Bangalore: Foraying into value hotels, Tatas today (June 25, 2004) launched "indiOne" and said it planned to invest Rs 1,500 crore in establishing 150 such hotels in India over the next five years.

Company officials said in the first 12 months, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), a Tata company, proposed to set up 12 to 14 indiOne hotels with 1,500 rooms in India.

First indiOne hotel was inaugurated at Whitefield on the city outskirts by Group Chairman Ratan Tata, who told reporters that the initiative gives value for money and is targeted at a broad section of the people of India.

IHCL, which operates Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, would target secondary and tertiary cities across the country as well as suburban locations and pilgrimage and cultural centres and places of that kind to launch a chain indiOne hotels, officials said.

Priced at Rs 900 for a single room and Rs 950 for a double room, the indiOne hotels are being promoted as a first of its kind category of 'smart basics' hotels, the one based on no-frills concept and offering low-cost hospitality.

Managing Director of IHCL, Raymond Bickson said the company intends to open 150 such hotels. The company is also eyeing under-served markets in China, Africa and regions in the Gulf, he added.

Chief Operating Officer of Roots Corporation Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IHCL, Sheila Nair, said the target is to have 150 such hotels in five years. The investment requirement for each hotel would be Rs 10 crore, she added.