Hyatt Regency Mumbai shut over lack of funds, non-payment of salaries

The popular, 400-room Hyatt Regency five-star hotel near Mumbai airport will remain closed till further notice, as troubled Asian Hotels (West) Ltd, which owns the property has not made payments for salaries and operations.

The American hospitality major manages the property, minutes away from the airport complex, on a contract basis on behalf of the Indian company.

The hotel said it will not accept reservations through Hyatt’s booking network and will remain temporarily unavailable.

“As a result of no funds forthcoming from Asian Hotels (West) Ltd, the owner of Hyatt Regency Mumbai, to sustain the operations of the hotel, a decision has been taken to temporarily suspend all operations for Hyatt Regency Mumbai,” Sunjae Sharma, vice-president and country head, India, of the international chain, said in a note to its employees. “The hotel will remain closed until further notice.” He added that the hotel is working closely with the owner to resolve the issue.

Sushil Kumar Gupta, a hospitality industry veteran, who was the chairman and managing director of Asian Hotels (West), quit in February. The company had reported a loss of over a billion rupees for the nine months of fiscal 2021.

The company had recently informed the stock exchanges that it had defaulted on loan and interest payments to Yes Bank. Its total outstanding borrowings was Rs2.63 billion.