Le Royal Meridien, Chennai

Le Royal Meridien Chennai
Hotel chain	Le Méridien
General information
Location	India
Address	1, GST Road, St.Thomas Mount Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Coordinates	13°00′24″N 80°12′20″E / 13.006758°N 80.205528°ECoordinates: 13°00′24″N 80°12′20″E / 13.006758°N 80.205528°E
Opening	30 December 2000
Owner	Appu Hotels Ltd.
Management	Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc
Technical details
Floor count	3
Other information
Number of rooms	240
Number of restaurants	3
Website
www.starwoodhotels.com

Le Royal Méridien Chennai is a five-star luxury hotel^[1] located at the Guindy-Kathipara Junction on Anna Salai, Chennai, India. Initially built as Madras Hilton at an investment of ₹ 1,650 million,^[2] the hotel was, however, opened as Le Royal Meridien Chennai.^[3]

History

The hotel was developed by the PGP Group with a management contract with Hilton. However, the contract ended in March 2000 and the group signed a contract with Le Meridien Hotels and Resorts and the hotel came under the brand "Le Royal Meridien Chennai". The hotel was soft launched on 12 April 2000,^[4] with commercial opening on 30 December 2000 when it was formally inaugurated by the then chief minister of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi.^[5]

In May 2005, Ask, the poolside barbecue at the hotel, was launched.^[6] In 2006, the hotel became part of the Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, when the latter acquired the Le Royal Meridien brand.^[7]

The hotel

The hotel is built on a 3.44 acres land with about one third of the area being a landscaped one. The hotel has 240 rooms, of which 112 are standard rooms, 57 deluxe and 41 Royal Club bedrooms, 22 deluxe suites, seven executive suites, three Royal suites and one presidential suite.^[4] The hotel's banquet halls can accommodate up to 1,500 people and the hotel has about 12 meeting spaces. It has three restaurants, namely, Navaratna (serving royal Indian cuisine), Cilantro (a 24-hour international dining restaurant serving Indian, Continental, Chinese, and South-East Asian cuisine) and Kayal (Mediterranean specialty seafood restaurant) and bars such as The Dome Bar, Flame Le Club and Le Gourmandise. The hotel has a 9,200 sq ft ballroom known as the Grand Madras Ballroom, which was claimed to be the largest pillar-less ballroom in the city when it was built.

In 2009, the hotel planned to renovate and add 15 more rooms at an investment of ₹ 750 million.^[8]

Awards

The hotel was awarded the "Best Business Hotel in Asia Pacific" for the year 2002 by the Pacific Area Travel Writers Association (PATWA), at the International Travel Bourse (ITB), Berlin.^[9] It has also won the best "Innovative HR Practices 2003" by Deccan Herald Avenue.^[10]

See also

• Hotels in Chennai

References

1. "Category : 5 Star Delux". List of Approved Hotels as of : 06/01/2013. Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. 2013. Retrieved 6 Jan 2013.
2. Ravikumar, R. "Appu Hotels plans 10 more units in TN". Business Line (Chennai: The Hindu). Retrieved 1 Dec 2011.
3. "Hilton withdraws from PGP hotel project". Business Line (Chennai: The Hindu). 9 March 2000. Retrieved 1 Dec 2011.
4. "PGP hotel project under Le Royal Meridien banner". Business Line (Chennai: The Hindu). 13 April 2000. Retrieved 5 Aug 2012.
5. "Le Meridien opens in Chennai". Business Line (Chennai: The Hindu). 31 December 2000. Retrieved 5 Aug 2012.
6. "Le Royal Meridien in Chennai adds a barbecue now". Business Line (Chennai: The Hindu). 16 May 2005. Retrieved 5 Aug 2012.
7. "Le Meridien in Starwood fold". The Hindu (Chennai: The Hindu). 6 January 2006. Retrieved 5 Aug 2012.
8. Narasimhan, T.E. (11 February 2009). "Appu Hotels lines up Rs 1000 cr expansion". Business Standard (Chennai: Business Standard). Retrieved 1 Dec 2011.
9. "Le Royal Meridien wins award". The Hindu (Chennai: The Hindu). 15 April 2003. Retrieved 5 Aug 2012.
10. "Le Royal Meridien Chennai". HotelsInChennai.org. Retrieved 15 Nov 2011.

External links

• Official website