Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has reflagged a number of hotels as The Gateway otel, a new brand launched in September.
The well-known chain said it was targeting the "contemporary traveller who values flexibility, freedom and fitness". A Gateway Hotel offers various options to help guests lead a healthy lifestyle and aims to serve unobtrusively, whilst the guest goes about his own schedule, but finds his every need is attended to.
Raymond Bickson, managing director and CEO of Indian Hotels Group, which owns the chain, said the shortage of international-standard hotels in the sub-continent prompted the move. "India is one of the world's most dynamic and booming economies, and we want to levelrage this boom and reiterate our leadership position. It is part of our strategy to have a large footprint across the country."
With the help of Landor Associates, a leading brand consultancy, Taj executives designed a customer experience that has been divided into zones labelled as "enter", "stay", "hangout", "meet", "work", "workout", "Unwind" and "explore". All key services of the hotel will operate on a 24-hour basis.
Eighteen Taj hotels out of the 61 in India have migrated to the new brand, and are in locations such as Agra, Bangalore, Calicut and Jaipur. Those to come on stream will be in major metros such as Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Pune.
The Taj Group also has a presence in Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritius, Australia, the US, UK, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa and the Middle East.
For more details, visit www.tajhotels.com.
Margie T Logarta
