As per Brand Finance’s ‘India 100 2024’ report, Taj retains its reputation as the strongest Indian brand for the third consecutive year. It also holds the distinction of being the World’s Strongest Hotel Brand ranked based on Brand Finance’s ‘Hotels 50 2024’ annual report.
Celebrating its 120th year, the Taj boasts a unique portfolio encompassing grand palaces, iconic city hotels, safaris, spa resorts, and service residences, with over 110 hotels across 13 countries.
In an exclusive interview with Hotelier India, Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IHCL (Indian Hotels Company Limited), gives some wonderful insights into what makes the Taj everyone’s favourite, keeping pace with changing consumer trends, growth plans for the brand and more…
This is a momentous year for Taj having received the recognition as the World’s Strongest Hotel brand and also India’s Strongest brand across sectors. This also catapults India’s standing on the global stage in hospitality. Your comments.
We are delighted for the iconic brand Taj to be honoured as the World’s Strongest Hotel Brand and India’s Strongest Brand across sectors yet again, in its milestone 120th year. This recognition, thrice as number one in the world, and four times as India’s best, is testament to the brand’s century old legacy of pioneering destinations, setting global benchmarks and showcasing Indian hospitality to the world.
This achievement underscores the trust and affection of our guests and the steadfast dedication and commitment of our colleagues in delivering warm and sincere service, a true hallmark of Taj. Having demonstrated accelerated and responsible growth, Taj will remain at the forefront of furthering a sustainable and inclusive future for the hospitality industry.
What does Taj mean to you?
Taj is an emotion, a legend and the crown jewel of, not only the Tata Group but the entire Bharat. It is today an enduring symbol of hospitality in the world.
What sets Taj apart is not just its world-class hotels, but the emotional connection it fosters with both our guests and colleagues. It has become more than just a hotel brand; it is an emotion that resides in the hearts and minds of all who experience it.
What makes the brand Taj timeless?
Incorporated in 1899 by the founder of the Tata Group Mr Jamsetji Tata, IHCL opened its first hotel, The Taj Mahal Palace, in Mumbai in 1903, introducing authentic Indian hospitality to the world. Reflecting the journey of the iconic brand ‘Taj’, Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, celebrates 120 years, etching its name in the annals of history, having shaped the evolution of the hospitality landscape in India.
Since then, till now, IHCL’s iconic brand Taj has been the pioneer in bringing to the nation, and the world, a glorious list of firsts. From opening the doors to India’s living grand palaces, to discovering and creating landmark tourism destinations like Rajasthan, Goa, Kerala, Andaman and recently North East India to hoisting the tricolour globally with iconic hotels in UK, USA, South Africa, Dubai, Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Today, Taj represents a unique portfolio of grand palaces, iconic city hotels, safaris, spa resorts and service residences with over 110 hotels across 13 countries in the last 12 decades.
We have spent years perfecting our craft, decades earning a reputation, and century building a culture. We call it Tajness – the soul of our robust hospitality ecosystem that subtly guides all our behaviours. Tajness is the way we do, what we do.
Taj is well-known for restoring and managing historical palaces and being a champion of Indian hospitality. Tell us more about it…
Intrinsically bound with the country’s history, Taj hotels have long been heralded as a purveyor of Indian heritage with its presence in key historic destinations such as Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer, Gwalior, Hyderabad, Varanasi and Mumbai.
Taj has maintained a steadfast commitment to rekindle India’s glorious past by restoring some of the country’s most celebrated properties that date back to the pre-independence era. The award-winning Taj Lake Palace, Udaipur with its illustrious 275-year history is one of the worlds’ most photographed hotels. Guests can relive Rajput hospitality at the World’s No 1 Hotel 2023 by TripAdvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards, Rambagh Palace, Jaipur, the former residence of royalty, built in 1825. Home of the erstwhile Jodhpur royal family, the World’s Best Hotel as rated by Conde Nast Travellers Readers’ Choice awards, Umaid Bhawan Palace, Jodhpur and the 126-year-old Taj Falaknuma Palace, Hyderabad, offers a slice in time of the Indian royalty.
With these authentic and magnificent palaces, IHCL is the country’s largest palace operator and was recently recognized as the best in the ‘World’s Finest Luxury Grand Palaces’ category at the 101 Best Executive Summit.
Taj is a benchmark in service excellence. How has the brand evolved its approach to customer centricity?
In today’s dynamic environment, with the ever-changing consumer behaviour, IHCL through all its brands and businesses, keeps guests at the heart of the business, be it in choice of destination, design, offerings or service.
Sharpening our focus on customer experience, we recently introduced Care@Tajness, a holistic approach to guest delight. In keeping with our legacy of service excellence, this platform is addressing the emerging trends of the new age traveller who seeks a balance between digital led service delivery and warmth of human connect, customised experiences and a seamless journey. This framework is enabled by a centralised customer contact hub that besides monitoring and responding to multi-channel feedback, also looks to listen, learn and leverage insights for product and service enhancement, ensuring we remain customer centric.
What are the future growth plans for the brand?
Taj represents a unique portfolio of grand palaces, iconic city hotels, safaris, spa resorts and service residences with over 110 hotels, amongst the largest luxury hotel portfolio in the world. It is the backbone of IHCL, contributing about 70% of the enterprise revenue.
The growth of the brand is two-dimensional, through new hotels as well as effective asset management of the operating hotels.
The development focus for the Taj brand in the Indian Sub-Continent will encompass pioneering new destinations, growing market share in metro cities, ringfencing our leadership in key markets and foraying into emerging cities. Our recent signings, two island resorts at Lakshadweep, a 400-room hotel at Delhi airport, a sixth Taj hotel in Anjuna Goa and a Taj in Dehradun, are reflective of this strategy.
For international growth, our focus is on markets with strong brand recall and a significant Indian diaspora such as Southeast Asia, the Middle East, the UK, and continental Europe. Our international pipeline is reflective of these growth plans. In the near future, we will have hotel openings in the Indian Sub-continent in markets like Bhutan, Nepal and Dhaka, Middle East – Riyadh and Dubai and Frankfurt in Germany.
For the operating portfolio, effective asset management, smart renovations and continually innovating our offerings keeps the brand at the forefront making it the preferred choice for consumers. The relaunch of The Taj Mahal, New Delhi, Taj Usha Kiran Palace, Gwalior and Taj Malabar Resort & Spa, Cochin, post a comprehensive renovation, is in keeping with our approach of keeping our iconic assets, the crown jewels shining.
Keeping abreast with changing consumer trends, Taj has introduced new cuisines and concepts with Loya in Delhi and Bengaluru, Bombay Brasserie in Singapore. In line with its commitment to building sustainable offerings, we introduced Innergise green meetings and Carecations, stay offers coupled with volunteering.
Considering the growing urgency of climate change, how is IHCL championing sustainable practices?
Today, it has become even more important to chart a new tomorrow – one that is more sustainable and inclusive. We believe this is the only way to drive India’s journey to being among the top travel and tourism economies.
IHCL’s ESG+ framework of Paathya, is an integrated approach towards creating sustainable growth and positive impact. IHCL has defined several short and long-term goals to be fulfilled by 2030 under Paathya. From 100% elimination of single-use plastic across all its hotels to ensuring 100% of waste water is reused, the company’s 100% of hotels will be certified to a global sustainability standard. Representing best practices, 88 IHCL hotels have achieved EarthCheck certification with 59 Platinum recognitions, largest in the global tourism industry. IHCL is committed to using 50% of energy from renewable sources. Currently, 43 hotels have adopted renewable energy and 7 Hotels are powered by 100% green energy.
Taking ahead its commitment to skill building, and create employability for the deserving and the marginalized, IHCL aims to impact the livelihood of over 100,000 youth. Long heralded as the custodian of Indian heritage, IHCL’s collaboration with UNESCO, will see adoption of 100% of Intangible Cultural Heritage (IHC) projects in the geographies it operates in.
Consumer trends have evolved, how is the industry keeping pace?
The consumer trends of today driven by rising disposable income, changing lifestyles, growing awareness for eco-friendly and socially responsible products, demand for wellness and entertainment options is leading to a shift in buying behaviour.
The hospitality industry is seeing diversifications, be it in terms of stay formats or niche consumer segments. The travel stay formats apart from hotels now includes homestays, boutique hotels, glamping, houseboats and caravans, among other travel innovation, not only caters to the varied preferences of travellers, but also offers a spectrum of choices from luxury resorts to budget-friendly accommodations.
The convergence of health and hospitality is pronounced in its present form as an increasing number of travellers are seeking immersive wellness experiences that go beyond traditional spa treatments and detox programs. Hotels across the spectrum are integrating wellness into their offerings to cater to the ever-growing market of health-conscious travellers.
There is an increasing awareness among travellers about the environmental impact of their travel footprint. Today, more and more travellers are looking to travel with brands that implement sustainable practices and have low carbon-impact.
With travellers and consumers increasingly seeking out new experiences in hospitality as well as travel, the role of Food and Beverage is undergoing a sea change. It no longer plays a supportive role in the overall hospitality experience, but has now taken centre stage. This, in turn, has pushed the sector to evolve across all its component parts, from food preparation to packaging, restauration, and home delivery. The sector may see more partnerships and collaboration on new formats like Seven Rivers between IHCL and ABN InBev.
Travel and hospitality industry is experiencing a strong growth across segments, what is the outlook for the sector in the medium term?
For a third consecutive year, India’s GDP growth rate has outperformed expectations at 8.2% in FY24, marking an improvement from 7% in the preceding fiscal year. This growth was broad-based across sectors with the services sector contributing 55% to GDP, within which trade, hotels, transport and communications share stood at 17%. On the back of strong and favourable macro-economic factors, significant investment infrastructure projects and growing room demand momentum estimated at a 10.6% CAGR between 2024 and 2027, the hospitality sector is witnessing an upcycle.
Finally, tell us about your professional life in Europe and North America before taking over the leadership at IHCL. What was your journey like and what are some of your biggest learnings about the international hospitality scenario?
I spent the first 25 years of my life here in India, where I joined Delhi University after school to do a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. After a few years with the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), I went to Paris in the late 1980s to study for two years at ESSEC’s IMHI program, which had been set up in partnership with Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in New York (Cornell Nolan School, ed).
After graduating, I joined FEURING GROUP based in Mainz, Germany, where I stayed for just over six years before joining Carlson Hotels Worldwide, which later became Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group, as their Chief Development Officer. I then took over as member of the Management Board of Steigenberger Hotels AG in 2012, before returning to India five years later.
Over the years, with my career spanning multi-cultural settings and multiple continents, has equipped me with diverse learnings. At the core of any successful organization is undeniably the human connections that drives its growth. My time in different countries in Europe and America over three decades reinforced the pivotal role of relationship capital as an enabler in forging successful partnerships.
A large part of my career was in the field of hotel development. My time in development makes me believe this function is both an art and a science. It’s about structuring the right contract with right brand for the right market as opposed to blindly using successful strategies of one market to another market.
My collective experiences across the world has evolved my leadership style to be a combination of American marketing, European management and Asian emotional intelligence.
A quick rapid fire…
- A day in the life of Puneet Chhatwal… Taking stock of business performance, walking the floor, engaging equally with internal and external stakeholder groups. Checking in and out of airport terminals around the world. Never missing a moment to find humor in every situation.
- The first thing you’d like to read in the morning… IHCL’s Daily Business Report.
- Your favourite cuisine… Italian.
- Favourite holiday destinations… I like travelling in Europe, especially South of France.
- A role model you always take inspiration from… Mr N Chandrasekaran.
- Favourite quote/ mantra… If change is the only constant then transformation is the natural consequence.
- Favourite way to unwind… Cooking helps me unwind.
