Taj Group Unveils New Brand - The Gateway Hotel

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. October 14, 2008

DUBAI, India, September 15, 2008. Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, India's largest hospitality group launched a new brand 'The Gateway Hotel'. The Gateway Hotel is a pan India network of upscale hotels and resorts that offer travel nomads a crisp, contemporary and warm experience.

Announcing the launch of The Gateway Hotel brand, Mr. Raymond N Bickson, Managing Director, Indian Hotels Company Limited, said, 'India is one of the world's most dynamic and booming economies and the Taj Group, India's leading hospitality chain in the country, intends to leverage this boom and reiterate its leadership position.. We are currently witnessing a shortage of world class accommodation in India. Our experience and expertise across the full range of hotel accommodation styles will be an immediate and significant answer to it.'

He further added, 'The Gateway Hotel will be a new brand catering to the emerging set of contemporary travellers. Gateway is a part of the Taj Group's strategy to have a large footprint across India. It will be an important growth vehicle for the Group and we are looking at quickly scaling up the brand to a large number of hotels across India. It comes from the Tata and Taj Group which has a host of successful brands that are hallmarks of trust, quality and assurance The brand launches today with a portfolio of 26 hotels.'

The Gateway Hotel is a brand that will cater to the emerging needs of the contemporary traveller. It offers customers the experience of flexibility, freedom and fitness. The hotels have various options that help the guest lead a smarter choice of healthy lifestyles. All key services in these hotels will work to cater to the emerging guests who have their own independent schedules. The hotels also give the guests the freedom to be themselves while everything they need is taken care of by the hotel. The service is crisp, courteous and informal.

Every touch point across the customer's journey has been carefully thought through to make it a relaxed, refreshing and contemporary experience. The customer experience across the hotel has been divided into zones and special initiatives have been introduced to deliver the brand promise. The different zones are - enter, stay, hangout, meet, work, workout, unwind and explore. The various initiatives introduced are - a 24/7 approach to all services - all key services of the hotel will be available round the clock, active foods - superfoods and low Glycemic Index foods for the health conscious guests, eat in - a refreshed in room dining menu, yoga mats in each room, 'wake up' - the buffet breakfast with a range of healthy and indulge options, 'explore' - the packages that let the guest explore the destinations where the hotels are located.

Landor Associates, which is one of the world's leading brand consultancies, has worked closely with the Taj team to develop the brand. The Gateway brand has an international identity. The logo is a personification of the Gateway brand values. The brand signature is a clean, legible word mark that denotes warmth, welcome and trust. Upper case typography has been used to provide a sense of security, professionalism and consistency.

The distinctive visual style is crisp, courteous, warm and welcoming, captures its values and sets it apart from the competition. The colour palette of red, grey and white gives the brand a simple, bold, stylish and welcoming look.

The Gateway Hotel will be launched through a national advertising campaign. The brand is focused on the emerging guests and their specific needs. The brand denotes success and people who are successful in their fields. The campaign highlights this angle and the various new services the brand offers. The brand celebrates the personalities of new age achievers from different walks of life and how The Gateway Hotel is the hotel brand for them.

Taj Hotels have received overwhelming interest from the hotel development community since the management showcased this brand to them. This interest is evident from the fact that 16 existing hotels are migrating today to this brand. A total of 10 new hotels have already been signed up and the management is in active negotiations for another 10. With 26 Gateway hotels already under its fold, the management is targeting 50 operating and signed hotels in the near future.

The hotels that will be reflagged today as Gateway are at Agra, Bangalore, Calicut, Chikmagalur, Coonoor, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Madurai, Mangalore, Nasik, Surat, Vadodara, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam. New hotels have been signed up in all key metros - Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune. Other locations signed up are Jullunder, Mysore, Navi Mumbai, and Raipur and Gondia. Taj Group has aggressive expansion plans for the brand and are open to owned hotels and management contracts. This brand will be present in all business districts and leisure locations across India.

The brand will also explore new formats under business, leisure and extended stay categories. India is growing at a rapid pace in various ways and the Group wants to ensure that it caters to all requirements of the emerging guest segments.