Taj Krishna becomes member of 'The Leading Hotels'

Taj Krishna, one of the Taj Group's luxury hotels, has become the first hotel in Andhra Pradesh to become a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, Limited. Taj Krishna is now the thirteenth hotel in India to become a member of the luxury marketing organisation.

The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd represents 400 hotels in more than 80 countries and is headquartered in New York. The membership of the organisation provides benefits to the hotels in the form of a global reservation network.

Addressing a press conference, Veer Vijay Singh, area director and general manager, Taj Krishna said, "Leading Quality Assurance, which is a third party group, is involved in the audit that is required for the membership." Another two audits are again done after a hotel becomes a member, Singh added.

The membership is given for a time-frame of three years and it involves a one-time fee as well as an annual fee. Singh however, refused to disclose the fee structure. "Each hotel is given a different fee structure based on the occupancy rate, number of rooms available and so on," he said. Taj Krishna had applied for this membership almost a year back.

Beate H K Mauder, vice-president (marketing) of Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, said, "This membership will help us strengthen our brand positioning across the world and enable us to expand our reach. There are travellers who stay only in the hotels that are members of The Leading Hotels of the World and this will definitely benefit us."

"The Leading Hotels Group has also realised the importance of the Indian market in the hospitality industry and has given its consent to hold its annual convention this year in New Delhi," Mauder said.

"The convention will be held during October 26-30 2004," she added. This is the second time that the Leading Hotels Group will be holding its annual convention in India.

Taj Krishna earned revenues of Rs 43 crore last year and Singh believes that the revenues will grow to Rs 64 crore this fiscal. The hotel's occupancy rates hover around 85 per cent currently and the room rates are around $110 per day.

"We see another 15-20 per cent increase in room rates for Taj Krishna in the near future," he added.