Bad Roads, Room Scarcity Prompts IT To Self-Service

Infosys to have its own ‘hotel’
Bad Roads, Room Scarcity Prompts IT To Self-Service

The Times of India


Bangalore: Bumpy rides on non-existent roads, endless traffic jams and scarcity of hotel rooms are prompting IT czars to go in for self-help: onthe-campus accommodation, like Wipro has and Infosys is going in for.

Infosys is setting up a inhouse 500-room hotel-like complex for its clients and other visitors coming into Bangalore. Called Infosys Residence, the five-storeyed Rs 37.5-crore project is coming up on 275,000 sq ft area in its Electronics City campus.

“Today, getting a room in Bangalore is next to impossible. We get about 40-50 visitors a day, apart from high-value overseas clients. If we manage to get any rooms at all, the transit time taken is more than three hours a day. Roads are also pathetic. When you have to work late, these problems are compounded. That is why we decided to build our own complex here,” said Mohandas Pai, chief financial officer, Infosys.

Infosys has hired a builder, but maintenance will be handled by its staff. The restaurant will be outsourced. Along the lines of the best five-star hotels in India, rooms including suites are likely to have the best of facilities like wireless connectivity and high-end plasma TVs in the rooms.

Wipro built over 100 rooms in its Sarjapur complex way back in 2001. Now, the company is also coming up with a similar facility in its Electronics City complex.

The existing Wipro complex is run like a fully-equipped hotel with 24-hour coffee shop, round-the-clock laundry service and an emergency unit. It has been completely outsourced to professionals.

Hotels, no-no

• Getting a hotel room in Bangalore is near impossible.
• Some guests stay in Chennai and fly in for meetings.
• BPO companies too giving up on hotels.
• Most leasing out service apartments for overseas guests and customers.