Taj Hotels Resorts and PalacesFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaJump to: navigation, search

The Indian Hotels Company Limited

Type Public company

Traded as BSE: 500850, NSE: INDHOTEL

Industry Hospitality and Tourism

Founded 1903

Founder(s) Jamsetji Tata

Headquarters Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Key people Raymond Bickson (MD & CEO)

ProductsHotels, resorts, palaces, Taj safaris,

TajAir and spa

Revenue17436.1 million (US$280 million)

(FY2011)[1]

Operating

income

4201.3 million (US$68 million) (FY2011)

[1]

Net income1412.5 million (US$23 million) (FY2011)

[1]

Parent Tata Group

Website www.tajhotels.com

The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL),[2] branded as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces,[3] is an Indian chain of hotels and resorts headquartered in the Oxford House in Mumbai.[4] This company is a part of the Tata Group, one of India's largest business conglomerates. Taj Hotels Resort and Palaces owns and operates 93 hotels in 55 locations across India with an additional 16 international hotels in the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, UK, USA, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa and the Middle East and employ over 13000 people.[5][6]

Contents

 [hide] 

1 History 2 Taj Hospitality Brands

o 2.1 Taj Luxury/Taj o 2.2 Vivanta By Taj o 2.3 The Gateway Hotels and Resorts

3 Ginger 4 Other Taj Ventures 5 List of Taj Hotels

o 5.1 Hotels in India o 5.2 Hotels outside India

6 Awards and recognition 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

History[edit]

Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata, founder of the Tata Group, opened the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, the first Taj property and the first Taj hotel, on 16 December 1903. The building overlooks the Arabian Sea. He decided to open the grand luxury hotel after an incident involving racial

discrimination at the Watson's Hotel in Mumbai, where he was refused entry as the hotel did not permit Indians, who were non-white.[7] Hotels which accepted only European guests were then very common across British India. Jamsetji Tata travelled to London, Paris, Berlin and Düsseldorf to arrange for materials and pieces of art, furniture and interior artefacts for his hotel.[8] The Taj Group has been active in converting former royal palaces in India into world class luxury hotels such as the Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur, the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur and Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur. In 1974, the Taj Group opened India's first international five star deluxe beach resort, the Fort Aguada Beach Resort in Goa. The Taj Group also began its business in metropolitan hotels in the 1970s, opening the five-star deluxe hotel Taj Coromandel in Chennai in 1974, acquiring an equity interest and operating contract for the Taj President, a business hotel in Mumbai, in 1977, and opening the Taj Mahal Hotel, Delhi in 1978. In 1980, the Taj Group took its first step internationally by opening its first hotel outside India, the Taj Sheba Hotel in Sana'a, Yemen and in the late 1980s, acquired interests in the Crown Plaza - James Court, London and 51 Buckingham Gate Luxury Suites and Apartments in London. In 1984, the Taj Group acquired under a license agreement each of The Taj West End, Bangalore, Taj Connemara, Chennai and Savoy Hotel, Ooty, with which the Taj Group made its foray into Bangalore. With the opening of the five star deluxe hotel Taj Bengal in Kolkata in 1989; the Taj Group became the only hotel chain with a presence in the five major metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkatta, Bangalore and Chennai. Concurrently with the expansion of its luxury hotel chain in the major metropolitan cities, the Taj Group also expanded its business hotels division in the major metropolitan and large secondary cities in India. During the 1990s, the Taj Group continued to expand its geographic and market coverage in India. It developed specialized operations (such as wildlife lodges) and consolidated its position in established markets through the upgrading of existing properties and development of new properties. Taj Kerala Hotels & Resorts Limited was set up in the early 1990s along with the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation.[9]

Taj Hospitality Brands[edit]

Logo of the Gateway Hotels and Resorts.

Logo of Vivanta Hotels and Resorts by Taj.

Since the late-2000s, the Taj group started organising its hotels into different brands, in a market segmentation strategy. As of December 2011, not all hotels have been rebranded - some properties still retain the generic "Taj" brand and await classification.

Taj Luxury/Taj[edit]

The luxury brand is the erstwhile generic brand of the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. These hotels cover business destinations, landmarks, palaces, resorts and forest destinations. Most of Taj's oldest and most prestigious hotels have been retained under this brand. Two speciality brands developed under the Taj are :

Taj Exotica, the premium resort brand in Maldives, Mauritius and Goa.

Taj Safaris, Taj's nascent wildlife lodge brand. It is expected to cover Taj's premium, high-end forest lodges and destinations. Currently[when?], Taj's luxury lodges in the national parks of Central India carry this brand.

Vivanta By Taj[edit]

Main article: Vivanta By Taj

Vivanta is a contemporary-luxury hotel brand. The brand caters to an upscale market and is positioned a step below the flagship Taj brand. Vivanta Hotels are found business and vacation destinations as well.

The Gateway Hotels and Resorts[edit]

Gateway is a mid-market brand, positioned below the Vivanta. It contains properties in business and vacation destinations like Vivanta does. The Gateway Hotel brand was created by Taj in its earlier market segmentation effort in the 1990s, and has been retained and expanded in the current wave of brand-segmentation.

Ginger[edit]

Logo of Ginger Hotels.Main article: Ginger Hotels

Ginger Hotels is another group of economy hotel brand across India launched by the Tata Group.

Other Taj Ventures[edit]

IHCL operates Taj Air, a luxury private jet operation with Falcon 2000 aircraft designed by Dassault Aviation, France; and Taj Yachts, two 3-bedroom luxury yachts which can be used by guests in Mumbai and Kochi, in Kerala. IHCL also operates Taj SATS Air Catering Ltd., the largest airline catering service in South Asia, as a joint venture with SATS (formerly known as Singapore Airport Terminal Services). Additionally, it operates the Indian Institute of Hotel Management, Aurangabad since 1993. The institute offers a Four-year diploma, designed with the help of international faculty and has affiliations with several American and European programmes. A 100% subsidiary of IHCL, Inditravel Limited is a travel company.

List of Taj Hotels[edit]

Hotels in India[edit]

Heritage Block of The Taj West End, Bangalore

Taj Spa at The Taj Exotica, Goa

Falaknuma Palace in Hyderabad, India.

Exterior view of Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur

Grand Lily Pond at Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur

'Taj Bengal',Belvadere Road, Kolkata

Rooftop sleep-out on a private Machan (jungle platform) at Baghvan, Pench National ParkCity/ Location Hotel Brand Hotel Name

Bangalore Taj Luxury The Taj West EndChennai Taj Luxury Taj CoromandelHyderabad Taj Luxury Taj Falaknuma PalaceHyderabad Taj Luxury Taj KrishnaJaipur Taj Luxury Rambagh PalaceJodhpur Taj Luxury Umaid Bhawan PalaceKolkata Taj Luxury Taj Bengal

Kolkata Taj LuxuryThe Gateway Hotel EM Bypass Near ruby Hospital

Mumbai Taj Luxury Taj Wellington MewsMumbai Taj Luxury The Taj Mahal PalaceNew Delhi Taj Luxury Taj Palace HotelNew Delhi Taj Luxury The Taj Mahal HotelUdaipur Taj Luxury Taj Lake PalaceGoa Taj Exotica Taj ExoticaBandhavgarh National Park Taj Safaris Mahua KothiKanha National Park Taj Safaris Banjaar TolaPanna National Park Taj Safaris Pashan GarhPench National Park Taj Safaris BaghvanBangalore Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - M G RoadBangalore Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - WhitefieldBangalore Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - YeshwantpurCoimbatore Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - SuryaCoimbatore Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Residency

City/ Location Hotel Brand Hotel NameChennai Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - ConnemaraChennai Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Fisherman's CoveKochi Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - MalabarGoa Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Fort AguadaGoa Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Holiday VillageHyderabad Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - HyderabadGoa Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - PanajiJodhpur Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Hari MahalKovalam Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - KovalamKumarakom Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - KumarakomLucknow Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Gomti NagarMumbai Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - PresidentNew Delhi Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - AmbassadorPune Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Blue DiamondSawai Madhopur Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Sawai Madhopur LodgeSrinagar Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Dal View, SrinagarThiruvananthapuram Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Trivandrum

AgraThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Fatehabad Road

AhmedabadThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Ummed

BangaloreThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Residency Road

KozhikodeThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Beach Road

ChikmagalurThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel KM Road

CoonoorThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Church Road

KochiThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Marine Drive

Gir ForestThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Gir Forest

JaipurThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Ramgarh Lodge

JaisalmerThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Rawalkot

JodhpurThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Jodhpur

MaduraiThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Pasumalai

Mangalore The Gateway The Gateway Hotel Old Port Road

City/ Location Hotel Brand Hotel NameHotel

NashikThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Ambad

SuratThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Athwalines

VadodaraThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Akota Gardens

VaranasiThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Ganges

VarkalaThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Janardhanapuram

VijayawadaThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel M G Road

VisakhapatnamThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Beach Road

Aurangabad Vivanta By Taj Vivanta By Taj - AurangabadChandigarh Other/ Unbranded Taj ChandigarhChennai Other/ Unbranded Taj Club HouseGwalior Other/ Unbranded Usha Kiran PalaceHyderabad Other/ Unbranded Taj BanjaraHyderabad Other/ Unbranded Taj DeccanJaipur Other/ Unbranded Jai Mahal PalaceJaipur Other/ Unbranded SMS HotelKhajuraho Other/ Unbranded Hotel ChandelaOoty Other/ Unbranded Savoy HotelVaranasi Other/ Unbranded Nadesar PalaceKasaragod/Bakel Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj

HubliThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Lakeview Hotel

Hotels outside India[edit]

Water Bar at Blue Sydney

Hotel Taj, Galleface - Colombo; decorated for Christmas

Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives - Rehendi Suite Deck ServiceCountry City/ Location Hotel Brand Hotel Name

Australia Sydney Taj Blue SydneySouth Africa Cape Town Taj Taj Cape TownUAE Dubai Taj Taj Palace HotelUnited Kingdom

London Taj51 Buckingham Gate, Taj Suites & Residences

United Kingdom

London Taj Crowne Plaza London - St. James

Country City/ Location Hotel Brand Hotel NameUnited States Boston Taj Taj BostonUnited States New York Taj The PierreUnited States San Francisco Taj Taj Campton Place

MaldivesSouth Male Atoll

Taj Exotica Taj Exotica Resort & Spa

MaldivesNorth Male Atoll

Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Coral Reef

Sri Lanka Bentota Vivanta by Taj Vivanta by Taj - Bentota

Sri Lanka ColomboThe Gateway Hotel

The Gateway Hotel Airport Garden

Sri Lanka Colombo Taj Taj SamudraBhutan Thimphu Other/ Unbranded Taj Tashi

Malaysia Langkawi Other/ UnbrandedRebak Island Resort Langkawi - A Taj Hotel

Zambia Lusaka Other/ Unbranded Taj Pamodzi

Awards and recognition[edit]

In 2009 the company was ranked 11 in the world's top 100 reputable companies by Forbes Magazine[10]