By Sourish Bhattacharyya
 |
| Rooms at the Leisure Inn Grand Chanakya on Jaipur's arterial M.I. Road come with free WiFi and a host of other facilities at an average rate of Rs 2,200 per night. |
IT'S A COMMON refrain of hoteliers at
every industry meet to extol the virtues of branded budget hotels. They say
this under-developed category, ignored by established hotel chains, caters to not
only the vast domestic leisure market, but also mid-level executives travelling
on work to Tier-II and Tier-III cities and towns. It's all talk. None of the major
chains has done anything significant to translate this talk into action on the
ground. Quality budget hotels, meanwhile, continue to elude the domestic
leisure and mid-level corporate traveller even at a traditional tourist hub
such as Jaipur, which has little to offer between five-star or heritage hotels
and 'three-star' properties that wouldn't qualify for any star at any place
anywhere else in the world.
It is this market that the Leisure
Inn Grand Chanakya taps into -- and it sets the benchmark for others seeking to
enter this potentially lucrative business. The Jaipur hotel located on the busy
Mohammad Ismail (M.I.) Road, the Connaught Place of Rajasthan's capital city,
is the first hotel to be managed in India by the Australian multinational, Staywell
Hospitality Group. Where else in India can you get a room, measuring between
450 and 650 square feet, at an average rate of Rs 2,200, with an exceptionally comfortable
bed, effect air-conditioning, complimentary WiFi, electronic safe, coffee and
tea maker, moderately priced mini bar, and a toilet with an attached shower
stall equipped with gleaming, effective fittings.
The hotel has an interesting history.
A vertical construction -- yet another example of how budget hotels can come up
at lower development costs -- it is located on the site of the old Chanakya
restaurant, which used to be a popular foodie magnet famous for its traditional
Rajashthani vegetarian dishes before it had to shut down because of labour
problems.
Chanakya was the brainchild of a prominent
local businessman, Lekhraj Odhrani. His son, Murli Odhrani, managing director
of the Dubai-based Petrotech Enterprises, is in the business of providing oil and
gas exploration tools and equipment in the Indian sub-continent, Middle East
and Russia. It is he who has partnered with Staywell to give a second lease of
life to Chanakya -- now renamed Grand Chanakya, with an imposing mural showing Chanakya,
India's Machiavelli, entering a temple -- and add the 52-room hotel above it.
In its slicker avatar, Grand Chanakya
continues to draw a steady stream of old loyalists and new faithfuls -- I will
always remembers it for ker-sangri ki
subzi (richer than the standard lean preparations), yellow dal sexed up
with a garlic tadka, and the unmissable
besan choorma. The wind-swept terrace
bar, Arya, is where you can spend a pleasant evening with your favourite poison
and friends, digging into unforgettable grilled items such as murgh ke sooley, noorani seekh (chicken and mutton with a quilt of egg yolk), subz kurkuri (Indianised spring roll -- highly
recommended) and mushroom galauti
served on biscuits, instead of the standard baby ulte tawa ke paranthe.
You can't get a better package in
Jaipur (the hotel, by the way, also has a fitness centre and spa to complete
the experience). The Leisure Inn Grand Chanakya promises to be a game-changer
both for corporate off-sites and for middle-class domestic travellers desperately
seeking places that offer a starred-hotel experience at no-star prices. Staywell
has taken over the old Peppermint hotel at Sector 14, Gurgaon, so it has made
its intention to stay and grow in India abundantly clear. That's good news for
us.
