Aimed at the business travelers, the hotels that are renamed today are at Agra, Bangalore, Calicut, Chikmagalur ,Coonoor , Jaipur , Jaisalmer ,Madurai, Mangalore, Nasik, Sasan Gir, Surat, Vadodara, Varanasi , Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam
New hotels have also been signed up in key metros - Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune. Other locations signed up are at Jalandher, Mysore, Navi Mumbai, Raipur and Gondia. Taj Group is also open to owned hotels and management contracts to carry out its expansion plans.
Indian Hotels Co Ltd, a part of the Tata group owns the Taj Group of hotels. 'Ten more hotels have already been signed up and it is in active negotiations for another fifteen', Managing Director Raymond Bickson announced to the Press yesterday.
"The leisure segment is growing at a healthy pace," he said. "The new brand will target the emerging guest profile." The brand will also explore new formats under business, leisure and extended stay categories, according to him.
Commenting on the event, he added, 'We are currently witnessing a shortage of world-class accommodation in India, Gateway hotel will be a new brand catering to an emerging set of contemporary travelers'. He expects occupancy in the second half of the year to be strong despite a slowing economy which he feels is only a technical correction.
While most of the industry is not decided on the quantum of the price increases that are announced on October 1 every year and with the hotel analysts estimating a flat tariff structure with the possibility of a small drop, Bickson said that there has been an increase of 8-10% in the room rates since September 1.
The new brand has been positioned as an upscale property in the luxury segment and the room tariffs will be according to the Taj brand tariff policy for each location.
"The leisure segment is growing and we are using all our expertise to leverage this boom. This new brand will target the emerging contemporary guest profile with independent schedules," Bickson said.
The company said it will be investing around Rs.4-5 million per room.
September 12, 2008 |