DRMumbai: Indian Hotel Company Limited (IHCL), promoters of Taj, Vivanta, Ginger and SeleQtions, organised their Annual Sales Mission recently in Mumbai and Delhi. It offered a day of one-on-one meetings and interactions with the General Managers and Directors of Sales from 57 hotels including three overseas properties.
FY 2018-19 has been a good year for IHCL with PAT registering 18.4 percent growth to touch Rs. 287 crores which is the highest in 11 years, and South Asia’s largest Indian hospitality company by market capitalization declaring a 50 percent dividend.
IHCL signed 22 hotels in FY 2018-19 adding an inventory of over 3200 rooms to its pipeline across brands in India and key international markets like London, Makkah, Kathmandu and Dubai, via 18 management contracts and four operating leases.
“We have opened 29 hotels in the last 20 months,” said Renu Basu, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, IHCL. These include Taj Hotel & Convention Centre in Agra, Taj Aravalli Resort & Spa in Udaipur, Taj Rishikesh Resort & Spa in Uttarakhand, Taj Theog Resort & Spa in Shimla, two Ginger hotels in Gujarat (Sanand and Dwaraka), and Vivanta Kathmandu, among others.
Among the major projects signed till now are 64-key Ginger Srinagar (opening late 2019), 88-key Taj Dehradun (2021), 96-key Ginger Udaipur (2022), 88-key Ginger Nagpur (2022), 110-key Vivanta Gorakhpur (2022), and 261-key Vivanta Greater Noida (2023). IHCL has signed a management contract for two hotels in Goa adding 506 rooms to its pipeline. The company took over the management of the legendary 207-key Cidade de Goa which is a part of the SeleQtions portfolio. An additional 299 rooms which are under construction will be added to the same complex under the Taj brand scheduled to open by the end of 2019.
The company renovated and upgraded several hotels to stay relevant for the ever-evolving global traveller. 19 hotels were upgraded to the Taj brand. Taj MG Road, Bengaluru unveiled its all-new look after a major renovation. Some of the other renovated hotels in key cities include: Taj Palace, New Delhi; Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Goa; Taj Fort Aguada Resort & Spa, Goa; Taj Bengal, Kolkata; Taj Fisherman’s Cove Resort & Spa, Chennai; Taj Connemara, Chennai; Taj Krishna, Hyderabad; Taj Ganges, Varanasi; TajMahal, Lucknow and St. James’ Court, A Taj Hotel, London.
In April this year, IHCL won the bid for the iconic TajMahal, New Delhi and signed a 33-year license contract for the hotel with NDMC.
IHCL is on track in the execution of its strategy, Aspiration 2022. It is well poised to open one hotel per month in light of a healthy pipeline and confirmed momentum of signing new contracts. Aspiration 2022 is aimed at unlocking higher value from efficiencies through a three-pronged strategy of restructuring, reengineering and reimagining IHCL’s portfolio.
In February 2019, IHCL announced its entry into a new segment by launching Ama Plantation Trails, a group of heritage bungalows amidst lush coffee estates of Coorg and Chikmagalur. “The response to Ama has been very good,” confirmed Basu.
Weddings continue to be a key focus segment for IHCL. “‘Timeless Weddings with the Taj’ strategy has undergone a small rejig withour focus shifting to B2B partners,” informed Basu. The B2C focus with Taj Wedding Studio has been shelved for now. Ranging from royal palaces and dreamy beach resorts to beautiful jungle lodges or iconic city hotels, Taj’s premier portfolio of hotels and resorts, serve as lavish backdrops for a dream wedding. IHCL registered a growth of ~24 percent in MICE business in FY 2018-19 compared to previous year. The Group has a splendid portfolio of hotels with excellent infrastructure to cater to MICE.
