Mammalapuram: The East Coast Road has a brand new beach resort Chennai can be proud of.
The Intercontinental brand brings with it a touch of class to a leisure destination that is truly international in its outlook and yet architecturally designed to reflect the ethos of the state and its long tradition of temples.
The high ceilings, the blocks of granite used to create the temple ambience and the massive temple tank with lilies featuring the central courtyard lend a distinctive ambience to a resort which attempts to redefine space in a sprawling 15 acre property at Nemeli, not far from the ancient town of Mahabalipuram.
At a formal inauguration of the 105-room hotel on Friday in the very week in which the intercontinental group opened its 5,000th hotel, in New York, Mr Vijai Singh, General Manager, said the focus would be on family holidays. The children can be left in charge of the concierge who would have a wide variety of activities for them while the holiday makers can experience true leisure.
Mr Shantha de Silva, head of Intercontinental, South West Asia, explained that to keep the exclusivity of the experience, the hotel would encourage only small packages for meetings and weddings at what is the group’s 25th hotel in a 14th Indian city. Referring to Chennai’s positive scenario for the hospitality industry, he said that soon the city would have two Holiday Inn Express hotels.
Mr Bharath Goyal, MD, Adyar Gate Hotels, which owns the property on which Rs 200 crores have been invested in just the hotel and amenities, said he was happy that his hotels’ association with Intercontinental was working out well and the group also had a positive programme for promotion for employees. Mr Goyal also disclosed that his company would come up soon with a hotel in Kodaikanal.
It is only in view of the roughness of the Bay of Bengal that water sport is not being encouraged until the safety situation is fully studied, explained Mr Bryan Gabriel of Intercontinental South West Asia.
The concierge programme of the group has gained worldwide fame and it has an app to help guests make the best use of the facility, he added. Ms Karuna Amarnath, director of marketing, Intercon, Chennai-Mahabalipuram, introduced the hotel’s top brass at a press briefing.
The hotel had a bash on the beach with great music by Funk Agenda, a reputed Chennai band, and fireworks to mark the inauguration on Pongal day.
