Sea change in dining as city gets first floatel
How about dining on the Arabian Sea with the city’s iconic cable-stayed Bandra-worli Sea Link as the backdrop? Next week, you will be able to do that as the city’s first floating hotel, also knows as a floatel, glides into service from March 16.
The three-tier floatel — AB Celestial — built in the US, will be inaugurated by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday evening.
The floatel, which can accommodate 500 guests, has a sky deck, two galleys and a banquet hall, and two multi-cuisine restaurants, including a club lounge with a coffee shop.
“We have eight bedrooms on the lower deck,” said Chetan Bhende, Managing Director and CEO, WB International Consultants.
The Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) has a 10% profit-share arrangement, in the project, which is funded by WB International Consultants and would be managed by AB Hospitality, according to a source.
The floatel was launched in 2014 by then tourism minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal, but was not opened to the public owing to issues of permissions. However, Bhende said that it was a “soft launch” and there were no issues of permissions. “It was a soft launch. Earlier, we were given an access road that was through slums, but now the road has changed. The new road took time to be developed. We have got 108 licences and this is a first-of-itskind project,” Bhende told HT.
AB Celestial will be the state’s first floatel as the Maharashtra government also looks at boosting tourism with this project.
“Mumbai receives the highest number of foreign tourists in the country, so the floatel will certainly become a huge attraction for the tourists and for Mumbaiites as well. It will also enhance the image of Mumbai,” said an MTDC official, requesting anonymity.