OZO Kandy – first hotel project in hill country after war
Sino Lanka Hotels Holdings (Pvt) Limited together with Kandy Hotels Co. (1938) PLC, which owns the Queens Hotel and Hotel Suisse, broke ground for a new three-star hotel in Kandy recently.
The Rs.1.3 billion hotel, OZO Kandy, will have 128 rooms and will be located on a 100 perch land adjacent to the Hotel Suisse at Sangaraja Mawatha off the Kandy Lake, and is set to open in 2014.
OZO Kandy is a Joint Venture between Sino Lanka Hotels, headed by Bob Kundanmal and the Kandy Hotels Co, headed by Sanjeev Gardiner. ONYX, a Thai hospitality company, which operates four hotel brands in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East, will manage the new hotel under its OZO brand.
Speaking at a ceremony prior to the ground breaking Sanjeev Gardiner, Chairman, Kandy Hotels stated that Sri Lanka’s tourism industry is growing rapidly and the company was very excited to be a part of it.
“We intend becoming a part of the booming opportunities ahead through new partnerships and projects such as the OZO brand expansion in Sri Lanka,” he said.
The Hotel is the first to be set up in the hill capital after the end of the three decade war and will have many facilities offered at a five star hotel even though it would be registered as a three star.
Recreational facilities will include a swimming pool, gym, two restaurants and OZO’s innovative grab and go, food on the run concept, O2Go.
Sino Lanka Hotels in collaboration with ONYX recently celebrated the beginning of the construction of their 150-room OZO Hotel Colombo, set to open next year.
A JV investment company set up by investors Kundanmal and Stefan Furkhan, Sino Lanka Hotels has so far acquired six sites in Colombo, Galle, Seenimodara, Chilaw and an island in Beruwala for the purpose of developing hotels and resorts including the Kandy land.
The investment for all the projects is around US$ 100 million.