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Indian Hotels signs marketing pact with Japan's Hotel Okura, Taj Group to hike room rates by avg 15% from Oct
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
The increase in average room rates will be higher in metropolitan cities and it will be implemented across all hotels of the Taj Group except our budget brand Ginger," Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Raymond Bickson said.
Taj Hotels, Resorts & Palaces, a part of Indian Hotels. Co, Tuesday said it has signed a marketing pact with Japan"s Okura Hotels & Resorts. "It will give us the opportunity to work with the Okura network to create greater awareness of the Taj brand in Japan, which is one of our key markets," Raymond Dickson, managing director and chief executive at Indian Hotels, said in a statement. The companies will also offer benefits to each other"s customers, including combined reservations and loyalty program benefits, Indian Hotels said in the statement.
Indian Hotels Co and its subsidiaries are collectively known as Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. Bickson was speaking on the sidelines of a press meet to announce a
strategic marketing alliance with Japan's Okura Hotels and Resorts. The Taj Group rolled out a rupee-denominated single tariff structure across all its hotels in India with effect from Sep 1.
Typically the first two quarters of the year are lean season for hotels; we expect a very strong season from October to March, and expect our occupancy rates to average around 80-85%, from 70-80% now," Bickson said. Indian Hotels also plans to increase tariffs at its overseas hotels, depending upon the market scenario and tourist traffic in those destinations.
On its pact with Okura Hotels, Bickson said that it was a pure marketing alliance, with no equity involved. While the alliance does not envisage co-branding, it entails conducting joint activities such as sales, staff training, combined reservations for each other, niche marketing and culinary programmes," he said. Travellers from Japan make up 6-7% of India's total inbound travellers.
Indian Hotels expects this to increase significantly with Japan's investment in the Delhi-Mumbai dedicated rail freight corridor, and growth of pilgrimage tourism to India.
