The Trans Asia Hotel in Colombo, a member of the John Keells Holdings (JKH) group, has suffered extensive damage during last month’s LTTE air raid in Colombo targeting the Headquarters of the Sri Lanka Air Force and insurance claims for the property damage suffered as well as business interruptions are now being finalized, authoritative corporate sources confirmed yesterday.

Hayleys AIG are the insurers. Analysts said that the total claims may run at around Rs.300 million.

The hotel has closed over 160 rooms with their glass windows shattered and the ballroom too not in use due to the damage, the sources said.

While compensation for the business interruption aspect of the damage suffered has been finalized, the property damage compensation remains to be finalized.

The Asian Hotels Corporation PLC, owners of the Cinnamon Grand Hotel, is the dominant shareholder of Trans Asia with JKH being the eventual controlling shareholder.

Trans Asia’s owners are very keen on getting the repair done as quickly as possible and are of the view that the best way of doing this efficiently with the least possible interruption of operations will be to close the hotel now for a very short period so that the work can go on apace with guests not being subject to the noise that is inevitable when repairs to a structure of this nature is going on.

"The general public don’t really know how much damage the hotel suffered," well informed sources said yesterday. "Most of it was on the Inland Revenue Department side of the property where the staff quarters and stores are located."