In the capital to launch a book on Rambagh Palace, Jaipur, Raymond Bickson, managing director and chief executive officer of Indian Hotels Company, had a quick chat with Ruchika Chitravanshi, but remained elusive on the fate of the group's two Delhi properties--Taj Mahal and Taj Palace--over lease expiry. Edited excerpts:
You have recently completed 10 years with the Indian Hotels Company. What has been the high point of your journey?
The highpoint has to be the growth that the company has witnessed in the last decade. I am on my 11th year here. We are now so pleased to open our 100th hotel in India in the coming month. It will be branded as Vivanta which is our upscale brand. That will be a great benchmark for us. We will also be opening the 30th Ginger hotel this year.
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What does the launch of the book on Rambagh Palace signify for Taj Palaces and Resorts?
Rambagh Palace, Jaipur, is probably the most iconic palace in the Taj group and it represents the true India. It is one of the icons through which people from all over the world get to know about India. We are very fortunate that we are custodians of this heritage that is in these palaces here in Rajasthan, including Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur particularly. Also, Rambagh for us is very special as it is one of our longest standing relationships. The family is commemorating Rambagh with a book on the Rajmata Gayatri Devi and all that she did to make the hotel happen today.
How are the Taj heritage brands performing compared to the modern day hotels that the company has opened?
During this season, I think the fourth quarter shows that these palaces are holding their own, from the small one in Varanasi to the Rambagh in Jaipur, Lake Palace in Udaipur. These are must to see and experience when you come to India.
Hospitality companies are increasingly focusing on domestic market since foreign tourist inflow has slowed down. For Indian hotels, is the focus more on domestic than international?
It is both actually. Ideally, we would like have a 50:50 mix, where we are not completely dependent on one market to keep us going. It is obviously the reason why we branded all of our brands to give us an opportunity to have different types of hotels at different price points at different level of service for different customers.
Is this because of the entry of so many global brands in the Indian market?
The international brands which are entering the country today, they have a preferred stable of brands that they have put out there in the market. We needed to go head to head, toe to toe with the new competition and I think the segmentation that we have done with Palaces at the top, down to Ginger offer a product a price and a service that give value to the customer.
