Opened in April 2011, the Leela Palace Kempinski is a new five-star hotel in New Delhi, the capital city of India. The luxury hotel is located in the Diplomatic Enclave in Chanakyapuri, which is close to the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the Presidential House), the Secretariat and several historical monuments in the central business district.
The Leela Palace New Delhi is considered to be one of the finest hotels in India and is expected to attract leisure and business travellers.
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Leela Palace Kempinski developer
The Rs18bn (approximately $400m) project is an addition to the Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, owned and operated by the Indian luxury hospitality group Hotel Leela Venture. The group operates several hotels in the prime urban cities of the country. The group has a marketing alliance with the US-based Preferred Hotels & Resorts and Germany-based Kempinski.
Accommodation
The hotel has 260 rooms. The accommodation includes 121 Grande deluxe rooms of about 550ft² each, 81 Royal Premiere rooms (600ft²), 39 Royal Club rooms (600ft²), seven luxury suites (970ft²), six junior suites (700ft²), two executive suites (840ft²), two Grand Suites with pools of 1,090ft² each and one 1,520ft² Royal Suite with pool. The luxury hotel also has one Maharaja Suite, which sprawls over 4,425ft². The rooms are decorated in a contemporary yet opulent style.
Dining facilities
The Leela Palace has four exclusive restaurants, a cafe, the Library Bar, lobby lounge and a poolside bar. The restaurants include the Qube Glasshouse, the European Le Cirque, the Royal Indian Jamavar Kitchens and the Japanese MEGU, offering alfresco dining. The hotel also offers private dining and catering services with an extensive menu.
The Leela Palace spa
The two-level, 6,500ft² spa at the hotel is managed by ESPA. It has seven treatment rooms and one private spa suite. The first level is active with fitness studio, social relaxation lounge, changing rooms, spa café and health bar.
The fitness centre has state-of-the-art exercising machines with individual touch screens. The second level has passive spa facilities including treatment rooms. The services include body treatments, Ayurvedic massages, sauna and steam rooms, and oil and salt scrubs.
Conference/meeting facilities
The Leela Palace New Delhi has 10,400ft² space for events and meetings. The facilities include the Grand Ballroom, the Royal Room and six boardrooms. The 4,300ft² ballroom is divisible into two parts with facilities suitable for international conferences. It offers latest audiovisual (AV) equipment, adjustable lighting and personalised services.
The 1,176ft², pillar-free Royal room in the lobby provides views of the palatial lawns. It is equipped with latest AV facilities and retractable projection screens.
In-room amenities
In-room amenities include tea and coffee machines, Wi-Fi internet, satellite TV, CD and DVD music systems, laundry, electronic safes, telephone with IDD (international direct dialling) facility, individually controlled air conditioning and a mini bar.
Design
Spread on a three-acre site in Chanakyapuri, the hotel portrays the elegance of Lutyens’ Delhi, an area that is named after the UK architect Edwin Lutyens. Its design is an aesthetic blend of North Indian Palaces and contemporary architecture.
The spa interiors, designed by Jeffrey Wilkes, feature patterned ceiling designs, dark timber flooring, soft rich fabrics and warm ambience, and provide sophisticated and elegant decoration.
The hotel features $5m of art collections, Murano crystal chandeliers from Italy, hand-woven carpets from Turkey, Qatar sandstone hand-carved majestic royal-elephants, walls and ceilings featuring bidri works from Uttar Pradesh on the walls, gold-leafed dome and ceilings, and miniature paintings of Rajasthan craftsmen.
Several sustainable features were incorporated into the design to achieve the US Gold LEED certification. The hotel features zero-wastage and environment conservation elements such as a gas-fired generator set, solar energy usage, vapour absorption, in-house rainwater harvesting and wastewater treatment plants. If won, the Leela Palace New Delhi will be the first hotel in the country to be LEED certified.
Contractors
The main architect of the Leela Palace Kempinski Hotel was Smallwood, Reynolds, Stewart, Stewart & Associates. The other consultants involved in the project include Design Spin Studio, Lim Geoffery and KNA.
