Fern Hotels to operate 3 properties in Nepal by March 2018

Fern Hotels & Resorts is on an expansion spree not only in India but in neighbouring Nepal as well and is all set to close the financial year with three operational properties with a total of 233 keys, reveals Suhail Kannampilly, COO, Fern Hotels & Resorts. The company recently started managing the 73-room Summit Hotel, a Nepali-styled boutique hotel located 7 km from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu.
“The Fern Residency, Bharatpur in Nepal is a 48-key property which will be operational by the end of the current financial year,” Kannampilly informs. The company will also be managing another 112-room upcoming hotel property in Kathmandu under The Zinc brand. It is scheduled to be operational by year end as well. The company is looking to increase the key count to 500 in Nepal during the course of the next 18 months and aims to become one of the biggest hospitality players in Nepal by having presence in key destinations like Pokhara, Lumbini, Nagarkot, Biratnagar. The company already manages a chain of six boutique island resorts in Seychelles.
“As of now we are managing seven properties outside India and will add two more to our kitty by the year end taking our tally to 9”, he said. “In the Indian market we are going to open a property every single month in the current financial year and are expecting to reach a figure of 59 operational properties,” he adds.
“Our long-standing relationships with local Corporates and the Travel Trade, along with our strong connects with all the key OTAs, ensures volumes are driven into all our hotels from all these key channel partners”, he further elaborated. The company has appointed a full-fledged team under Arindam Mitra, General Manager – Operations, Nepal & East India to take care of overseas operations.