The renovation of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel is almost complete. The hotel officials are optimistic that the hotel will return to full service by August.Photo: Amran Hossain

The botched renovation of the Pan Pacific Sonargaon hotel, has cost more than Tk 60 crore in lost revenue according to the hotel's management, who are however optimistic that the hotel will return to full service by August.
Officials of Sonargaon, the country's oldest five star hotel, and Hotels International Limited (HIL), the parent company of the hotel, said the renovation that began in 2005, is now almost complete and already they are seeing signs of an improvement in earnings.
According to HIL, a government owned company under the Ministry of Civil Aviation & Tourism, in 2005 the Sonargaon earned revenue of Tk 80 crore, which declined to Tk 60 crore in 2006 and Tk 40 crore in 2007.
The occupancy rate of the hotel dropped by 60 percent last year, as 100 rooms, the swimming pool and health club were not in service due to the incomplete renovation work.
Sonargaon hotel started its renovation work in 2005, with the financial scam-ridden Orion Group's sister concern Accom Engineering Ltd, awarded the contract with a price tag of Tk 180 crore, inflating the real cost by at least Tk 100 crore due to political influence on the process.
Accom was responsible for the renovation works including 100 rooms, the swimming pool, tennis club, kitchen, poolside restaurant, pool deck and the health club.
But after the caretaker government took over in January 2007, the Orion group chairman Obaidul Karim left the country and was later sentenced to life imprisonment for embezzlement. Renovation work on the hotel was abandoned with only 10 percent completed.
Shawkat Hasan, secretary of HIL, said the contract with Orion was cancelled in June 2007. “Now we have employed several small groups for different purposes to finish the renovation quickly,” he said.
“The major renovation work including the third floor of the hotel, swimming pool, pool deck, kitchen and tennis club have already been completed,” Shawkat said, adding that rest of the work will take two more months to be finished.
Since October, the Sonargaon has started regaining its business as the third floor was opened for guests, said MA Awal, director of sales at the Sonargaon.
“We have to fight with the difficulties of delayed renovation and also to compete with new hotels opened in recent years, but still the Sonargaon is a premier and bigger hotel in terms of its accommodation and services,” he said.
Sonargaon's main competitors are Radisson Water Garden Hotel, Westin, and Regency, which can attract more people, especially garment businessmen from abroad, because those are close to the international airport in Dhaka.
According to Awal, Sonargaon now looks forward to attracting foreign tour companies, international event managers and big business delegations.
He said, the hotel gained an average occupancy rate of 80 percent during the last peak season and sets a target of revenue earning of Tk 700 million for the current year.
“We have achieved more than 30 percent of our target in the last four months and after the re-launch we hope to be able to reach the target by introducing new services and improving older services,” he said.
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