Rediscovering Taj

Vinay Kamath

Jamshed Daboo is a man of leisure. Indeed, for the 39-year-old Chief Operating Officer of the Taj groups leisure division, leisure is serious business. And at a time when after 9-11 tourist traffic from across the world has been tapering off, he cant afford to get languid about leisure. If the foreigners are not travelling they are, he insists, but the numbers have dropped one should at least stoke domestic travel, is the refrain. So, close on the heels of a massive revamp exercise across several of its prime leisure properties, tumbling out are aggressive packages aimed at niche segments, the corporate segment, the romantics, the pilgrims, the singles and even a product to infuse some loyalty into the children who stay with the Taj. Daboo, as he admits, has to work even harder so that he can get em to come and relax at his properties, 24 of them strung across the country.

Says Daboo, We are not doing this just because foreign travel is dropping or anything like that. In the last one year, we decided to look at the domestic consumer as another consumer segment, which is of great importance to us. We have to cater to what appeals to them, just as we have to cater to what the international traveller wants. So, its not an either or situation.

For the hotel industry, the WTC attacks couldnt have come at a worse time. International travel, of which leisure travel is over 60 per cent, has dropped and hotels are seeing a drop in bookings of at least 20 per cent. For Taj, its properties such as the Taj Exotica in Goa, launched in 1999, were doing well with occupancy rates of 70 per cent and if WTC hadnt happened, they could well have gone through the roof, says Daboo. Tourists are trickling in, but its not the same.

Travel in the international market operates on a six-monthly booking cycle and is governed by fairly strict cancellation laws unlike in India where hotels and agents are more flexible. Following 9-11, there were a lot of panic cancellations even though the season was a while away cancellations towards the date of travel would have entailed higher charges. Though the initial panic has worn off, fresh bookings will again have to go through the cycle. The level of cancellations has come down, but the holiday season for them is over, so theres a short-term issue, but we dont see it as a long-term issue, explains Daboo.

In that context, the Taj group has renewed its efforts to woo the domestic traveller, while at the same time make it attractive for international travel with properties such as the Exotica. Decidedly upmarket and top-of-the-line offering an international look and leisure experience, the Taj group intends to cultivate carefully the Exotica brand of hotels. It already has one in the country, built across 60 acres of beachfront in Goa and launched in 1999 and is mulling one more, perhaps in the hills. The other Exotica is in Bentota in Sri Lanka and one more is being added to this chain in the Maldives where it is razing one of the two hotels it has there to the ground and rebuilding it as the Exotica. Exotica as a property has to sell itself, it cant be part of an itinerary; its a destination by itself. But its investment-intensive. Weve invested Rs 100 crore in the Goa property alone, says Daboo. The Taj group is looking at South-East Asia to launch its next Exotica hotel.

Though the hotel industry is in the midst of downturn blues right now, the Taj group actually unveiled its strategy for a unique leisure experience a couple of years ago, and not as a reactionary move. The three-pronged strategy meant a physical transformation of its properties to incorporate new consumer requirements and the latest in international trends; a complete review of recreational activities both in and out of the hotel and third, changes in the cuisine to broaden the offering.

The Taj group, which owns or manages over 60 hotels in the country, undertook a Rs 55-crore renovation exercise at four of its prime leisure properties in the country the Lake Palace, Udaipur, Taj Malabar, Kochi, Fort Aguada, Goa and the Fishermans Cove, Chennai. This was followed by a television campaign with Rediscover Taj as its theme. Bringing up the tail-end of this strategy has been some innovative product packaging with products aimed at niche segments and products covering complete destination. In Southern India, the Taj group also unveiled a special package to drive traffic to its smaller leisure hotels, branded Taj Garden Retreat.

Understanding the fact that there are different consumer segments for its product has enabled Taj to unveil packages aimed at these different niches from packages for the romantics to the wildlife enthusiasts. It also has products aimed at the corporate segment from bulk purchase of holidays against pre-payment to the Taj Holiday gift certificate, a carrot for corporates to reward star performers in an organisation. That apart, it has the destination packages the best of Kerala, Rajasathan, Maharashtra and the Nilgiris. Peoples requirements are different and we are x tailoring packages to meet them, adds Daboo.

On the anvil too is a Taj Kids Club, which will target the children who come with families. We want to build a loyalty factor with them; were working on the details be it in the activities or in other value-adds for them, we can give them special kits and send out newsletters. So you create a loyalty base. We can do that because a lot of our properties are kid-amenable. Today, we are having a lot of kids come on their own in groups to our hotels for a holiday, explains Daboo. The Kids Club will be launched first in Fishermans Cove, Taj Malabar and Taj Exotica in Goa, where it already has a full-fledged kids activity centre. We are not looking to lure them or anything, just creating a loyalty base. We are offering a total leisure experience to the entire family and the idea is to allow the whole family to enjoy the experience. Many holidays may just satisfy only one part of the family and thats not the objective, elaborates Daboo. The emphasis on domestic travel is working as there has been a 20 per cent rise in traffic in the first half of the year. With hotels full for the Christmas-New Year peak season, Daboo hopes the last three months of this financial will be pretty close to normal.

For Daboo, who has had stints with Titan Industries and in Tata Sons administering the Tatas business excellence model, the challenge of selling leisure as a product is doubly challenging. Its not akin to a product where the moment of truth is when the customer buys it but is a continuum. Says he: In leisure the challenge especially is to sell a dream, unlike in a product or service, there is an intimate association between company, product and client. And its not after or before a sale. The whole process is an intimate association. Customers have to be uplifted from staying in a mere property to indulging in an experience. From the time a person thinks of a holiday to the time he checks in and checks out, hes always touching a part of the product and service. In manufacturing, you can catch a faulty product at the quality check and stop the despatch, but in the hospitality industry its a continuing thing; the product is activated only when the guest walks in, adds Daboo. Clearly, Daboo expects to have many more moments of truth as he embarks on yet another leisure trip.