Rituparna Chatterjee – Mumbai
Heritage Khirasara Palace, a heritage property in Rajkot, will be increasing its room inventory and banqueting facilities in 2015. At present, the property has an inventory of 22 rooms and is adding 40 royal suites by the end of 2015. In addition, a banquet named ‘Darbar Hall’ with a capacity to seat 1500 guests will be available for guests by January this year. The property has been receiving both domestic and international travellers from segments like business, wedding and leisure and this expansion is part of the strategy to tap further into the wedding segment. Speaking more on the expansion, Dilipsinh Rana, owner and managing director, Heritage Khirasara Palace stated, “Darbar Hall will be royally decorated and will be one-of-its-kind in the state. In addition to this, all luxurious amenities like health club, spa, discotheque, recreation area, etc will be available. Presently, we have two large party lawns in the premises with a combined area of 48,000 sq feet. Since it is a heritage property many local as well as NRI weddings have been organised and it is now becoming popular as a wedding destination.”
Giving his view on the hospitality sector in Rajkot, Rana opined, “The hospitality sector has grown significantly in recent years. Being an industrial hub, Rajkot is famous for its precision in engineering and craftsmanship because of which it has been receiving visitors from all over the globe. Rajkot, being the centre of the Saurashtra region, is also popular as a pilgrim and wildlife destination. There is a project of a new and bigger airport coming up in Rajkot, which will make the connectivity easier to many other metro cities since at present Rajkot is only connected to Mumbai by air. Rajkot has also been proposed for AIIMS hospital project. These projects will play a significant role in boosting the hospitality sector.”