The Tata Group’s upmarket full-service hotel brand, Gateway, made its foray into Kolkata in December 2013. The group, through the Indian Hotels Co Ltd (IHCL), operates four brands – Taj (in luxury segment); Vivanta by Taj (in the upper upscale category); Gateway (for the upscale segment) and Ginger (in the economy segment).

Deepa Misra Harris, Senior Vice-President, Sales & Marketing, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, spoke to Business Line about competition from international players, tackling recession, and plans for a foray into the mid-scale segment. Edited excerpts:

You are expanding at a time when the industry is hit by recession…

We are pretty aggressive on expansion. You need to sustain your market share, especially when you are the market leader. During the recession, some of the developers backed off in the Middle East (West Asia). But it was not from our side. So, you have to play a waiting game till either the market improves or the economy bounces back.

The recession struck India 2012 onwards. But the fundamentals are looking positive. I can safely say the worst is now over.

How many of your international projects are stuck?

Apart from the Middle East, in China, project deadlines have been extended.

International players are keen to expand here. Why this sudden interest?

India is under-developed when it comes to infrastructure. We have around 128,000 rooms, some of which are unbranded. But if we are seeking to increase our share of global tourism, then we will need four times the infrastructure.

So the brands proliferating in India have done their homework and seen market opportunities. One is that the country has the tourism potential that is under-serviced.

So will this lead to a shift from unbranded to branded hotels?

There will be a fair amount of unbranded hotels whose usage will go down. The other thing is that Indians are global citizens and they know what a brand stands for; what sort of service to expect and so on. They can also relate to a certain brand.

And would you explore acquisitions of some unbranded properties?

Yes. People have approached us for acquisitions. In the past, we have been in discussions. But valuations were too high. We have a vision for 2020. And it is to go from 10,000 to 20,000 rooms. It can be through organic and inorganic expansion.

Do you have a mid-scale hotel brand?

We don’t. But we might look at it to straddle the gap in the market. What we have is a no-frills, do it yourself brand for the budget segment. In India, there is a segment that wants a budget hotel, but with full service. So we have to look to cater to it.

Your international expansion has primarily been through the Taj brand. Any plan of introducing Vivanta or Gateway?

Our international expansion is through Taj, which our most well-known brand. If we go with a new brand that is still nascent, then there’s a risk of not doing well. As soon as Vivanta by Taj becomes well-known, we’ll go international with it. Currently, we have some international properties of Vivanta by Taj that include Sri Lanka, Maldives and some other places.

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