 guest rooms and 17 suites to 218 guest rooms and 32 suites.

EIH has spent close to Rs 500 crore on the renovation of the New Delhi property.

Oberoi said the hotel at Marrakech is almost complete and is expected to open by 2017-end.

Oberoi said a number of managed property would be commissioned during the current fiscal. Two properties in Chandigarh and in the UAE had been already commissioned.

EIH Ltd's total revenue was up 8.66 per cent at Rs 303.26 crore during the April-June quarter against Rs 279.09 crore a year ago.

The profit after tax was at Rs 11 crore compared with a loss of Rs 12 crore last year.

GST impact

Oberoi said the introduction of the goods and services tax will have an adverse impact on the tourism industry. Hotels with a declared tariff of Rs 7,500 and above will attract a 28 per cent GST.

S.S. Mukherji, executive vice-chairman of EIH, later explained that the earlier tax rates were around 19 to 20 per cent.

"So customers would have to pay more, but how much that will impact the company's revenues, is difficult to say at the moment," he said.