Welcom Heritage property in Almora

Welcom Heritage property in Almora

Welcom Heritage, a joint venture between the ITC Ltd and the Maharaja of Jodhpur, is working on re-branding and consolidating its properties. The hospitality firm has announced addition of five new properties to its bouquet of existing 62 across India.

"Currently all our properties have a total room capacity of about 2,200. With the five new properties coming on board, another 120 new rooms will be added," WelcomHeritage president Rakesh Mathur told reporters. The company's current properties include palaces, forts, havelis and resorts in 20 states across India. Welcom Heritage will manage the five new properties -one each in Almora (Uttarakhand) and Varanasi (UP) and three in West Bengal. "The company already has a good presence across India except for East," Mathur said. However, going ahead the company will focus on consolidation by converting franchise-owned operations into management-owned ones. Stressing on the need to consolidate its operations, Welcom Heritage chairman Gaj Singh said: "Now it is not only about increasing the number of properties. For instance, there are heritage properties and there are properties which are located in heritage locations (which are not classified as heritage hotels), so there is a need to classify them accordingly." He said the company is working on a rebranding strategy in order to bring clarity to customers in terms of the categorisation of luxury and mid-segment properties.

"We are also convincing the owners of some of the properties with whom we have a franchise tie-up to convert them into management or lease-based contracts," Singh added.

Mission Mount Bhagirathi-II

Deputy Army Chief Lt Gen V.S. Tonk on Thursday flagged off a joint Indian and Kazakhstan Army mountaineering expedition to Mount Bhagirathi-II in Uttarakhand. The joint team comprising three officers, one JCO and 16 other ranks of Indian Army and five personnel below officer rank of Kazakh Army is being led by Major R.S. Jamwal of the Jat Regiment. This is the 3rd joint expedition involving the two armies. Prior to the expedition, the Kazakh team will undergo an orientation training for 10 days at NI M, Uttarkashi. After initial acclimatisation, the team will leave for Gangotri for the Base Camp which will be established at a height of 14239 ft. Camp-I will be at 16,100 ft, Summit Camp will be at 19,200 ft and the Summit will be attempted on September 18-21, 2010, subject to prevailing weather conditions.