Sheraton, Shesh Ghale’s MIT Group join hands to open five star hotel in Kathmandu

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc, and MIT Group Holdings Nepal, led by Shesh Ghale, a Non-Resident Nepali (NRN), have signed a deal to start a five-star hotel in Kathmandu.

Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel, owned by MIT Group Holdings Nepal and managed by Starwood, is slated to open on February 1, 2018. The 225-room luxury hotel will be located in Kantipath on an area spanning over 1,539 square metres. "Sheraton Kathmandu Hotel will be within walking distance from Thamel, a popular tourist destination in Kathmandu," said the global hospitality giant, which operates luxury hotels ans resorts worldwide under the Sheraton brand, in a press statement. "We are also close to the former royal palace, now a museum, as well as many of the city’s attractions, businesses, and embassies."

"All amenities in the hotel will have signature Sheraton Sweet Sleeper," said Starwood. "The hotel will also work as a business centre."

According to MIT Group Holdings Nepal, the five-star hotel development project will cost around Rs 7 billion. Ghale, a successful entrepreneur based in Australia, had announced during a conference of the Non-Resident Nepali Association in Kathmandu in October last year that his company would open a luxury hotel in the Capital city. However, everything in relation to opening of the hotel and its branding had been under wraps.

Ghale — who is 166th richest person in Australia — has invested in education and real estate sector in Australia and abroad. According to Business Review Weekly — that has listed him as one of the wealthiest persons in Australia — Ghale’s wealth stands at Rs 153 billion.

Starwood currently operates 34 hotels and resorts worldwide while about 24 new hotels and resorts are under construction. Starwood, which has been in South Asia since 1973, is aiming at operating about 100 hotels and resorts in the region by 2015. The American hotel and leisure company is also opening a new hotel in Ahmadabad in India on December 2013.

The Sheraton brand was earlier associated with the Everest Hotel.