WelcomHotel Chennai, formerly known as the Chola Sheraton and later the My Fortune Chennai, is a five-star luxury

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

located at Cathedral Road in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Opened in 1975 as the "Chola Hotel", it is one of the first five-star hotels in Chennai City. It is also the first hotel to be launched under ITC's brand "My Fortune". WelcomHotel Chennai is an ISO 14001–certified hotel for its environment management systems. It is one of the hotels licensed by ITC Hotels Limited.

History

The hotel is built on the site of a historic guest house named ''Tilak Bhavan'' owned by Kasturi Ranga Iyengar. During

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

's visit to Madras in 1919, the house was occupied by

C. Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

, and Gandhi chose to stay in this house from where he learnt about the infamous Rowlatt Bill. It was from here that Gandhi announced the launching of

Satyagraha Satyagraha ( sa, सत्याग्रह; ''satya'': "truth", ''āgraha'': "insistence" or "holding firmly to"), or "holding firmly to truth",' or "truth force", is a particular form of nonviolent resistance or civil resistance. Someone w ...

in protest against the draconian Act that the

British Government ga, Rialtas a Shoilse gd, Riaghaltas a Mhòrachd , image = HM Government logo.svg , image_size = 220px , image2 = Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (HM Government).svg , image_size2 = 180px , caption = Royal Arms , date_es ...

proposed to implement. This incident, which virtually started Gandhi's freedom struggle, is commemorated in a squat pillar of the house, which is still ''in situ'' in front of the hotel. The hotel was opened on 18 October 1975 as the "Chola Hotel", marking the entry of ITC Limited into the hotel business. In 1978,

Sheraton Hotels Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Ce ...

signed a marketing agreement with ITC to represent the properties of their WelcomHotels division, located across India. The hotel was managed by Sheraton beginning that year, and was rebranded as the "Chola Sheraton" in 1980 and then the "Welcomgroup Chola Sheraton" in 1991. On 15 October 2011, the hotel was re-branded as "My Fortune, Chennai" under the Fortune Park Hotels Ltd, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd, which was set up in 1995 to cater to the first-class market segment in business and leisure destinations. The hotel was again rebranded as "WelcomHotel Chennai" on 15 October 2017. Despite the change, the hotel remains a I-Class full-service hotel.

The hotel

The hotel is 10 stories high and has 90 rooms, including 48 Fortune Club exclusive rooms (with an area of 650 sq ft), 26 Fortune Club rooms (with an area of 440 sq ft), and 16 standard rooms (220 sq ft). Food and beverages include Earthen Oven, a North Indian specialty restaurant, WelcomCafe Marina, 24-hour multi-cuisine restaurant, My Deli, serving light snacks and confectioneries, and Durrant's Bar. There are three meeting halls in the hotel—Mandapam banquet hall, with an area of 1,880 sq ft to accommodate 200 persons, Sagari with an area of 1,400 sq ft to accommodate 60 persons, and Mandapam board room with an area of 480 sq ft. accommodating 18 persons. There are also Business Center Board Room with an area of 238 sq ft accommodating 8 persons and Business Centre Office with an area of 156 sq ft accommodating 4 persons. The poolside can accommodate about 50 persons.

References

External links

Official website
{{coord, 13.045752, 80.25679, display=title Hotels in Chennai Skyscraper hotels in Chennai Hotels established in 1975 Hotel buildings completed in 1975 1975 establishments in Tamil Nadu ITC Limited

History

The hotel

See also

References

External links