Cygnett to set up hotels in Bangladesh & Sri Lanka

Cygnett Hotels & Resorts plans to set up hotels in Bangladesh and Sri Lanka soon.

Sarbendra Sarkar, Founder and MD of Cygnett Hotels & Resorts, said, "Having established our presence in northern and western parts of the country, we are now eyeing overseas markets. To begin with, we will enter Bangladesh and Sri Lanka before the end of fiscal 2018, followed by South Asia, Middle East, North Africa and the U.S."

The Gurugram-based hotel chain said that the first hotel in Dhaka, Bangladesh, would become operational by March 2019. However, the hotel in Colombo, Sri Lanka, might take 18 months time. Cygnett further plans to manage 1,000 rooms in Bangladesh and 600-800 in Sri Lanka.

Sarbendra stated, "Our investments in these properties would be minimal, as we follow asset-light model. We help our partners in building these hotels as per our specifications in technology and in running the property. The promoters have committed to invest about Rs 40 crore in Bangladesh and Rs 35 crore in Sri Lanka for 100 rooms each. The average per room investment in Bangladesh is Rs 40 lakh and Rs 35 lakh in Sri Lanka."

Cygnett Hotels offer different categories of hotels ranging from five to three star, budget and economy. It will provide five to three star services in Bangladesh while in Sri Lanka, it will give three and four star service.

"Three and four star hotels are growing segment in Sri Lanka. We get a good number of travellers from India. But, in the case of Bangladesh, we get travellers from China, Japan and India. There are no branded hotels and we can easily fit in," he further added.