ABS Hotels India is all set to launch a budget brand ‘Smart Hotels’ with plans to open it in eight cities within the next two years at an investment of Rs 100 crore. Ashok Aneja, the group’s chairman, informed that the group wants to expand in the budget and resort markets.

“Smart Hotels will come up in Goa, Jaipur, Bengaluru, Pune, Gwalior, Bhopal, Lucknow and Delhi. The properties will be owned and managed by us with no external borrowings whatsoever to fund the projects,” Aneja said.

The company is also planning to grow its resort brand – Roop Hotels & Resorts – with another property lined up at Gir National Park in Gujarat in addition to the existing Roop Resorts in Jim Corbett National Park and Kumaon (Nainital) region. “We expect to tap the resort locations in Uttaranchal, Dehradun and even have Roop Hotels in Bengaluru and Dehradun,” he added.

ABS Hotels India started as a master franchisee of US-based Microtel Inn & Suites for India and has developed three three-star hotels in Bengaluru, Jaipur and Mumbai under the brand. The brand had earlier planned to construct 20 hotels in India but later stalled the plan. ABS Hotels has now grabbed the opportunity to establish its own brand with the same plans that were made with Microtel. “We have the rights on the drawings and plan of the hotels and are taking the project forward,” Aneja stated.

The company owns land banks where it would also be considering developing hotels. It has also ventured into serviced apartments segment with its 42-room Roop Residency coming up in Bengaluru this year with an investment of Rs 20 crore, he summed.