In an interview with CNBC-TV18, Kurian Chandy, chief financial officer of Kamat Hotels India says, all the hotels are doing exceedingly well compared to year-on-year basis. “We are seeing good occupancy in excess of 70% in our major properties. Our resort properties are close to 100% nowadays,” he adds.

According to him, there won’t be anymore capital expansion atleast for the next coming two-three years. “We should be able to consolidate in the next one-two years. That will help us to reduce our debt substantially,” he adds.

Below is the edited transcript of his interview with CNBC-TV18's Reema Tendulkar and Ekta Batra. Also watch the accompanying video.

Q: The rupee depreciation possibly could help in terms of a lot of inflow of tourists etc. How exactly is this holiday season panning out for you on year-on-year basis in terms of occupancies?

A: All our hotels are doing exceedingly well compared to year-on-year basis. We are seeing good occupancy in excess of 70% in our major properties. Our resort properties are close to 100% nowadays.

Q: We understand that you are looking at reducing your debt of almost Rs 400 crore by third. Can you tell us if you plan to be more aggressive in this because it’s almost double your marketcap at this point in time?

A: We have not gone in for any major capital expansion in this period. We had couple of projects in the pipeline. Going forward, there won’t be anymore capital expansion atleast for the next coming two-three years. We should be able to consolidate in the next one-two years. That will help us to reduce our debt substantially.

Q: Let us focus on the average room rate (ARR). You said occupancy is at around 70-80% and some are at around 100%. Can you give us strengths on the ARR and whether you can hike prices at this point in this season?

A: This quarter and the next quarter, our business hotels are doing exceedingly well with high amount of occupancy and business on books. So, with that, definitely comes the next thing to increase the ARR. That is an ongoing process.

Q: Your four star hotel Vits is planning to expand via the franchise route. Any interested parties that you might already be in talks with them and at what stage is the expansion at?

A: We are in talks with various parties. On the franchise, we are aggressively speaking to three-four people. We hope to close some of these deals very soon.

Q: We understand you are in active talks and you might divest certain amount of land which is worth around Rs 20-30 crore. Can you take us through the plans? When we could hear something concrete on that front?

A: We are inline with our strategy of no capital expenditure. So, these lands were basically purchased for building hotel at an appropriate moment. Since for atleast two-three years we will not be going in for any more capital expenditure, we thought that’s the good idea to diversify the land and reduce our debt. Keeping that strategy in mind we are divesting our lands and properties in Coimbatore, Amravati, Raipur, and Kerala. That will help us to get good amount of revenues which we can reduce our debt directly.