The Leela is an Indian luxury

hotel chain 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 ...

founded in 1986 by

C. P. Krishnan Nair Captain Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair (9 February 1922 – 17 May 2014) was an Indian businessman who founded The Leela Group. He was a 2010 recipient of the Padma Bhushan, given by Government of India. He was sometimes popularly known a ...

and currently owned by

Brookfield Asset Management Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a Canadian multinational company that is one of the world's largest alternative investment management companies, with over US$725 billion of assets under management in 2022. It focuses on direct contr ...

History

The Leela hotels were founded as part of

The Leela Group The Leela Group is an Indian business conglomerate founded by Chittarath Poovakkatt Krishnan Nair in 1981, and named after his wife. The hotel division, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, is its most well known. It describes itself as inv ...

, which was named after the founder

's wife. Nair bought 11 acres of land near his house in

Sahar Village, Mumbai Sahar Village lies in the Vile Parle East suburb of Mumbai. It is among the oldest settlements of East Indians on Salsette Island. The village had a station on the Salsette–Trombay Railway that was dismantled after the rail line closed in 1934. ...

to build his first hotel, The Leela Mumbai, in 1986. It was the first

luxury Luxury may refer to: * Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, tax on products not considered essential, such as expensive cars **Luxury tax (sports), surcharge pu ...

hotel near the current

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport is an international airport serving Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). It is the second busiest airport in the country in terms of total and international passenger traffic aft ...

. In 1991, a second hotel was opened in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. The Leela Goa was designed keeping the overall architecture of the state in mind. The luxury seaside resort has taken its inspiration from

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

heritage and is spread over 75 acres of land in

South Goa South Goa district is one of two districts that comprises the state of Goa, India, within the region known as the Konkan. It is bounded by North Goa district to the north, the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state to the east and south, while ...

near by

Cavelossim Beach Cavelossim is a village in South Goa district in the state of Goa, India. The town hosts a well-known beach at the southernmost tip of the Salcete beach stretch that starts from Majorda in the north to Cavelossim in the south. The Sal Riv ...

. In 2001, the group's first modern hotel was built with 357 rooms in the IT capital of India, Bangalore, inspired by the

Mysore Palace The Mysore Palace, also known as Amba Vilas Palace, is a historical palace and a royal residence (house). It is located in Mysore, Karnataka. It used to be the official residence of the Wadiyar dynasty and the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore. Th ...

and the architecture of the 13th century

Vijayanagara Vijayanagara () was the capital city of the historic Vijayanagara Empire. Located on the banks of the Tungabhadra River, it spread over a large area and included the modern era Group of Monuments at Hampi site in Vijayanagara district, Bellary ...

empire, and is surrounded by seven acres of gardens. By 2009, two more properties were added to this portfolio: The Leela Palace in

Udaipur Udaipur () (ISO 15919: ''Udayapura''), historically named as Udayapura, is a city and municipal corporation in Udaipur district of the state of Rajasthan, India. It is the administrative headquarter of Udaipur district. It is the historic capit ...

(

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; lit. 'Land of Kings') is a state in northern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India's northwestern si ...

) and The Leela Ambience

Gurgaon Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

The Leela Ambience

is the group's first non-owned, managed property. The Leela Palace New Delhi opened in April 2011; the palace is inspired by Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

Delhi. The group opened a new hotel 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 ...

in 2013 called The Leela Palace Chennai. The second Managed hotel was taken over in year 2015, in East Delhi, The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel. In 2021, the group further expanded its portfolio with three new hotels; The Leela Palace Jaipur, The Leela Gandhinagar and The Leela Bhartiya City Bengaluru. There are plans to open new hotels in Hyderabad and Agra. The company has marketing alliances with US-based Preferred Hotels and Resorts and is a member of

Global Hotel Alliance Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is the world's largest alliance of hotel brands. Based on the airline alliance model, it was founded in 2004 by four hotel chains, Kempinski, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts, Rydges Hotels & Resorts, and Wyndham Internat ...

based in Dubai. A previous marketing alliance with Germany-based

Kempinski Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the ''Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft'', the group currently operates 78 five-star ho ...

ended in October 2013. In a deal in October 2019, the company sold its hotel properties and operations as well as hotel assets located in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Udaipur to Canada-based

, in an INR 3,950 crore settlement, marking the entry of Brookfield in India’s hospitality market. ITC Group had objected to the sale of Leela owned hotels citing reasons of misappropriation of funds in the sale transaction which was led by the consortium of banks and also due to the fact the interests of minority shareholders were overlooked, and other bids submitted by interested bidders were not considered by

JM Financial JM Financial (JMFL) is an Indian financial services group headquartered in Mumbai and has branches across India. It also has overseas branches in Ebene, Singapore, New Jersey and Dubai although almost all the group's business are domestic oper ...

, the asset reconstruction company in Mumbai. The Securities Appellate Tribunal in September 2019 rejected the petition of ITC clearing the way for Brookfield to acquire the hotels. In addition to ITC, there were other suitors for the Leela Hotels & Resorts, including that of Rashid Al-Habtoor a UAE businessman jointly with an

Arms Dealer The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and servi ...

Abhishek Verma who submitted their bid of US$600 million in January 2019 however their bids were not entertained and questions were raised on the conduct of JM Financial in this sale transaction.

Business structure

''The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts'' is the trading name of ''Leela Palaces and Resorts Limited''. ''Hotel Leelaventure Limited'' is the ultimate

holding company A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own shares of other companies ...

of the hotel group, and is traded on the

Bombay Stock Exchange BSE Limited, also known as the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), is an Indian stock exchange. It is located on Dalal Street in Mumbai. Established in 1875 by cotton merchant Premchand Roychand, a Jain businessman, it is the oldest stock exchange in ...

() and

National Stock Exchange of India National Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE) is the leading stock exchange under the ownership of various group of domestic and global financial institutions, public and privately owned entities and individuals. It is located in Mumbai, Mah ...

(). Hotel Leelaventure Limited is itself part of

business conglomerate.

Awards

* Travel + Leisure USA World’s Best Awards – The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts ranked in Top 10 best hotels Brands in the world, July 2019 * Travel + Leisure USA World’s Best Awards – The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts ranked the fifth best hospitality brand in the world, July 2016 * Experiential Venue Awards 2017- The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts wins the 'India's Favorite Hospitality Group For MICE & Weddings', July 2017

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leela Palaces, Hotels And Resorts Hotel chains in India Hospitality companies established in 1986 Companies based in Mumbai Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange 1986 establishments in Maharashtra Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India