Set on an elevation along the city’s upmarket Residency Road, The Chancery Pavilion is a prominent landmark. With contemporary architecture and a relaxed atmosphere, it has established itself as the new-age luxury business hotel of choice. The Chancery Pavilion is unique in a segment dominated by hotels that were converted from five star luxury to five star business stopovers. Owned and operated by the Chancery Group, it has been conceptualised and built from scratch to fill the niche of a business hotel.

The lobby itself embodies what the five star business hotel is trying to achieve – on the right is the business centre with clocks displaying the time in economic epicentres across the globe. To the left is a chic lounge done up in plush red leather with a bar and a pastry counter for executives to relax between meetings and where travellers can get some downtime.

The hotel exudes a tangible vivacity with its watermelon pink wall, light wood panelling and floor-to-ceiling glass doors and windows that let in curtains of light to emphasise the clean lines and uncluttered finish.

The wi-fi enabled rooms - 184 of them - match the ethos established in the hotel’s restaurants and lobby. Spread across the Deluxe, Club Pavilion, Executive and Presidential categories, the rooms are minimalist with sporadic bursts of colour provided by paintings and rugs in rich Indian designs and textures. Thoughtful additions like microwave ovens, ironing boards and exercise equipment help transform the rooms into makeshift homes for long stay guests who comprise a large segment of the hotel’s clientele. The Chancery Pavilion will soon roll out a luxurious multi-level lounge where its celeb patrons - maharajas, diplomats, corporate hi-fliers, actors and glitterati - can savour premium cigars, fine wine and cheese, along with an unmatched view of Bangalore’s skyline.

The Chancery Pavilion offers excellent conferencing facilities with seven conference and banquet halls, which can hold up to 1500 people. The exclusive lounge will soon feature a board room, which will supply cigars and caviar to cap a deal.

The restaurants at The Chancery Pavilion are a talking point in the city’s culinary circles, serving up a delicious array that ranges from the authentic to the experimental. The best loved of the hotel’s three gourmet experiences is Ithaca, the all-day dining restaurant. Parisian street café meets fine dining chic at Ithaca, which takes its name from ‘ithy’, Greek for ‘cheerful’. The name fits, and the restaurant is constantly abuzz with diners looking for a bite from Chef Sitapathi’s extensive menu of global and Mediterranean cuisine. Those craving a bona fide Indian gastronomic tour head to brown and gold Indian Affair, which specialises in Avadhi, Kashmiri, Goan, Rajasthani and Keralite cuisine. Amnesia, the lounge at The Chancery Pavilion, draws the city’s party-goers with its funky interiors in psychedelic hues.

The Chancery Group is capitalising on the success of the niche business hotel by diversifying its repertoire. In 2009, the group will launch a Victorian-style heritage hotel in Mumbai, a golf resort in Coorg and a business hotel in Chennai. Says Chandrashekar Raju, “There are six permutations between owning, operating and branding a hotel, and we plan to explore all of them.”