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Taj to get into budget hotels

By Shanthi Kannan

Raymond N. Bickson

CHENNAI SEPT. 15. The Taj Group of Hotels, coming under the ambit of Indian Hotels Company, will no longer be catering just to the upper end of the society. It is planning to enter economic value hotels.

The Taj is trying to leverage into value market by setting up hotels in pilgrim centres, transport hubs, university and IT parks. These will be floated under a different brand, according to Raymond Bickson, Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer (luxury hotels), Indian Hotels Company.

Mr. Bickson said the Taj was focussing on brand architecture and the brand equity of Taj. At present, it was repositioning, upgrading and renovating the property and services. In the case of other hotels, they would be re-branded separately — like the Gateway or Residency brands. It would become `The Gateway by Taj' or `The Residency by Taj'.

`The Taj' brand would be for the high-end super luxury hotels. The group's focus was to establish this by the end of this year. Domestically, `The Taj' was expanding by way of brand extensions. It was foraying into luxury residence — Wellington Mews at Mumbai. It had all the amenities of a hotel, but in an apartment environment.

Another brand extension, particularly in its resorts, was development of spas. Mr. Bickson said it was focusing on creating destination spas and in cities - day spas. `The Taj' had started a separate `Taj Spa Company' and identified a consultant to develop its own brand. The company would do extensive research and develop its own indigenous Indian therapy with `Taj Spas'. It had at present 16 spas.

Of these, five spas would go on stream by the end of the year — two in Mumbai — one each at Wellington Mews, the new apartment hotel and at Taj Lands End. Other spas would be spread across Lake Palace in Udaipur, Rambaugh Palace in Jaipur and Faluknama Palace Hotel in Hyderabad.

Mr. Bickson said, `we are also looking at branding in other ways, which we have not looked at before.

One of those is eco tourism. We have signed a joint venture with Conservation Corporation of Africa, operators of luxury wildlife game experiences. We are having the venture in Rathambore Hotel, which would start in six months''.

On global plans, Mr. Bickson said `The Taj' had been looking at North America and Asia as well. He said there was potential for growth in China. As of now it was looking at management contracts.

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