Ruposhi Bangla Hotel [RBH], the oldest five-star hotel in the heart of the city, will reamain shut from today [Monday] for renovation and re-launch as Intercontinental Hotel Dhaka.
Intercontinental Hotels Group [IHG], a multinational company, is taking over again the RBH for a 30-year period from the government for its commercial operations. It will take 16 months to complete the renovation.
Built in 1962 and expanded in 1981, the RBH failed to keep pace with the international standard. Although the RBH had claimed as the largest five-star hotel of the country, it hardly had met the standard of a 4-star hotel.
As per agreement, Bangladesh Service Limited [BSL], owner of RBH, will renovate it according to IHG recommendation and demand before handing over to them. The renovation work will cost around Tk. 400 crore.
The BSL will also sign an agreement with the employees of the hotel today on confirmation of their jobs during the renovation period and payment
of salaries. The BSL had suffered huge loss every year due to weak management of the RBH.
On 19 February, BSL signed an agreement with IHG in the presence of the then Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister M Faruk Khan. The deal will be effective for 30 years and can be extended, depending on performance in each expansion period spanning over five years.
Earlier, there were 272 rooms in the hotel of average size of 24-26 square meters which will be expanded to make 230 rooms, each one with 32 square meters– a standard size for the five-star hotel globally.
Besides, there will be inside swimming pool in addition to present exterior one, modern instruments in the gymnasium, there will be Spa too besides message centre, all the venues will be bigger equipped with modern technologies and outlets will be modernized etc.
It will feature larger guest rooms in conformity with 5-star requirements, an all-day dining restaurant, two specialty restaurants, a deli bar and InterContinental Club Lounge. There will also have a number of facilities such as a business centre, ballroom, convention centre and multiple meeting rooms.
IHG ran the state-owned hotel from 1966 to 1983. Sheraton took over its operations and management in 1983 for the next 25 years, ending its tenure in December 2008.
