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Parveen Chander KumarThe Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), which comprises Taj Palace hotels and brands like SeleQtions, Vivanta, Ginger and Ama Stays, offers experiences and focuses on sustainability in economic, environmental, cultural and heritage aspects of local communities in keeping with consumer trend.

Mr Parveen Chander Kumar, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing, IHCL, said at last week’s Trade Connect program in Mumbai: “We don’t market hotels anymore. We market experiences through theme-based itineraries and circuits in our campaigns. Resurgence of domestic travel post pandemic is very strong. We continue to see unprecedented demand. Guests are opting for wellness and experiential holidays. Frequency of travel has increased and people are travelling in larger groups along with family and friends.”

Most of IHCL’s campaign is done internally through Tata Neu, a clientele platform with 70 million members. Taj Holidays promotes themes such as royal lifestyles, beach escapes, wilderness retreats, festivals of India, religious trails and family getaways.

Food and Beverage services bring in an average of 40 percent of revenue to IHCL. The company’s mobile food service, Qmin, started during the pandemic, is gaining popularity.

Mr Kumar said: “We’ll continue to bring-in new F&B experiences. We added Loya, a whole new outlet serving different North Indian cuisines. Papermoon, House of Nomad, Seven Rivers Brewing Co. are other new experiences on offer, apart from 15 signature restaurants at IHCL hotels. Taj Banquets also brings-in good F&B revenue.  Qmin services will be evolving further next year.”

IHCL saw robust growth in conferences and weddings as well. The average length of stay that was earlier hovering between 1.5 to 1.75 days has increased to 2.53 days. International guests’ length of stay has also risen by 40 percent.

Paathya, the sustainability initiative launched last year, has set a framework to drive IHCL’s sustainability and social impact measures. Those include total replacement of plastic bottles, bio-degradable wrapping of dry amenities in guest rooms, innovative cooling technologies and EarthCheck certification for all its hotels. Its 2030 goal is to have all its hotels certified to a global sustainability standard.

Mr Kumar said: “We have partnered with UNESCO to preserve the intangible heritage of India. It’s a holistic plan to safeguard the living heritage of the country. We work with local communities to care for those UNESCO World Heritage sites closer to our hotels. By 2025, we’ll be taking care of all UNESCO sites in our geographies.

The company has the initiative to help local communities. In its Care-cations theme, guests can interact and work with local tribes. IHCL is working coercively with Indian Government in developing new tourist destinations. Thus, it’s building hotels in less exposed India’s North East- at Tawang, Gangtok and Shillong. Two hotels are coming up in Kevadiya, a new destination, and a hotel in Daman and Diu.

The 120-year-old Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) is India’s largest hospitality company with 257 hotels, including 69 under development globally across four continents, 11 countries, and over 100 locations. IHCL has the most significant footprint in Goa, with 13 hotels, including the ones coming up.

Mr Kumar said: “IHCL presence is in all segments and across price range and markets. Rajasthan, Goa and Kerala are doing exceptionally well.  Hotels at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru cities are always in demand. Meetings held across the country due to India’s G20 Presidency is also creating demand at places across India where G20 meetings are scheduled. Indian market is expanding and helping hotels to grow. Today we’re one world and we’re cautious of the fact that socio-economic conditions of the world should not affect us. I’m sure India is on the right track and will stay strong.”

 

 

 

Written by: Madhura Katti

 

 

 

 

 

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