Luxury 5 Star hotel Hyatt Regency Mumbai informed its staff on Monday that it was suspending all operations until further notice due to funds crunch. In a notice to all on-roll staff, the hotel said that it hasn’t been receiving funds from its owner Asian Hotels (West) and that with no funds forthcoming, it is unable to pay salaries or support the operations of the hotel.
Sunjae Sharma, Vice President and Country Head – India, Hyatt told in a statement that the hotel will remain closed until further notice and future reservations through Hyatt booking channels will remain temporarily unavailable.
“At Hyatt, our guests and colleagues are a top priority, and we are working closely with the hotel’s owner to resolve this situation,” Sharma added.
At the time of closure, Hyatt Regency, located on Sahar Airport Road in Mumbai, didn’t have any guests staying on the property, the hotel said. All future bookings are now being redirected to Grand Hyatt Mumbai. However, there is still no clarity on what happens to the staff at the hotel.
Asian Hotels West was originally incorporated as Chillwinds Hotels Private Limited on January 8, 2007. It then entered into a Scheme of Arrangement and Demerger with Asian Hotels Limited (now known as Asian Hotels [North] Limited) effective on February 11, 2010. On the scheme becoming effective the Mumbai undertaking of the Asian Hotels Limited was demerged and vested in the company.
Asian Hotels West runs two properties – Hyatt Regency Mumbai and JW Marriott Hotel New Delhi Aerocity, which is owned by its subsidiary company Aria Hotels and Consultancy Services Private Limited.
Asian Hotels West registered a loss of Rs 11 crore (1,100.48 lakh) in the October to December quarter (Q3) of FY21 and a loss of Rs 31.9 crore (3,190.03 lakh) for the nine months of the fiscal.
The company disclosed to the stock exchanges on May 28 that it had defaulted on payment of Rs 4.32 crore of principal amount/ interest payment on loan from Yes bank. As per the disclosure, the total financial indebtedness· of the listed entity including short term and long-term debt as on May 1, 2021 stood at Rs 262.54 crore.The hotel and hospitality industry overall has taken a major hit over the past year due to closure in the first wave, curbs on travel and fear of infection amid to the COVID19 pandemic.
