InterContinental brand goes ahead with Sri Lanka plans

The world renowned InterContinental brand, which has announced its comeback to the island in partnership with Pearl Grand Tower Hotel Ltd, is set to fast-track its opening at the site at Bambalapitiya junction in Colombo.

This super luxury, 42-storeyed hotel will consist of 346 rooms of different categories. - Presidential Suite, Deluxe Suites, Executive suites, Junior Suites, King Club Rooms, King Rooms, Twin Rooms etc and it will be the second InterContinental branded hotel in the island after the Ceylon Intercontinental established in 1973, and later pulled out.

In a letter of confirmation, David Todd Senior Director, Intercontinental Hotel Group ( IHG), New Hotels, India, Middle East and Africa, recently noted that they remain committed to opening the hotel as early as possible to do their part in supporting affected communities by bringing the beauty of Sri Lanka to international audiences.

In partnership with Pearl Grand Tower Hotel Ltd, IHG said it looks forward to offering worldclass amenities, excellent service and consistent, luxurious experiences to the guests visiting the beautiful city of Colombo and exploring other cultural hubs in proximity to the hotel, he pointed out.

He is due to visit Sri Lanka shortly to discuss the overall strategy and plan for the opening of Intercontinental, Colombo towards the latter part of the year/1st quarter of 2020.

The development of Intercontinental, Colombo is being carried out under the Pearl Group of Hotels family owned business conglomerate headed by the Chairman of the group, A.L.M. Faris.

“Sri Lanka needs globally renowned brands in hospitality industry to project the destination image and to position it on the global map as a destination of quality,” he told the Business Times.

He pointed out that “his efforts to join hands with the IHG group and bring back a world renowned brand such as Intercontinental to Sri Lanka was with the industry interest as well”.

“The hotel development work is done in conformity with Intercontinental Brand Standards, acclaimed to be the highest in the industry including guest comfort, safety, security, adaptation of high tech superseding all local authority and other agency standards,” he said.

"We will muster greater strength from the setback to forge ahead. Tourism was about the only sector that was indicating year on growth over the last nine to 10 years in Sri Lanka,” he said.

It can make a greater contribution towards the economy in the years ahead, he said adding that his other properties which were maintaining around 80 per cent occupancy and had good bookings for the next few months is currently down to under 10 per cent occupancy.

He noted that this was a temporary setback and the government needs to step in to assist the industry with a proper understanding.