After a gap of 29 years, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), a leading global hotel chain, has agreed to take over the operations and management of Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka, officials said yesterday.
At a ceremony today, the UK-based hotel group will sign a deal with Bangladesh Services Ltd (BSL) that owns Ruposhi Bangla, one of the country’s top hotels, said Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister Faruk Khan.
He said IHG would take over the hotel initially for a period of 10 years. The tenure could later be extended for up to 30 years to 40 years.
Meanwhile, state-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha said renovation work would take two years to finish and in that time, the hotel will remain closed. The employees and workers of Ruposhi Bangla will be provided with jobs in other hotels of IHG.
Earlier, BSL signed a letter of intent with IHG in July last year, following the approval of the civil aviation and tourism ministry to appointment IHG to manage and operate the hotel.
IHG ran the state-owned hotel from 1966 to 1983. Sheraton took over its operations and management in 1983 for the next 25 years, ending its tenure in December 2008.
Sheraton, however, had to continue operations until April 30, 2011, as Bangladesh was co-hosting the World Cup Cricket matches at that time.
Starwood, the owning company of Sheraton, gave BSL a conditional extension offer to terminate all hotel employees during renovation in 2009. But the government agency did not agree with the condition, leading BSL to take over operations under the new banner of Ruposhi Bangla.
Ruposhi Bangla now employs 600 officials, of whom 400 are permanent, according to an official.
IHG is the largest hotel chain in the world measured in terms of the number of rooms at 658,000. It has 4,480 hotels in nearly 100 countries and territories around the world.
It operates seven hotel brands — InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites.
-With The Daily Star input
