‘GINGER’ HOTEL UNVEILS IN PUDUCHERRY

~ The GenNext ‘Smart Basics’ Hotel from The Indian Hotels Company Limited ~

Puducherry, December 07, 2007: The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) today unveiled its GenNext ‘Smart Basics’ Hotel – ‘GINGER’ at Old Venus Theatre, Karuvadikuppam in Puducherry in the presence of Mr. Thiru. N. Rangasamy, Honourable Chief Minister of Puducherry and Mr. Prabhat Pani, Chief Executive Officer, Roots Corporation Limited and other dignitaries.

The 98-room hotel in Puducherry is the 10th hotel that Ginger has added to its growing chain across the country, which includes Bangalore, Haridwar, Bhubaneswar, Mysore, Thiruvananthapuram, Durgapur, Nasik, Agartala and Pune.

Ginger Puducherry is the fourth hotel to be opened in the South of India after Bangalore, Mysore and Thiruvananthapuram. Ginger has worked on the principle of continuously and consistently delivering the brand promise wherever and whenever the customers experience Ginger. Hence, identifying prospective business partners to provide a unique customer experience in sync with Ginger’s brand promise is a careful process. With the launch of the 10th Ginger property in Puducherry, Ginger will introduce Landmark bookstore in its premises in order to provide its guests another opportunity to explore a fresh and vibrant experience. In Puducherry, Ginger has also tied up with The Harbour Market by Mohanlal’s Taste Buds Restaurant Pvt. Ltd., for its multi-cuisine restaurant specialized in coastal flavours. Also, keeping with the interest of business travellers Ginger has introduced a Conference Room facility which can host conferences for up to 30-40 guests.

Ginger Hotels had tied up with Café Coffee Day earlier this year, providing a youthful, simple and affordable eating option to its customers. Currently, Café Coffee Day outlets are present in 6 Ginger Hotels and will also be present in Ginger Puducherry.

Speaking at the launch, Mr. Prabhat Pani, Chief Executive Officer & Director, Roots Corporation Limited, said, “The launch of the tenth Ginger property in Puducherry is a significant milestone for us. Puducherry holds tremendous potential for this innovative category of hotels and our initiative will boost the infrastructure that will cater to both domestic and international tourists We have maintained that ‘Smart Basics’ refers to the philosophy of providing well thought-out facilities and services to guests at value pricing – This has meant that Ginger has striven to constantly enhance the Ginger customer experience by introducing new and modern facilities for the Customer. To this end, we have also partnered with well-known and like-minded brands like Café Coffee Day and Landmark.”

GINGER Hotels characterize freshness. The hotels are simple, unique, reasonable, basic, very different, light-hearted and innovative. Priced at affordable rates, GINGER hotels have created a new category in the domestic hospitality landscape, while giving a major fillip to Indian tourism and other ancillary industries. The primary objective behind the launch of these hotels is to provide a superior product offering and consistent experience to travellers, far beyond the present offerings in the industry.

The GINGER hotels are modern, modular and scalable, providing guests with a consistent experience. These hotels will have 100 / 200 well-appointed rooms, with a choice of single, twin and queen sized rooms. The rooms will be individually air-conditioned and provided with posturepedic mattresses, electronic locks, a work area, a 20-inch LCD television with satellite channels, direct-dial telephone including STD facility, mini-fridge and tea/coffee maker. Other guest facilities at these hotels would include a restaurant, meeting room, gymnasium facilities, a cyber café, 24-hour reception, automatic check in kiosk, ATM, vending machines, digital safe deposit boxes, 100% power back up, as well as wi-fi connectivity in the public areas and individual rooms.

Indigenously designed and developed by IHCL, the guiding principle behind the design was to create a unique ‘space’ that is conducive not only for guest comfort and relaxation but also for their work requirements. The design of the hotel, from the rooms to the furniture and lighting systems, have been thoughtfully created to offer users a unique sense of welcome.

Launched in June 2004, the Smart Basics Concept created a revolution in the world of Indian hospitality. Smart Basics – a GenNext category of hotels – signifies simplicity, convenience, informality, style, warmth, modernity and affordability. The concept was developed in association with renowned corporate strategy thinker, Dr. C.K. Prahalad. The hotels are built around a unique concept that provides facilities to meet the key needs of today’s traveller, at surprisingly affordable rates.

Work on Ginger Hotels has commenced in Goa, Vadodara, Ludhiana, Pantnagar and Delhi and will also commence work on hotels in Tirupur, Guwahati, Jamshedpur, Mangalore, Paradip and Ahmedabad, amongst other destinations within the next two months. These locations have been identified after detailed studies across various parameters such as potential of the market, clusters of clientele and peak periods among others.

About Roots Corporation Limited

Roots Corporation Limited (RCL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL). Incorporated in December 2003, RCL operates GINGER, a first-of-its-kind category of ‘Smart Basics’ hotels. The first GINGER hotel was launched in Bangalore.

For further information, please contact:

Uzzal Mohan from Vaishnavi Corporate Communications at 92462 15332