One of the oldest hoteliers in Kolkata, East India Hotels (EIH), is looking at setting up another five-star property in the city, reports Business Standard. The Oberoi Group's flagship company has expressed interest in a Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) plot off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass, on the outskirts of the city. This is 68 years after the hotelier's first property, The Oberoi Grand, in Kolkata's central business district.

EIH Vice-Chairman S. S. Mukherjee said the company was exploring the option and had picked up documents for the plot, but nothing had been finalised yet. Irrespective of the KMC bid, the company was keen on adding a second property in Kolkata, Mukherjee said.

EIH had embarked on an asset light strategy, he said. The Kolkata property could be under a different corporate configuration, where a strategic investor could be inducted.

Mukherjee cited the example of the Trident Hilton, the plush hotel in Delhi's southern suburbs, Gurgaon, which was under a different ownership.

In March 2004, EIH had signed an agreement with Hilton International to co-brand its Trident hotels in India. Mukherjee said while Kolkata was growing and occupancy had picked up, it still had a long way to go in the department of average room rates (ARR).

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