Taj Hotels to add airport properties

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces is all set to add two more marquee properties at Mumbai International Airport Limited and Bangalore International Airport Limited, both of them under the GVK Group fold, during the current financial year.

While the Mumbai property would be operational during the third quarter this year, the Bengaluru airport property is set to be operational by fourth quarter of this fiscal, K Mohanchandran, Area Director (Hyderabad), Taj Hotels, and General Manager of Taj Krishna, said.

In an exclusive interaction with BusinessLine , Mohanchandran said, “These two properties will broaden operations and be serve two of the busiest airports in the country. There is a general perception that such properties, close to airports, mainly serve transit customers. If fact, a big chunk of business comes from non-transit customers. They prefer such hotels as it is convenient.”

“My portfolio in Hyderabad has four of the Taj GVK Hotels — Taj Krishna, Taj Deccan, Taj Banjara and Vivanta by Taj Begumpet, plus the Taj Falaknuma, the fifth one, which is part of The Indian Hotels Company Limited. In the same company of Taj GVK, we also operate the Taj Chandigarh and the Taj Club House in Chennai. We are adding two new hotels in Mumbai and Bangalore airports,” he said.

“Having recently taken up responsibilities of the Hyderabad properties as Area Director, my role includes overseeing other properties too. With the commissioning of two more properties, the portfolio will have eight hotels,” he said.

The Taj Group of hotels has 774 keys (rooms) in the city. The total inventory in this part is 2,230 keys, with the other players being Marriott, The Park, Park Hyatt, ITC, Marigold, Radisson Blu and Courtyard.

The hospitality business has begun to pick up if the performance in the first quarter is any indication. This can only get better as the economy turns positive, he said.

Now the focus in Hyderabad is on synergising the business of various properties and presenting the Taj Falaknuma Palace property, the only one in this part of the country to provide the entire spectrum of offering for conferences or luxury weddings.

Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces comprises 93 hotels in 55 locations across India with an additional 16 international hotels in the Maldives, Malaysia, Australia, the UK, the US, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa and the Middle East.

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