Taj begins phase-II makeover of business hotels

The Taj Group has kickstarted its Rs 50 crore phase II makeover of its business hotels.

These include Taj Connemara in Chennai; Taj Residency, Bangalore; Taj President, Mumbai; Taj Blue Diamond, Pune; and Taj Chandigarh.

The phase II makeover plan will include refurbishing or launching of bars and restaurants in the business hotels.

As part of this, the group launched a pan-Asian restauarant called Hip Asia and a classic-contemporary bar called Distil at the Taj Connemara in the city today.

"Over two years back, based on customer understanding exercises, Taj Business Hotels started a process of major makeover. We did this to create a stronger and differentiated brand because of increasing competition," said Jyoti Narang, chief operating officer, business hotels, Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces.

Taj is into a three-phased makeover plan for its business hotels "" phase-I consists of renovating rooms and banqueting facilities, phase-II focuses on restaurants and bars and phase-III emphasises on the concept of wellness and spas.

Phase-I began in 2004, while phase-III is scheduled to be launched in 2005-06 at the Taj Residency, Bangalore.

The research was based on inputs from Landor, Research International and Gallup, apart from in-house research, customer feedback and inputs from a 'creative workshop' comprising fashion and advertising professionals, among others.

Taj has 19 business hotels across 16 destinations in India and five hotels abroad "" in in Dubai, Lusaka (Zambia), Sanaa (Yemen) and Colombo.

"We will have two more hotels in Bangalore and Chennai and one at some stage in Gurgaon or Delhi," added Narang.