The Soaltee Crowne Plaza is expanding its portfolio with a four-star property in Nepalgunj, its first hotel outside Kathmandu where it has completed a half-century of operations.

The four-star property located in western Nepal’s commercial and travel hub is scheduled for a soft launch by the first quarter of 2017, the hotel said on Thursday.

It has spent Rs550 million on the new property with the brand name Soaltee which will feature 81 guest rooms. The new property incorporates a separate unit for vocational training related to the hospitality business, spa facility, swimming pool and banquet service for 250 people.

“The luxury hotel in Nepalgunj will cater to the expanding tourism business in the area,” said Prabhakar SJB Rana, chairman emeritus of the Soaltee Crowne Plaza.

“The objective to move outside the Kathmandu Valley is to balance the oversupply of accommodation in the valley as there has been a rising number of hotels concentrated here.”

He added that the industry was optimistic that tourism would revive at a faster

pace after disappointing

business last year due to a devastating earthquake. Rana said that the Soaltee had

been making handsome

profits since it issued shares to the public.

“Nepal can benefit from the tourism business due to its competitive advantage through proper management and marketing in the source market,” he added.

After the new facility in Nepalgunj comes online, the Soaltee Crowne Plaza plans to open a luxury resort in Pokhara and has procured land at Khapaundi.

“The proposed resort will offer facilities similar to a four-star hotel,” said Dinesh Bahadur Bista, executive chairman of the Soaltee. “We have already procured land in Pokhara.”

The Soaltee Hotel was founded in 1966 by the late prince Himalaya Bikram Shah and the late princess Princep Rajya Laxmi. The 104-room posh property was inaugurated by the late king Mahendra.

In 1969, the hotel was converted into a private limited company and India’s Oberoi Hotels, with a capital share investment, was entrusted with its operational management under the brand

name Hotel Soaltee Oberoi. 

In 1975, the company was converted into a public limited company with an investment by Soaltee Enterprises, Nepal Industrial Development Corporation, International Finance Corporation, Oberoi Hotels, Nepal Airlines Corporation and the public. It constructed an additional 180 rooms named the Himalaya Wing Block in 1981.  

In 1987, it hosted the delegates to the Third Saarc Summit. In 1994, it was renamed as the Soaltee Holiday Inn Crowne Plaza Kathmandu under the management of Holiday Inns China Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of the world famous InterContinental Group.

Again in 1998, it was rebranded as the Soaltee Crowne Plaza Kathmandu. In 2011, Oberoi Hotels sold its entire stake in the hotel to a Nepali company Sibkrim Land and Industrial Company, a member of the NE Group.