Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, launched a new brand, 'The Gateway Hotel,' today. The Gateway Hotel is a pan India network of upscale hotels and resorts. It will primarily cater to the emerging set of contemporary travellers.  The brand launched with a portfolio of 26 hotels.
 
Announcing the launch of The Gateway Hotel brand, Raymond N Bickson, Managing Director, Indian Hotels Company Limited, said, “India is one of the world’s most dynamic and booming economies and the Taj Group intends to leverage this boom. We are currently witnessing a shortage of world class accommodation in India. The Gateway is a part of the Taj Group’s strategy to have a large footprint across India. It will be an important growth vehicle for the Group and we are looking at quickly scaling up the brand to a large number of hotels across India. It comes from the Tata and Taj Group which has a host of successful brands, ”adds Bickson.

He further said that the hotel development community was interested in the brand when it was showcased to them. This interest is evident from the fact that 16 existing hotels will be migrating  to this brand today. A total of 10 new hotels have already been signed up and the management is in active negotiations for another 10. With 26 Gateway hotels already under its fold, the management is targeting 50 operating and signed hotels in the near future.

The hotels that will be re-flagging today as Gateway are at Agra, Bengaluru, Calicut, Chikmagalur ,Coonoor , Jaipur , Jaisalmer ,Madurai, Mangalore, Nasik, Sasan Gir, Surat, Vadodara, Varanasi , Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam. New hotels have been signed up in all key metros – Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Pune. Other locations signed up are at Jullunder, Mysore, Navi Mumbai, Raipur and Gondia.  Taj Group has expansion plans for the brand and are open to owned hotels and management contracts. This brand will be present in all business districts and leisure locations across India. The brand will also explore new formats under business, leisure and extended stay categories.

India Tourism (Tokyo), Union Ministry of Tourism was awarded the 'Best Tourism Promotion Award,' the 'Best Tourism Publicity Award,' the  'Best Folklore Performance Award' at the 11th Busan International Travel Fair 2008. The Fair which concluded on September 8, was held in Busan, South Korea and attended by more than 200 organisations from over 30 countries.

The Indian Pavilion was well appreciated by the Mayor of Busan. In addition to this, at the promotional event, India Tourism (Tokyo) also launched a month-long India Promotional Exhibition in Busan Tower. The inauguration ceremony of this function was attended by the Vice-Mayor of Busan and other dignitaries. Simultaneously, an advertising campaign has been launched in Seoul and Busan in the print media. Last year 70,000 visas were issued to the Korean tourists i.e. an increase of 51 per cent during the last three years. A double digit growth is expected in the current year also.

Tourist arrivals from East Asia are expected to be on an upswing and Japan will contribute substantially in this regard. India Tourism (Tokyo) is participating in JATA 2008, Tokyo - a travel fair from September 19 to 21, this year and Namaste India, Tokyo from September 27 to 28. In addition, the Ambassador of India, Japan will be flagging off ten velo-taxis wrapped in the Incredible India theme on September 18 as a part of the Outdoor Advertising Campaign.

HRH Group’s Shiv Niwas Palace gets ‘Heritage Grand’ status


Hotel and Restaurant Approval and Classification Committee (HRACC), under the Ministry of Tourism, has re-classified and elevated HRH Group’s flagship property, Shiv Niwas Palace at Udaipur into ‘Heritage Grand’ hotel.  The HRACC headed by EA Bharat Bhushan, Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor, Ministry of Tourism recently visited the property and inspected the facilities as part of the re-classification process.

As per the classification norms for hotels and restaurants in India, re-classification is mandatory after every five years.  “Reclassification for Shiv Niwas Palace was due last year.  HRACC’s visit was delayed for some reasons.  They visited our property last month and inspected the facilities and reclassified it as Heritage Grand. The current classification is valid till 2012,” informed an official of HRH Group. 

Situated at the Southern end of the City Palace complex, Shiv Niwas Palace was originally the palace of late Maharana Fateh Singhji.  The Heritage Grand hotel has three imperial suites, six royal suites, eight terrace suites, and 19 palace rooms. HRH Hotels Resorts and Palaces comprise nine hotels and resorts at five different locations across Rajasthan, viz. Udaipur, Gajner, Kumbalgarh, Ranakpur and Jaisalmer.

Rajasthan heritage hotels a big draw with foreign tourists

JAIPUR: Thanks to some thoughtful initiatives by former princely families in Rajasthan almost two decades ago, the palaces, forts, castles and havelis once on the verge of collapse and disintegration are pulsating with life now in the form of heritage hotels. In fact, the heritage hotels have become almost a movement in the country’s tourism sector and their tribe is flourishing.

“We started with 12 members in 1990. Now we are 150 with membership as far and wide as in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh. And there is always a queue for entry into the fold as we don’t take in anyone so easily,” says former Jodhpur ruler Gaj Singh, one of the pioneers of the heritage hotel concept.

“We had taken up with the Centre for a separate categorisation of these properties. Any attempt at standardisation of heritage properties would have amounted to their undoing,” he says.

Enough choice

The heritage concept, tried out first with the palaces and havelis of Rajasthan, has picked up so well that now there are categories within categories and there is enough choice to pick up from. Now there are categories such as “Basic Heritage,” “Heritage Classic” and “Heritage Grand!”

The minimum requirement for entry into the group is a property of vintage going back to 1935 or more and a minimum of ten rooms along with basic amenities.

Rajasthan leads the heritage caravan with 90 hotels, which include the celebrated Lalgarh Palace in Bikaner, Rajmahal Palace in Jaipur — a favourite of the late movie mughal Raj Kapoor — Samode Palace near Jaipur, Neemrana Fort Palace, Sariska Palace, Ajit Bhawan in Jodhpur, and Connaught House in Mount Abu. The well-known heritage hotels outside Rajasthan include Usha Kiran Palace, Gwalior; Hari Niwas Palace, Jammu Tawi; The Judge’s Court, Kangra; and the Palace, Wankaner.

Just how is it going now after 17 long years of coming into existence?

“The going is good. The heritage hotels have done well. They are a big draw with foreign tourists though domestic tourists also patronise them,” says Gaj Singh, now the president of the Indian Heritage Hotels Association (IHHA).

“We had a lot of problems initially. It is easier to get loans for construction of a new hotel than to renovate an old palace or haveli for converting it into a heritage hotel,” Mr. Gaj Singh reveals.

“Heritage properties deserve a preferential treatment as most of them are located in rural areas. They promote rural employment, village crafts, traditional music and art, besides tremendously improving the basic tourism infrastructure in deep interiors,” Mr. Gaj Singh adds.

“Today you can travel anywhere in Rajasthan and find decent accommodation even in the interiors,” points out Randhir Vikram Singh, another pioneer of the movement and joint secretary of IHHA.

Potential

“There is potential for further growth and new rooms can be added provided finances are forthcoming along with some tax concessions. We have our own peculiar problems when it comes to taxation and bar licences,” he observes.

One of the demands made at the just-concluded annual general body meeting of the IHHA here was for a uniform taxation policy for heritage properties all over the country.