Chennai, Dec 19 (IANS) City’s only heritage hotel, the 159-year-old Vivanta Connemara Chennai by Taj will refurbish its rooms in phases, upgrade its spa and also focus on its pan Asian restaurant Hip Asia, said a senior hotel official.
“While we maintain our uniqueness of heritage property, we would offer cutting edge deliveries. We plan to refurbish our rooms in a phased manner,” general manager Samrat Datta told IANS.
Formerly known as Taj Connemara the 150 room hotel was rebranded a Vivanta Connemara Chennai by Taj in 2010 when the group decided to divide its hotels into different categories.
According to Datta, there are no plans to expand the property and add more rooms.
Stressing the hotel would bank on its colonial vintage and bridge the past with the present, he said there are plans to offer Anglo-Indian brunch at the restaurants and also be part of holding vintage car rallies.
Following the recent relaunch of the hotel’s Chettinad cuisine specialty restaurant Raintree, the focus will be on Hip Asia, the pan Asian restaurant, Datta said.
Speaking of the business, he said it has picked up last month onwards but was down during the first half compared to previous year.
“Our occupancy ratio ranges between 65-70 percent. The ratio of room rent: food and beverage revenue is around 40:60,” Datta said.
According to him, one of the trends is the increased foot fall of the non-resident guests to the hotel’s various restaurants.