Hotel Rodas

June 1, 2001

HOTEL RODAS PASSES INITIAL TEST AND QUALIFIES AS DEVELOPING ECOTEL^®

June 1, 2001 — ECOTEL^® Certification Director Christopher Balfe announced today that Hotel Rodas, the 36-room, designer hotel located in Powai, India, recently qualified as a Developing ECOTEL^® – an award given to hotels that have satisfied both primary and secondary ECOTEL^® Criteria, but are not yet fully operational. The hotel is located 15 minutes from the Mumbai international airport and is slated to open Friday, June 15.

From the initial phases of development, Indian construction giants the Hiranandanis set out to ensure that Hotel Rodas, the first hotel in their massive portfolio of real estate, was something special. While the land on which the hotel and township mega-complex is built was formerly the site of an abandoned mine, the Surinder Hiranandani, MD, of the Hiranandani group so embraced the concept of environmental responsibility that he devoted a large portion of the site to gardens, committing a large sum of both monetary and labor resources to re-foliating the land properly.

“The trees you see in India today are not the trees that grew here originally,” said Hiranandani, who noted that he considers landscaping more than just a hobby. “Most of these trees were planted because they look nice. But if you want the birds to come back, you have to give them the habitat to which they are accustomed.” Under Hiranandani’s direction, the group has planted more than a half-million trees on the site.

“It is not easy to convince developers with this amount of experience of the importance of environmentally responsible development and operations,” said Balfe. “Here, we have a group of individuals who not only accepted the idea, but made it part of their core philosophy. This is truly unique anywhere in the world, and we feel that the group deserves some special recognition.”

Hotel Rodas, whose name literally translates to “meeting of heaven and earth” in Sanskrit, is located in the picturesque mini-township of Powai. Billed as a “designer business hotel,” Rodas’ operations will be similar to those of small European boutique hotels, or small five-star hotels that offer customized services. The hotel was designed by celebrity architect Hafeez Contractor[SBN1] . Although it features a neo-classic arched façade, Rodas has a distinct modern look. Accordingly, its interior design is post-modernist.

The ECOTEL^® Certification, managed by HVS Eco Services, is widely regarded as one of the hospitality industry’s most challenging tests of environmental responsibility. The criteria and inspection system were designed by a team which included experts from the world-renowned environmental think-tank, the Rocky Mountain Institute, as well as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The ECOTEL^® criteria are updated every two years to keep current with evolving environmental trends in hospitality; thus, hotels must be re-inspected once every two years to retain their certified status. Furthermore, members must agree to unannounced inspections anytime during their two-year membership period.

HVS International was created in 1980 to satisfy the growing demand for reliable and well-documented hotel market studies and feasibility reports. With 12 offices worldwide, HVS offers a vast range of services including valuations, strategic analyses, development planning, litigation support, executive search, waste management, gaming and restaurant consulting, asset management, operational and management strategy development, and timeshare consulting services.

For more information on Hotel Rodas, click here:

http://www.rodashotel.com/