Introduction

Significant developments in the field of transportation, sophistication in communication,

growing importance of sophisticated information technologies in world business world,
emerging corporate culture, changing lifestyles etc. paved copious avenues for the
development of hotel industry world over. The officials on deputation, the business
magnets on trade promotion mission, the foreign representative on peace mission, the
domestic or foreign tourists interested in visiting a place for pleasure or for enriching the
knowledge bank, the international events etc. are some of the important reasons for the
development of hotel industry.

The growing significance of managerial proficiency in the hotel industry made possible
innovations in the marketing decisions of the hotel industry. Today, the services are
planned, controlled, automated, audited for maintaining and controlling the quality. The
concept of total quality management is found to be getting an important place in
marketing management of hotels. Of late, the organizations engaged in the hotel business
are required to conceptualize modern marketing principles. This makes it essential that
they formulate a sound marketing mix that makes possible an optimal development of the
marketing recourses and makes the process of development cost effective. Like other
industries the hotel industry also needs to explore avenues for innovation, so that a fair
blending of core and peripheral services is made possible. The latest developments in the
field of promotion have paved avenues for the introduction of innovative and aggressive
promotional measures. The advertising, publicity, sales promotion, word of mouth
promotion, personal selling and even telemarketing have been found used in the process
of promoting the hotel business.
 HOTEL -THE CONCEPT

At the outset, we go through the concept of hotel. The common law says that he hotel is
the place where all who conduct, themselves properly and who being able and ready to
pay for their entertainment accommodation and other services including the boarding like
a temporary home. It is a home away from home where all modern amenities and
facilities are available on a payment basis.

The aforesaid viewpoints regarding the hotels clarify that a hotel is a public place
where all possible facilities are made available to a person or persons who stay. The
facilities like food, entertainment, accommodation, etc. thus are the core services of
hotels. It is also considered to be a large city house of distinction and a utility product for
tourists.

The American concept regarding the hotel considers it a place for business to
gather. Further it also considers to a place where tourists stop, ceases to be travelers and
become customers. The definition presented by hotel authorities to the National Recovery
Administration in Washington is found to be more comprehensive definition, presented
by Stuart Mc Namara. The definition says, “Primarily and fundamentally, a hotel is an
establishment which supplies boarding and lodging not engaged in inter state commerce
or in any intra state commerce, competitive with or affecting interstate commerce. It is
quasi domestic institution retaining from its ancient and origin certain traditions and
acquiring in its own modern development, certain statutory rights and obligations to the
public where all persons not qualified by conditions or conduct are prepared to pay for
their accommodation are to be received and furnished with a room or place to sleep or
occupy if such accommodations are available with such services and attention as are
incident to their use with or without contract as to duration of visit and which conducts
within the confines of its physical locations the business of supplying personal services of
individuals for profit”.
 HOTEL MARKETING- THE CONCEPT

The key points of difference in the hotel marketing as against other consumer products
are that once customer has spent money in hotels, he/she has nothing substantial to show
for his/her money except the bills, as compared with buying a television or a refrigerator.
Effective marketing and dynamic selling become significant in the context of the hotel
marketing because once you have not sold a seat in a restaurant or a room in a hotel, the
income is lost and lost for ever. A hotel bedroom or restaurant seat has no shelf. For
marketing hotel services, it is essential that marketing be understood fully by the
executive at the top of a hotel group with total commitment on his part to the continuous
need to market. A number of experts have gone through the concept of hotel marketing as
summarized below:

Gerry Draper
“Ascertaining consumer needs, tailoring the product as closely as possible to meet
those needs, persuading the customers to satisfy his needs and finally ensuring that the
product is easily accessible when the customer wishes to purchase it.”

The definition of hotel marketing consists of almost all aspects, right from ascertaining
customer needs to getting the customers satisfaction.

Anerson & Lembke

“We believe that the real meaning of marketing is listening to the demands of the
market and satisfying these demands at a profit, from that it follows that superior
marketing is listening to the market more intently than your competitors and satisfying
the demands more effectively.”
This definition concentrates on creating the demand and satisfying the customers.
Further, it emphasizes on the formulation of competitive strategies for excelling the
competition
 MARKETING POLICY

The major difference in marketing hotel services as against other consumer

products, is that after a customer has spent money in hotels, he/ she has nothing
substantial to show except bills for his/ her money as benefits as compared with buying
tangibles, such as television and refrigerator. But if the rooms of a hotel remain vacant, it
is unlikely that the same can be sold next day. While selling the hotel services, we cover
the limited areas but while marketing the hotel services, we find unlimited areas. If we
talk about marketing the hotel services, we include in its purview everything and almost
all the dimensions directly or indirectly helping in promoting the business and this
necessitates formulation of a sound marketing mix, such as an aggregation of different
submixes like product, promotion, pricing, place and people. We manage services, we
manage promotional activities, we manage pricing, we manage distribution process and
we manage people serving as hotel personnel.
 USERS OF HOTELS IN GENERAL

In marketing hotel services, it is important to know about the different types of users
availing the services with diverse aims and objectives. This would ease the task of
marketers specially while studying the behavioral profile. In figure we find classification
of different categories of domestic and foreign users.

USERS OF HOTEL SERVICES

DOMESTIC;
PILIGRIMS,
STUDENTS,
OFFICIALS,
FILM STARS,
INTELLECTS,
SPORTSMEN,
BUSINESS EXECUTIVE,
TOURISTS

FOREIGN;
POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVES,
TRADE REPRESENTATIVES,
EDUCATIONISTS,
TOURISTS,
SPORTSMEN,
PLIGRIMS,
BUSINESS EXECUTIVES,
CULTURAL REPRESENTATIVES.
 USERS OF HOTEL INDUSTRY

Domestic Users:

In the group of domestic users, the different categories are the pilgrims visiting the sacred
places, students on educational tours, officials on deputation, political representatives,
film stars on locational shooting, etc. The hotel users stay in hotels with different
motives. We find the change in domestic users. Generally the domestic customers pay
less attention on value and more on price. A majority of domestic users are found price
sensitive and therefore the hoteliers are suppose to make pricing decisions motivational.

Foreign Users:

In the group of foreign users we find political representatives on peace mission, trade
representatives on business promotion, educationists, sportsmen, cultural representatives,
film stars, etc. These categories of foreign tourists visit hotels with diverse aims and
objectives. They normally prefer to stay in the classified hotels where the services are
found standardized. We also find cases where foreigners stay even in unclassified hotels.
To be more specific the existing world wide economic depression has made even the
foreign users sensitive to price and this makes it significant that policy makers and the
senior executive assign due weightage to this new development.

The main thing in this process is to study the levels of expectations of both the categories
of users that the marketers find it convenient to undertake an in depth study of their
changing behavior profile, which would help them substantially in developing the
marketing resources and formulating a sound product folio. The formulation and
innovation of market decisions would be made easier when we are well aware of the
emerging trends in the behavioral profiles.
 KEY CONSUMER SEGMENTS

The Business Traveler

He is the businessman or a corporate executive. This segment includes corporates, who

open offices in the hotel premises during start-ups; corporate executives who make
extended stay either for long duration projects or while waiting for permanent
accommodation (primarily expatriates) and convention arrivals. While the senior
executives usually stay in 5 star hotels, the middle level executives, who are much larger
in number, stay in the budget hotels. This segment offers better realizations as they
demand relatively smaller discounts on room rents (about 10-15%), use more of facilities
such as PCs, fax multi-media, conference halls and also the F&B revenues are better as
they usually eat in the hotel itself due to their busy schedules. This segment is highly
dependent upon the general economic scenario in the country.

The Leisure Traveler

He could either be a foreigner or a domestic traveller. Usually leisure travellers are part
of a package run by a tour operator. The margins offered by leisure travellers tend to be
lower because of two reasons. Firstly, they seek higher discounts (about 25%) and
also provide less F&B revenues as they usually eat out. The leisure travellers (especially
the domestic vacationers) generally stay in budget hotels rather than in 5 star hotels. The
business offered by this segment is highly seasonal and tends to peak in the September to
March period.
Airline Cabin Crews

They form another important segment because of the repetitive and guaranteed nature of
the business that they provide. Usually these are a part of an annual contract, whereby in
return for a fixed rate, a certain number of rooms are provided on demand for cabin
crews. The usual discount rates are 40-50%.

Luxury Travelers

According to senior officials in an international hotel chain, luxury travellers have

particular requirements and are people with time and money for their holidays. They are
not group travellers, seek qualitative experiences and demand personal and confidential
service

Special Travelers

This is the class of people who are in the hotel due to a special reason such as
government officers who need accommodations while traveling or celebrities such as
movie stars or models or sports people such as cricketers require accommodations when
they have some special international or domestic events taking place in the city or
country. These guest have to be accommodated with the best of services and securities.
The services are charged very high rates as the expected service by this segment is far
above the expectation of people coming under the luxury class. In this case the hotel gets
a lot of publicity and the payment is made by the person who is hosting the event
 STAR CLASSIFICATION OF HOTELS
The department of Tourism classification functioning hotels under the star system, into
five categories from 1-star to 5-star for this purpose a permanent Committee. The Hotel
and Restaurant Approval and Classification Committee (HRACC) has been set up which
inspects the applicant hotels to assess their suitability or otherwise for award of the star
category and are placed on the approved list of the Department. Approved hotels become
eligible to various fiscal relief and benefits. The department intercedes on behalf of such
hotels whenever necessary to ensure that their needs get priority consideration from
various concerned authorities. These hotels also get worldwide publicity through tourist
literature published by the Department of Tourism and distributed by the Government of
India Tourist Offices in India and abroad. Approved hotels become eligible for foreign
exchange for their import of essential equipment and provisions and for their advertising,
publicity and promotion under the Hotel Incentive Quota Scheme.
To be eligible to apply for classification hotel must fulfill the following
minimum basic requirements:
1. The Hotel must have at least 10 let table bedrooms.
2. Carpet areas in respect of rooms and areas of bathroom should by and
large adhere to the following limits:-

Categories of Hotel Area standard for

bedrooms/bathrooms
• 5 Star/5 Star Deluxe Hotels
Single - 180 sq.ft.
Double - 200 sq.ft.
Bathrooms - 45 sq.ft.
• 4 Star & 3 Star Hotels
Single A/C and
Single Non A/C - 120 sq.ft.

Double A/C and

Double Non A/C - 140 sq.ft.
(Extra area may be provided if twin
beds are to be provided)

Bathrooms - 36 sq.ft.
• 2 Star & 1 Star Hotels
Single A/C and
Single Non A/C - 100 sq.ft.

Double A/C and

Double Non A/C - 120 sq.ft.
(All rooms should have proper
ventilation And ceiling fans)
 Bathrooms - 30 sq.ft. Or subject to local bye-laws
Failure to satisfy these conditions will disqualify a hotel for consideration.
These general features,facilities and services expected of hotels in different
star categories are broadly described below:

FIVE STAR CATEGORY

General features: The façade, architectural features and general construction of

the hotel building should have distinctive qualities of a luxury hotel of this
category. The locality, including the immediate approach and environments,
should be suitable for a luxury hotel of this category and there should be
adequate parking space for the car. The hotel should have at least 25 le table
rooms, all with attached bathrooms with long bath or the most modern shower
chambers. All public rooms and private rooms should be fully air-conditioned
and should be well equipped with superior quality carpets, curtains, furniture,
fittings, etc. in good taste. It would be advisable to employ the services of
professionally qualified and experienced interior designers of repute for this
purpose. There should be an adequate number of efficient lifts in the building of
more than two storeys (including the ground floor), with 24 hrs. service. There
should be a well-designed and properly equipped swimming pool.

Facilities: There should be a reception; cash and information counter attended by

highly qualified , trained and experienced personnel and conference facilities in
the form of one or more conference rooms, banquet hall and private dining
rooms. There should be a bookstall, a beauty parlor, barbershop, recognized
travel agency, florist and a shop for toilet requisites and medicines on the
premises. There should a telephone in each room and a facility of radio or relayed
music in each room. There should be a well-equipped, well-furnished and a well-
maintained dining room, restaurant on the premises and whenever permissible by
law, there should be an elegant, well-equipped bar/permit room. The pantry and
cold storage should be professionally designed to ensure efficiency of operation
and should be well equipped.

Services: The hotel should offer both Indian and International cuisine and the
food and beverage service should be of high standard. There should be
professionally qualified, efficient and courteous staff in smart, clean uniforms.
The staff coming in contact with the guests should understand English. The
supervisory staff knowing at least one continental language should be rotated on
duty at all times. There should be 24 hrs services for reception, information and
telephones. There should be provision for laundry and dry cleaning services.
Housekeeping at the Hotel should be of highest possible standard and there
should be plentiful supply of linen, blankets, towels, etc., which should be of the
highest quality available. Each bedroom should be provided with a good vacuum
jug thermos flask with ice cold, boiled drinking water except where centrally
chilled purified drinking water is provided. There should be special restaurant/
dining room where facilities for dancing, orchestra are provided.

FOUR STAR CATEGORY:

General Features: The architectural features and general construction of the

building should be distinctive and the locality including the immediate approach
should be suitable for a hotel of this category. There should be adequate parking
facilities for cars

.
The hotel should have 25 let table rooms all with attached bathrooms. At
least 50 % of bathroom must have long baths of the most modern shower
chambers, with 24 hrs service of hot and cold running water. All public areas and
private rooms should be well furnished with carpets, curtains, furniture, fittings
etc. in good state. It would be advisable to employ the services of professionally
qualified and experienced interior designer of repute of this purpose. There
should be an adequate number of efficient lifts in building of more than two
storeys (including ground floor). There should be well-appointed lobby and
ladies, gents cloak rooms equipped with fittings and furniture of the highest
standard.

Facilities: There should be a reception, cash and information counter attended

by, trained and experienced personnel. There should be bookstall, recognized
travel agency, money changing and safe deposits facilities and a left luggage
room on the premises. There should be a telephone in each room and provision
for a radio or relayed music in each room. There should be a well-equipped, well-
furnished and well-appointed dining room/restaurant on the premises and where
ever permissible by law, there should be an elegant and well-equipped bar/permit
room. The kitchen, the pantry, cold storage should be professionally designed to
ensure efficiency of operation and should be well equipped.

Service: The hotel should offer both International and Indian cuisine and the
food and beverage service should be of highest standard. There should be
professionally qualified, efficient and courteous staff in smart, clean uniforms,
The staff coming in contact with the guests should understand English. It will be
desirable for some of the staff to possess the knowledge of foreign language and
staff knowing at least one continental language should be rotated on duty at all
times. There should be 24 hrs services for reception, information and telephones.
There should be provision for reliable laundry and dry cleaning services.
Housekeeping at the hotel should be of the highest possible standard and there
should be plentiful supply of linen, blankets, towels, etc., which should be of
highest quality available. Each bedroom should be provided with a good vacuum
jug thermos flask with ice cold, boiled drinking water except where centrally
chilled purified drinking water is provided. There should be special
restaurant/dining room where facilities for dancing, orchestra are provided.

THREE STAR CATEGORIES:

General features: The architectural features and general construction of the

building should be of a very good standard and the locality including the
immediate approach should be suitable for very good hotel of this category.
There should be adequate parking facilities for cars. The hotel should have at
least 20 let table rooms all with attached bathrooms with bathtubs and/or
showers. The bathrooms should be with hot and cold running water. At least 50
% of the rooms should be air-conditioned and the furniture and furnishings such
as carpets, curtains, etc., should be of a very good standard and design. There
should be adequate number of lifts in the building more than two storeys
(including the ground floor). There should be a well appointed lounge and
separate ladies and gentlemen's cloak room equipped with fittings of a good
standard.

Facilities: There should be a reception and information counter attended by

qualified staff, and a bookstall, recognized travel agency, money changing and
safe deposit facilities on the premises. There should be a telephone in each room
except in seasonal hotels where there would be a call bell in each room and a
telephone on each floor for the use of the hotel. There should be well equipped
and well-maintained Air- conditioned dining rooms/ restaurant and where
permissible by law, there should be a bar/permit rooms. The kitchen, pantry and
cold storage should be a clean organized for orderliness and efficiency.

Service: The hotel should offer good quality cuisine both Indian as well as
continental and the food and beverage service should be of a good standard.
There should be a qualified, trained, experienced, efficient and courteous staff
coming in contact with the guests should understand English. There should be a
provision for laundry and dry cleaning service. Housekeeping at the hotel should
be of a very good standard and there should be adequate supply of linen,
blankets, towels, etc., of good quality. Similarly, cutlery, crockery, glassware
should be of a good quality. Each bedroom should be provided with vacuum
jug/thermos flask with cold, boiled drinking water. The hotel should provide
orchestra and hall room facilities and should attempt to present specially
choreographed Indian Cabaret.

TWO STAR CATEGORIES

General features: The building should be well constructed and the locality and
environs including the approach should be suitable for a good hotel. The hotel
should be at least 10 let table bedrooms of which at least 75 % should have
attached bathrooms with showers and a bathroom for every four of the remaining
rooms and should be with modern sanitation and running cold water with
adequate supply of hot water, soap and toilet papers. 25 % of the rooms should be
air-conditioned (where there should be heating arrangements in all the rooms)
and all rooms must be properly ventilated clean and comfortable with all the
necessary items if furniture. There should be a well-furnished lounge.

Facilities: There should be a reception counter with a telephone. There should be

a telephone or call bell in each room and has a separate telephone. There should
be a well maintained and well-equipped dining room/restaurant serving good,
clean wholesome food and a clean, hygienic and well-equipped kitchen and
pantry.

Service: There should be experienced, courteous and efficient staff in smart and
clean uniforms. The supervisory staff coming in contact with guests should
understand English. There should be provision for laundry and dry cleaning
services. Housekeeping at the hotel should be of good standard and good quality
linen, blankets, towels etc., should be provided. Similarly, crockery. Cutlery and
glassware should be of a good quality.

ONE STAR CATEGORY:

General features: The general construction of the building should be good and
the locality and environs, including immediate approach should be suitable. The
hotel should have at least 10 let table bedrooms of which at least 25 % should
have attached bathrooms with a bathroom for every 4 of the remaining rooms. At
least 25 % of the bathrooms should have western style WCs. All bathrooms
should have modern sanitation and running cold- water with adequate supply of
hot water, soap and toilet paper. The rooms should be properly ventilated and
should have clean and comfortable bed and furniture.

Facilities: There should be a reception counter with a telephone and a telephone

for the use of the guests and visitors. There should be clean and wholesome food
and there should be a clean well equipped kitchen and pantry.

Services: There should be experienced, courteous and efficient staff in smart and
clean uniforms and senior staff coming in contact with guests should possess
working knowledge of English. Housekeeping at the hotel should be of a good
standard and clean and good quality linen, blankets, towels etc., should be
supplied. Similarly, crockery cutlery and glassware should be of good quality.

A classification fee at the following rate is payable by the hotels supplying for
classification:

STAR CATEGORY Amount in Rs

One star 6000/-
Two star 8000/-
Three star 10000/-
Four star 15000/-
Five star 20000/-
Five star deluxe 25000/-
Heritage 15000/-

The classification fee is payable by means of demand draft drawn in favour of the
Pay & Accounts Officer, Department of Tourism, New Delhi. For Re-
classification, fee will be 50 % of the above fee.
The application of One, Two and Three star category of Hotels should
be addresses to The Regional Director, Government of India Tourist Office, M.
Karve road, Mumbai 400 020. Where as the applications for Four, Five and Five
Deluxe category hotels should be addressed to The Assistant Director (Hotels),
Department of Tourism, Government of India C.I Hutments, Dalhousie Road,
New Delhi, 110011.
 For each of these categories of star classification the hotel have to fulfill
three classes of criteria, E-Essential, N-Necessary, D-Desirable. For each of these
criteria there are maximum marks-alloted.

Guidelines of classifications of hotels.

Government of India,
Department of Tourism
(H & R Division)

Hotels are an integral part of a tourist's visit to a place and the services offered by them
can make or mar a visit completely. With the aim of providing standardized, world class
services to the tourists, the Government of India, Department of Tourism has a voluntary
scheme for classification of fully operational hotels in the following categories:-

1. Star Hotels:- 5 Star Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star, 3 Star, 2 Star & 1 Star

2. Heritage Hotels:- Heritage Grand, Heritage Classic & Heritage

The Hotel & Restaurant Approval & Classification Committee (HRACC) inspects and
assesses the hotels based on facilities and services offered.

Project approvals are also given in all the above-mentioned categories at the project
implementation stage.

Classified hotels/approved projects are eligible for various concessions and facilities that
are announced by the Government from time to time besides, getting worldwide publicity
through the Indiatourism Offices located in India and abroad.

Details of the criteria set and the documents required are given in this document

For classification and project approvals in the 5 Star Deluxe, 5 Star, 4 Star and all the
three Heritage categories the applications along with the requisite fees may be sent to:-

Member Secretary (HRACC)/Hotel and Restaurants Division,

Department of Tourism, Government of India,
C-1 Hutments, Dalhousie Road, New Delhi 110011.

For classifications and project approvals in the 3 Star, 2 Star and 1 Star categories the
applications along with the requisite fees maybe sent to the Regional Director,
Indiatourism Office in whose region the hotel/project is located:

1. Regional Director, 2. Regional Director, 3. Regional Director,

Indiatourism, Indiatourism, Indiatourism,
West & Central Region, Northern Region, Southern Region,
121, M. Karve Road, 88, Janpath, 154, Anna Salai,
Mumbai 400 020 New Delhi 110001 Chennai 600002

4. Regional Director, 5. Regional Director,

Indiatourism, Indiatourism,
Eastern Region, North Eastern Region,
Embassy, 4, G. L. Publication Complex,
Shakespeare Sarani, G. S. Road,
Kolkata 700007 Guwahati-781007

GENERAL TERMS, CONDITIONS & APPLICATION FORMAT FOR

PROJECT APPROVAL AT PROJECT LEVEL & CLASSIFICATION OF HOTELS

Approval at Project Level

1. The Department of Tourism approves hotels at project stage based on
documentation, which enables the hotels to get certain benefits from the govt. as
announced from time to time. The documents required for project approvals are
listed below.
2. Project approvals are valid for 5 years. Project approvals of the Govt. of India,
Department of Tourism cease 3 months from the date that the hotel becomes
operational even if all its rooms are not ready. The hotel must apply for
classification within these 3 months.
3. The Department of Tourism, Govt. India reserves the right to modify the
guidelines/terms and conditions from time to time
4. Application form. This covers
i. Proposed name of the hotel
ii. Name of the promoters with a note on their business antecedents
iii. Complete postal address of the promoters/tel./fax/email
iv. Status of the owners/ promoters
1 If Public/ private limited company with copies of Memorandum and
Articles of Association
2 If Partnership, a copy of partnership deed and certificate of registration
3 If proprietary concern, name and address of proprietor/certificate
of registration
v. Location of hotel site with postal address
vi. Details of the site
1. Area (in sq. meters)
2. Title - owned/ leased with copies of sale/ lease deed
 3. Copy of Land Use Permit from local authorities
4. Distances from Railway station, airport, main shopping centers (in
Kms)
vii. Details of the project
1. Copy of feasibility report.
2. Star category planned
3. Number of rooms and area for each type of room (in sq.ft.)
4. Number of attached baths and areas (in sq.ft.)
5. Details of public areas - Lobby/lounge, restaurants, bars, shopping,
banquet/ conference halls, health club, swimming pool, parking
facilities.
6. Facilities for the physically challenged persons.
7. Eco-friendly practices and any other additional facilities (please
indicate area in sq.ft for each facility mentioned above at 5,6 &7)
8. Date by which project is expected to be completed and operational.
viii. Blue prints/ sketch plans signed by owners and architect showing
1. Site plan
2. Front and side elevations
3. Floor plans for all floors
4. Detail of guest room and bath room with dimensions in sq.ft.
5. Details of Fire Fighting Measures/ Hydrants etc.
6. Details of measures for energy conservation and water harvesting.
ix. Air-conditioning details for guest rooms, public areas
x. Local approvals by
1. Municipal authorities
2. Concerned Police Authorities
3. Any other local authority as maybe required.
4. Approval /NOC from Airport Authority of India for projects located
near Airports
The above mentioned approvals/NOCs are the responsibility of the
promoters/concerned company as the case may be. The Department's
approval is no substitute for any statutory approval and the
approval given is liable to be withdrawn in case of any violations
without notice.
xi. Proposed capital structure
1. Total project cost
a. Equity component with details of paid up capital
b. Debt - with current and proposed sources of funding
xii. Letter of acceptance of regulatory conditions.
 xiii. Please indicate whether the promoter intends to give a few rooms or all
rooms on a time- share basis.
xiv. Application Fee

5. In the event of any changes in the project plans, the approval must be sought afresh.
6. Authorized officers of the Department of Tourism should be allowed free access to
inspect the premises from time to time without prior notice
7. The hotel must immediately inform the Department of the date from which the hotel
becomes operational and apply for classification within 3 months of this date.
8. The fees payable for the project approval and subsequent extension, if required are
as follows. The demand draft maybe payable to "Pay & Accounts Officer,
Department of Tourism, New Delhi".
Star Category Amount in Rs.
5- Star 15,000
4- Star 12,000
3- Star 8,000
2 -Star 6,000
1- Star 5,000
Heritage Category 12,000
9. The promoters must forward regular progress reports for each quarter failing which
the project approval would be considered withdrawn.
10. All documents must be valid at the time of application and a Gazette officer or
Notary must duly certify copies furnished to the Department. Documents in local
languages should be accompanied by a translation in English/official language and
be duly certified.
11. Projects, where it is proposed to let out part or whole of the hotel on time share
basis will not be eligible for approval.
12. For any change in the category the promoters must apply afresh with a fresh
application form and requisite fees for the category applied for.
13. Any changes in the project plans or management should be informed to the,
Department of Tourism/Regional Directors Office (For 3,2 &1 Star categories) (for
5-D, 5, 4 Star and Heritage categories) within 30 days otherwise the approval will
stand withdrawn/terminated.
14. Applicants are requested to go through the checklist of facilities and services
contained in this document before applying.
15. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
16. The Govt. India Department of Tourism reserves the right to modify the
guidelines/terms and conditions from time to time

Hotel Classification/Reclassification
1. Classification for newly operational hotels must be sought within 3 months of
completion of approved hotel projects. Operating hotels may opt for classification
at any stage. However, hotels seeking re-classification should apply for
reclassification one year prior to the expiry of the current period of classification.
2. If the hotel fails to reapply 1 year before the expiry of the classification order, the
application will be treated as a fresh classification case.
3. Once a hotel applies for classification/ re-classification, it should be ready at all
times for inspection by the HRACC. No requests for deferment of inspection will
be entertained.
4. Classification will be valid for 5 (Five) years from the date of issue of orders or in
case of reclassification from the date of expiry of the last classification provided
that the application has been received within the stipulated time mentioned above,
along with all valid documents. Incomplete applications will not be accepted.
5. Hotels which propose to let out part of or all its rooms on time-share basis are not
eligible to be classified
6. Hotels applying for classification must provide the following documentation.
Application Form detailing
i. Name of the hotel
ii. ii. Name and address of the promoters/owners with a note on their business
antecedents
iii. iii. Complete postal address of the hotel with tel. no/fax/email
iv. iv. Status of the owners/ promoters
1. If Public/ private limited company with copies of Memorandum and
Articles of Association
2. If Partnership, a copy of partnership deed and certificate of registration
3. If proprietary concern, name and address of proprietor/certificate of
registration.
v. Date on which the hotel became operational.
vi. Details of hotel site with postal address and distance from Airport/Railway
Station/City Center/Downtown shopping area (in kms)
vii. Details of the hotel
1. Area (in sq. meters) with title - owned/ leased with copies of sale/ lease
deed
2. Copy of Land Use Permit from local authorities
3. Star category being applied for
4. Number of rooms and area for each type of room in sq.ft.
(single/double/suites)
5. Number of attached baths
6. Details of public areas - Lobby/lounge, restaurants, bars, shopping area,
banquet/ conference halls, health club, swimming pool, parking
facilities, facilities for the physically challenged persons, Eco-friendly
 practices and any other additional facilities. The area for each facility
should be indicated in sq.ft
7. Detail of guestroom and bathroom with dimensions in sq.ft.
8. Details of Fire Fighting Measures/ Hydrants etc.
9. Details of measures for energy conservation and water harvesting and
other Eco- friendly measures and initiatives.
10. Air-conditioning details for guest rooms, public areas
viii. Certificates/No Objection Certificate's (attested copies)
1. Certificate/ licence from Municipality/ Corporation to show that your
establishment is registered as a hotel
2. Certificate/ licence from concerned Police Department authorizing the
running of a hotel
3. Clearance Certificate from Municipal Health Officer/ Sanitary
Inspector giving clearance to your establishment from
sanitary/hygienic point of view
4. No Objection Certificate with respect to fire fighting arrangements
from the Fire Service Department (Local Fire Brigade Authorities)
5. Public liability insurance
6. Bar Licence (necessary for 4*, 5* & 5*-D only)
7. Money Changers Licence (necessary for 4*,5*& 5*-D only)
8. Sanctioned building plans/occupancy certificate
9. If classified earlier, a copy of the earlier "Certificate of Classification
issued by Department of Tourism
10 For Heritage property, certificate from the local authority stating age of
the property and showing new and old built up areas separately.
11. Any other local authority as maybe required.
12. Approval /NOC from AAI for projects located near Airports
13. Please indicate whether a few rooms or all rooms are to be let out on a
time-share basis.
14. Application fees
The above-mentioned approvals/No Objection Certificates are the
responsibility of the Owners/promoters/concerned Company as the case may
be. The Department's approval is no substitute for any statutory approval and
the approval given is liable to be withdrawn without notice in case of any
violations or misrepresentation of facts.
7. All applications for classification or re-classification must be complete in all
respects - application form, application fee, prescribed clearances, NOCs,
certificates etc. - incomplete application is liable to be rejected.
8. Hotels will qualify for classification as Heritage hotels provided a minimum 50% of
the floor area was built before 1935 and no substantial change has been made in the
facade. Hotels, which have been classified/, re-classified under Heritage categories
 prior to issue of these Guidelines will continue under Heritage categories even if
they were built between 1935-1950.
9. The application fees payable for classification/reclassification are as follows. The
demand draft maybe payable to "Pay & Accounts Officer, Department of Tourism,
New Delhi".
Star Category Classification/Reclassification
fees in Rs.
1-Star 6,000
2-Star 8,000
3-Star 10,000
4-Star 15,000
5- Star 20,000
5-Star Deluxe 25,000
Heritage 15,000
(Grand, Classic & Heritage categories)
10. The classification committee will consist as follows
i. For 4*, 5* and 5*Deluxe and Heritage category - Chaired by Chairman
(HRACC) or his representative. Representatives from FHRAI/ HAI/ IATO/
TAAI/ IHM /RD/local India tourism office/Director(T) of the concerned State
Govt. or his representative (who should be a Gazetted officer) /Member
Secretary will constitute the other members of the Committee. In case of
Heritage category, a representative of IHHA will be a member of the
committee.
ii. For 1*, 2* & 3*, the committee will be Chaired by Secretary (T) of the
concerned State Govt. or his nominee who should not be below the rank of a
Deputy Secretary to the Government of India. In his absence the Regional
Director, India tourism who is also Member Secretary, Regional HRACC will
chair the committee. The recommendations will be sent to HRACC Division
(Department of Tourism, Government of India) within 3 weeks. Other
members will be representatives from FHRAI/ IATO/ TAAI/ IHM.
iii. The Chairman and any 3 members will constitute a quorum
iv. The minutes will be approved by the Chairman (HRACC).
v. In case of any dissatisfaction with the decision of HRACC the hotels may
appeal to Secretary (T), Government of India for review and reconsideration
within 30 days of receiving the communication regarding classification/
reclassification. No requests will be entertained beyond this period.
11. Hotels will be classified following a two stage procedure
i. The presence of facilities and services will be evaluated against the enclosed
checklist.
1. New projects will be required to adopt environment friendly practices
and facilities for physically challenged persons.
 2. Existing hotels being classified will need to conform to a phased plan
for adding Eco-friendly practices and facilities for physically
challenged persons, which should be completed by 31st December,
2003.
ii. The quality of facilities and services will be evaluated against the mark sheet
12. The hotel is expected to maintain required standards at all times. The Classification
Committee may inspect a hotel at any time without previous notice. The Committee
may request that its members be accommodated overnight to inspect the level of
services.
13. Any deficiencies/ rectification pointed out by the HRACC must be complied with
within the stipulated time, which has been allotted in consultation with the hotel
representatives during inspection. Failure to do so will result in rejection of the
application.
14. The committee may assign a star category lower but not higher than that applied
for.
15. The hotel must be able to convince the committee that they are taking sufficient
steps to conserve energy and harvest water, garbage segregation, and
disposal/recycling as per Pollution Control Board (PCB) norms and following other
Eco-friendly measures.
16. For any change in the star category/heritage category the promoters must apply
afresh with a fresh application form and requisite fees for the category applied for.
17. Any changes in the plans or management of the hotel should be informed to the
HRACC, Govt. of India, Department of Tourism within 30 days otherwise the
classification will stand withdrawn/terminated.
18. Applicants are requested to go through the checklist of facilities and services
contained in this document before applying.
19. Incomplete applications will not be considered. All cases of classification would be
finalised within three months of the application being made.
20. The Govt. India Department of Tourism reserves the right to modify the
guidelines/terms and conditions from time to time

Format for Undertaking

To,
The Secretary (T)
Govt. of India,
Department of Tourism
New Delhi.

UNDERTAKING

I have read and understood all the terms and conditions mentioned above with respect to
project approval/classification/reclassification in 1/2/3/4/5/5-D/Heritage category and
hereby agree to abide by them. The information and documents provided are correct and
authentic to the best of my knowledge.

Signature and name in block letters

Seal of the applicant
Place:
Date:

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
DEPARTMENT OF TOURISM
(H & R Division)

C-1, Hutments,
Dalhousie Road,
NEW DELHI
Tel: 011-3014581
Fax: 011-3011518
No.6-HRACC (1)/2000
6th February, 2003

To
1. Secretary General, FHRAI
2. President, HAI
 3. President, IHHA

Sir,

With a view of improving standards and creating awareness, the Govt. of India,
Department of Tourism has decided to include some measures to encourage eco-friendly
practices and facilities for the physically challenged persons as a necessary requirement
for all approved projects and classified hotels. These have been included in the revised
guidelines, which would come into effect shortly. The details of these are as follows:-

I. Eco-Friendly Practices

 Energy Conservation: It is necessary that all star category hotels should have
energy conservation lamps. The use of solar energy, timers etc. is desirable.
 Water Conservation: Water saving taps and showers are necessary for 5-star and
5-star deluxe hotels and desirable for 1-star to 4-star category and Heritage
hotels.
 Waste Management: Solid waste management and recycling of garbage should
be undertaken. Garbage should be segregated into wet and dry separating that
which can be re-cycled or re-used. It is necessary that the wet garbage areas
should be airconditioned for 3 to 5 Star deluxe categories and desirable for 1 and
2 star hotels.The aim should be to achieve a "zero garbage policy" by utilizing all
the organic waste.

Other Desiarable Measures:

 The use of plastic should be discouraged.

 Efforts for water conservation should be made by incorporating dual system
flushing options for liquid and solid wastes, etc.
 Efforts to harvest rainwater should be made.
 Pollution control methods for air, water, sound & light should be incorporated.
Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP)'s should be installed.
 Non CFC refrigeration and Air-conditioning.
 Efforts should be made for greening of the hotel's surroundings.
 Installing timers in areas where lights tend to be left on.
 Guest key linked light and A/C activation
 Thermostat regulators in rooms
 General awareness about Eco-friendly practices should be made by training the
staff.
 Hotels may refer to the PATA handbook on Eco-tourism & Environment or other
similar publications for details.
II. Facilities for physically challenged persons

 At least one room should be equipped for physically challenged persons. This is
necessary for all 4, 5 and 5 -Deluxe category hotels and desirable for 1 to 4 star
category hotels.
 At least one telephone in the lounge or seating area in the lobby should be placed
at no higher than 24" from the floor. This is necessary for 5-Star and 5-Star
deluxe hotels, it would be desirable for all classified hotels to have this facility.
 The public rest rooms for ladies and gents should have facilities for physically
challenged person's i.e. low height urinals as per international specifications. This
is a necessary requirement for all classified hotels.
 Ramps with anti-slip floors and handrails are a necessary requirement for 4, 5 and
5 star deluxe hotels and desirable for all others.
 Wheelchair access with suitable table at least one multi-cuisine restaurant.
 The entrance doors should have a minimum width of 32" to allow free access for
wheelchairs.
 Fire and emergency alarms should be visible and audible signals.
 Exclusively earmarked, clearly sign-posted and accessible parking space may be
allocated nearest to the entrance.
 Suitably equipped elevators i.e. minimum 32" width, handrails, audio-
announcement of floors and accessible buttons for the physically challenged
persons.
These measures maybe incorporated in a phased manner by
31.12.2003. The presence of these facilities will be taken into consideration while
inspecting hotels for classification/reclassification. Hence, you are requested to
kindly inform all the members of your association accordingly.

Yours faithfully,

(Mrs. T. Kumar)
Member Secretary(HRACC)
 Government of India
Department of Tourism (H&R Cell)
Hotel Classification

Mark sheet for quality

Criteria Max Marks Score Comments

Exterior & Grounds 8 Exteriors, Approach 2/ Landscaping
2/ Exterior lighting 2/ Parking 2
Guest Rooms 10 Furniture 2/ Furnishings 2/ Decor 2/
Room facilities & amenities 2/ Linen
2
Bathrooms 8 Facilities 2/ Fittings 2/ Linen 2/
Toiletries 2
Public Areas 8 Furniture 2/ Furnishings 2/ Decor 2/
 Restrooms 2
Food & Beverage 8 Choice of cuisine, menu 3/ decor 2/
food quality 3
Kitchens 8 Equipment 3/ State of repair 2/ food
storage 3
Cleanliness 8 Overall impression
Hygiene 8 Pot & Dish Washing 2/ drinking
water 2/ staff facilities 1/ pest
control 2/ garbage disposal 1
Safety & Security 8 Fire fighting equipment 2/ signage 2/
awareness of procedures 2/ public
area and room security 2
Communications 6 Phone service 2/ e-mail access 2/
internet access 1/ PC and other
equipment 1
Guest Services 5 Overall impression
Eco-friendly practices 5 Waste management, recycling, no
plastics 1/Water conservation,
Harvesting 1/pollution control-air,
water, sound, light 2/ Alternative
energy usage 1/
Facilities for Physically 5 At least a room for physically
challenged persons challenged persons 1/ public toilet in
lobby1/telephone in public places 1/
ramps etc 1/facilities for aurally or
visually handicapped 1
Staff quality 5 Overall impression
TOTAL 100

Qualifying Score

5*D 90 %
5* 80 %
4* 75 %
3* 65 %
2* 55 %
1* 50 %

LOCATION OF 5 STAR HOTELS IN INDIA

MARKET SEGMENTATION FOR HOTEL

To make the marketing decision effective, it is essential that the hotel professionals
segment the market in such a way that the task of identifying the changing needs and
requirements of different segments is made easier. Segmentation proves to be an
important commandment of marketing since this helps in making and innovating the
marketing decisions. All the users, of course have their own likes and dislikes because the
food habits are different and the drinking habits are different, the expectations are
different. The kids, teens, youths, men, women, married and unmarried, youth and grey,
technocrats and bureaucrats, business executives and political representatives stay in
hotels with diverse motives. Segmentation makes the ways for knowing their uniqueness
and formulating the sub mixes in such a way that an optimal development of marketing
resources is made possible. It is against this background that we go through segmentation
for the hotel organizations.

The ultimate motto of segmentation is to cater to the changing needs and

requirement of the users. It is done with the motto of grouping and sub-grouping the users
so that, their response to the marketing inputs are similar. The success in marketing
efforts lies in anatomizing the needs and requirement of diverse segments.

Normally the companies are found located at places of demand and therefore it is
not realistic that the distribution is equal. The federation of Hotel and Restaurant
Association of India has divided the country into four geographic regions, viz. Northern
region covering Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and other northern states; Calcutta Region covering
Orissa, West Bengal and other eastern states; and Eastern Union Territories including
Andaman and Nicobar island; Western Region covering Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP,
Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Union Territory of Pondichery. It is natural that
the distribution is lop-sided since all the regions are not conducive to rich infrastructure
facilities and the profitable marketing opportunities. The demand for accommodation is
not uniform either due to non-accessibility or due to the non-availability of basic
transport facilities. Some of the regions are better placed whereas some of the regions
face a crisis like situation.

In addition to the geographic consideration, we also find psycho-graphic

considerations important to segment the market. This is on the basis of psycho-graphic
variables, which refer to life cycle, buying motives and knowledge of prospects regarding
the services. The psycho-graphic variables vary from segment to segment. The psycho-
graphical considerations are found instrumental because the hotel professionals come to
know about the behavioral profile of different users living in different segments.

FORMULATION OF MARKETING MIX

The term marketing mix is the combination of what market offers and which studies help
in identifying the actual point where marketing action can be taken to improve the
acceptability of the hotel product and stimulate demand. With the view point of
marketing a hotel product, the combination of different submixes is found significant.
The combination of core and peripheral services, the creative promotional decision, the
pricing strategy helping hotels in maintaining the commercial viability, the official hotel
personnel instrumental in minimissing the gap between the services promised and
services offered, the educational and training program for the development of the hotel
personnel efficacious I enriching their excellence as high performers are important
decision making areas which gravitate our attention on formulation of a sound mix for the
hotel industry. It is against this background that we go through the different submixes of
the marketing mix.
PRODUCT MIX

In any organization, we find product the focal point. The hotel services also
require a fair combination of core and peripheral services. It is right to mention that in
almost all the hotels of same category by and large the core services are found identical
and therefore the peripheral services divert a close attention where the hotel personnel
need professional excellence. More innovative the peripheral services, more attractions
we add to our product mix. This makes it essential that hotels and hotel companies assign
due weightage to the formulation of an optimal product mix in which peripheral services
prove to be the point of attraction.
With the passage of time, it is quite natural that some of the services become
outdated and therefore, we need to eliminate them. At the same time it is essential that we
keep our minds open and come to know the latest developments in the likes and dislikes
of the customers, and while including new services in the product mix, assign due
weighage to their preferences. Modifications in the existing services by adding a few
outstanding properties are found to be a suitable strategy for the hotel development. The
generation of idea, the formulation of concept, the analysis of product cost and the testing
of the services before their final commercial launch become significant in this very
context. While formulating the product mix for the hotel services, it is essential that
catering management, restaurant and cafeteria management, management of bedrooms,
convention halls are given due weightage. The boarding services are considered to be an
important part of the product mix. In addition, the lodging services are also significant.

The information regarding the facilities made available by the competitor regarding
profile of potential customers, such as age bracket, sex, type of group, place of residence,
new guest, length of stay and who made booking. Besides we also need information
relating to hotel activities such as occupancy statistics, number of empty days, and
pattern of sales in restaurant and bar or so. While formulating strategies it is important
that we include in our product all the new services offered by our competitors not only
the primary and or core and peripheral but even the supportive services offered by allied
industries divert our attention. Image is the way in which a hotel portrays itself. The
factors like atmosphere, brand name, the status, type of people would be instrumental in
building up a fair image. And the most important thing in the projection of a fair image is
the quality of services and the behavior of front line staff.
PRICE MIX

Pricing decisions are found critical, challenging and chaotic. Of course no marketing mix
is found so much critical as pricing. Pricing is not only the outcome of the marketing
forces. It conveys something to customers even about the quality of the product. We also
use pricing as a tool to manage demand. How to use this important tool of the marketing
is found important to the survival and prosperity of an organization. There are the
numbers of variables influencing the pricing decision of an organization. Like other
organizations the hotels and hotel companies need to make pricing decisions. In this
context that we go through he problem of pricing in the hotel industry.

While, formulating the pricing strategy, the hotel professionals are required to
take into account a number of factors, specially the diverse nature and character of dishes,
involvement of cost and spending power of customers. We also need to consider the
economic criteria, target average spends, target covers per meal period and, current menu
and drink prices.

Pricing decisions are found important in both tactical and strategic sense. In tactical sense
it plays an outstanding role. This is due to the inseparability and perishability of hotel
products. This is also due to inability of the service engineering organizations to carry
over the unsold stocks as a buffer to cope up with the future demand as found in the
goods manufacturing organizations. Also known as price deregulation, tactical pricing is
found instrumental in promoting the hotel business. Experiences show that in hotel
business. Experiences show that in hotel industry, it is found to be a major selling tool.
There are number of ways for practicing and benefiting from this tool:

• Seasonal Discounts Found applicable in hotel industry.

Customary to charge lower prices, especially
during the off-season.

• Trade Discounts Found applicable in the hotel industry as tour

Operators and travel agent are offered
. discounts

• Special Discounts In the hotel industry we find special function

room rates for overnight convention.
 • Strategic Pricing

Here we go through the guideline of fixing reasonable room tariffs. While fixing room
tariffs, it is essential that we assign due weightage to the pricing structure to be adopted.
The average room rate should not be higher than the competitive hotels otherwise the
market will not welcome it. There are some common factors considered by the hotel
management and the public:

Current prices prior to a review

The established inflationary effect on cost
The general economic situation
The emerging trends in currency exchange and
The intensity of competition.

In the last few decades when the rate of inflation was not so high a majority of our
customers only looked at the current charges & the inflationary impact on cost. But now
the situation is much more complex & therefore the customers consider all the aforesaid
factors. In addition, it is also to be answered as to what tariff increase will the market
bear. Right averages & average room rates are the two important aspects to be taken into
consideration while fixing hotel tariffs. The following are the economic criteria on room
tariffs:

The total amount of net operating costs (after contribution from the food & beverage
departments). Net operating costs, net operating cost plus rent (if payable) net operating
cost plus interest & net operating cost plus a target return on capital.
This helps in calculating the total room sales & to achieve various levels of profits with
the assumption that room department cost ratios, staff numbers & staff standards are
known.
On the basis of the above, a schedule should be produced as per the average room rates
required in order to break even and/or to achieve the profit targets at various occupancy
levels.
Budgets on room sales are to be planned based on sales mix taking into account the
different sources of business.
After this, based on the current quoted tariffs, it is possible to calculate the different
sources of business, must not be exceeded if the average rate required is to be achieved.
• Pricing For Food And Beverage

We can’t deny the fact that pricing food and beverage is much more complicated
.In a majority of hotels, there are three or four types of room but so far as the menus are
concerned we can have dozen of dishes. There are some of the important points to be
considered in the process:

Do you find that your guests are eating in the hotel restaurant or coffee shop where the
competitive restaurants are very close to the hotel. Generally proportions do eat in but
significant proportions go out
Where a hotel has two or more restaurants, they compete with each other & help splitting
the market down the middle rather than offering a true price.
The business in the function room.

• Pricing For Function

Restaurants can get more business because the food, services or atmosphere is
unique or just a little better than the competitors. But this aspect is found more
complicated for function room services. Most of the functions are fairly routine which
makes it difficult to produce a gastronomic experience. Payroll is found to be a major
cost on functions. Unless we move to the self-service (buffet style) functions, the payroll
would remain an important dimension. A number of hotels are found fixing a staff
standard for functions based on their style of hotel or one waiter to a table of ten people
or one waiter of two tables. Yet, we find payroll more expensive.
 In view of the above, it is right to mention that the intensity of competition,
emerging trends in economy & changing lifestyles are the important factors drawing due
attention of the hotel management, specially while making the pricing
PLACE MIX

It is only not sufficient that we have a product mix of world class; it is not only
significant that we promise the best, it is much more impact-generating that we bridge
over the gap between the services-promised and the services-offered. The hotel and the
hotel companies have been found innovating their service mix but they also bear the
responsibility of making it sure that the promised services reach to the ultimate users in a
right fashion. It is against this background that we focus on the place mix of hotel
management.

A sound distribution system is found significant to the development of almost all

the organizations either producing goods or generating services. In the hotel industry, the
related persons to the ultimate users mainly relate the distribution of services to the
transmission of information . As an when the bookings are made of a bedroom or a
function room or a restaurant, the confirmation is found essential. The transmission of
information related to cancellation is also found important. We can’t deny the fact that
with the introduction of sophisticated information technologies, the task is made easier
but the professionals operating & maintaining the technologies have also been found
generating the gap.

The choice of location is, of course the most important business decision
especially for proprietor-owned restaurants, guesthouse and small tourist attractions. This
is due to the fact that a well-located small business can often be sure of an adequate flow
of customers to its catchments area. In this case, the consumers come to the producer
directly and therefore, we find the distribution channels less significant. However the
fundamental attraction of well located sites does not diminish. The selection of tour
operators and travel agents is an important decision-making area for hotel & hotel
companies. If the hotel& hotel companies are well connected with the offices of travel
agents & tour operators, the occupancy ratio can be increased. The tour operators buy a
range of tourist products in bulk. This also includes accommodation facilities, which is
found relevant to the hotel industry. They also buy function rooms, specially for the
organization of conferences, seminars, exhibition, sales contests or so. After buying a
number of services & making them a lucrative package, the tour operators sell them to
the travel agents. Here, the tour operators play a decisive role in promoting the hotel
business.
The distribution chain denotes the methods by which a product or services is
processed from producers to the ultimate users. The middlemen are the link and if the
link is strong, the services generating organizations find it convenient to increase the
occupancy ratio. The middlemen are wholesalers buying hotel rooms in bulk and then
them to the retailers known as the travel agents. The tour operators are called producers
of services. The travel agents buy the services at the request of their clients and provide a
convenient network of sales outlets which caters to the needs of the catchment area. The
below given figures presents the three systems of distribution thus need due care of hotel
industry.

INSIDE SELLING

HOTEL
COMPANIES

USERS

ZERO LEVEL DISTRIBUTION

This is a process of direct distribution without any middlemen. The hotels book, confirm
and cancel with the help of their own system.
 USERS

ONE-LEVEL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

In the above figure we find one level distribution system where between the hotel
companies and their users, we find the travel agents responsible for distributing or
processing the services.
OUTSIDE SELLING

HOTEL
COMPANIES

TOUR
OPERATORS

TRAVEL AGENTS

USERS

TWO-LEVEL DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM

In the above figure we find two level distribution system in which the tour operators act
as a wholesaler and travel agent acts as retailer.
The aforesaid facts and figures make it clear that all the three systems of distribution are
found important to the hotel companies. They are suppose to seek the co-operation of
channels failing which the task of increasing the occupancy ratio would be much more
difficult.
PROMOTION MIX

For successful marketing, it is only not sufficient that we concentrate on the quality of
services but it is also impact generating that we promote our business in such a way that
our prospects come to know about the quality to be offered to them as hotel customers.
This focuses our attention on innovative promotional measures. There are a number of
components for promoting the business and it is hoped that a professionally sound
employee would blend the different constituents in such a way that effects are proactive
but the process of persuasion is cost-effective. The components like advertisement,
publicity, sales promotion, personal selling, word-of-mouth promotion and telemarketing
need due attention of hotel professionals.

ADVERTISEMENT

We are well aware of the fact that advertisement is a paid form of communication, which
helps in informing, sensing and persuading the prospects or users. While advertising, it is
significant that the hotel professionals make possible a productive use of print media,
broadcast media and telecast media. In the face of potentials, requirements and the
intensity of competition, we need to select media for promoting our massage and slogans.

Of late, we find significant developments in the print media since sophistication in the
printing technologies has made way for offset printing, screen printing and laser printing.
These devices are found efficacious in attracting the prospects. We find a number of plus
points in the print media. It is possible to be descriptive while advertising. We are in a
position to attract the attention of prospects by displaying attractive scenes, events,
landscape, comforts, costs etc. To be more specific when we have advanced print devices
we find enough scope for using print media for advertising.
Another plus point that we find in the print media is related to economy. We find it
economic and therefore the promotion budget is not to be non-optimal. We have a big
circulation of different newspapers, magazines and keeping in view the target market /
audience to be covered, we can take a decision in the every context.

The broadcast media can also be used for advertising the hotel services but if we make a
comparative analysis of this media with others, the effects are found of low intensity. Of
course, with the advancements in communication technologies we have almost 100 per
cent air network, which may be used, specially for low class hotels where financial
constraint stands as a barrier while advertising through expensive media.

Of late, we find telecast media considered to be the most sensitive but expensive media of
advertisement. In the world of marketing communication, we assign top position to the
telecast media because scope for audio-visual exposure makes ways for sensitising the
prospects in a right fashion. It is against this background that we find hotels advertising
through TV. Here,it is important to mention that the telecast media while advertising
assign due weightage to the sensitive hours when a majority of the viewers are found
before their TV sets. The advertising professionals are required to consider the quality
vis-à-vis reception capacity of audience and are supposed to compose the messages
accordingly. The scenes of hotel location, the swimming pool, the shopping complex, the
personal care centers, the arranged bed rooms, the restaurants and convention hall, the
aesthetic management are required to be telecast in such a way that attractions are added
in the events. The target prospects can take a decision regarding a particular hotel, if they
are found satisfied. With the availability of a number of TV channels, we now find
enough scope for maintaining economy provided the hotel professionals manage things
properly.

PUBLICITY
Another dimension of promotion known as an unpaid form of persuasive communication
also plays an incremental role in promoting the hotel business. While publicising, the
hotel professionals play a significant role by managing the media personnel for
publishing news items related to the hotel. Public relations activities thus become
instrumental in the process of publicising. The British Institute of Public Relations has
defined it as the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual
understanding between an organization and the public. Public relations cover a wide
range of activities. It is the art and science of planning and implementing a two-way
communication and understanding between hotel companies and potential users of the
services. It is also known as the reflection of the organizational programs and activities.

In the hotel industry, we find public relations activities more instrumental in informing
the clients the outstanding merits of different services offered. The specialties of hotel are
presented in such a way that the prospects are motivated to avail of the facilities offered
by a particular hotel. It also helps in creating an atmosphere where the users at large are
convinced. Besides, it also helps in collecting the information on the preferences of the
prospects. It is right to mention that we find a few or even a very few consumer industries
to be benefited substantially by public relations as the hotel industry. The vast majority of
hoteliers welcome publicity not only because it is free but because they know that most
people buy a magazine or newspaper to read the articles, news and editorials, rather than
the advertisements unless they are looking for a product or are interested in booking a
holiday or a restaurant or a convention hall or a weeding hall.
Journalists always prefer to visit a hotel as they get their full enjoyment free of cost. You
can give journalists a write-up of your story and preferably a story with a photograph. Of
course, the photograph cover a lot of space but if media use it, we find this the finest eye-
catching free publicity. Sometimes a stunt is also thought to obtain a write-up.
There are a number of media sources available for publicity. Illustration, copy and the
spoken word are the primary publicity to media, which are grouped into the following
heads:

Printed Publicity
Advertising Publicity
Projected Publicity
Structural Publicity
Personal Publicity

Thus it is right to say that public relations activities occupy a significant place in the
promotion mix of hotel companies. In the hotel companies, the tour operators, travel
agents explore opportunities for educating the masses. In this context, it is important that
hotel companies are getting the best co-operation from media and for which the Public
Relations Officers or the marketers or the contact personnel bear the responsibility of
developing rapport with them, organizing for them lunch or dinner, offering to them
small gifts and influencing them to write in favor. You spend nominal amount but get big
coverage, which help you substantially, if not at present of course in future.

SALES PROMOTION

In almost all the organizations, we feel the need of offering incentives for promoting the
business. Like other organizations, the hotels and hotel companies also offer incentives to
the user vis-à-vis to the personnel and organizations evincing interest in promoting the
business. We consider sales promotion a temporary device to increase the business with
certain objectives. It is a short-term activity seeking to boost sales during peak demanded
periods to make it sure that the firm obtains its market share and helps launch a new
product or support ailing or modified services. These facts make it clear that sales
promotion is complimentary to advertising. Sales promotion and advertising objectives
do nit conflict but reinforce one another. This tool of promotion is designed to appeal
particularly to those customer who are found sensitive to price. It is quite natural that the
tool of sales promotion attracts buyers even having little grand loyalty.

We find repeated advertising and competitive market conditions too important reasons
for the growing significance of sale promotion in the hotel industry. The techniques may
be directed the hotel staff, tour operator and the travel agents including the users of the
services.

TOOLS OF SALES PROMOTION

Directed at Hotel Staff Travel, Concessional

accommodation for close relations, use of
wedding halls for staff, contests, and gifts

Directed at tour operators and travel agents,

giveaways, concessional accommodations,
Contest

Directed at guests off-reason discount, point of

sale, sales, gifts, contests

Fig. 9. TOOLS OF SALES PROMOTION

Brochure:

It is a device to stimulate customers and motivate them to visit a hotel and avail of
the benefits offered by the management of the hotel. It is a detailed publication helping
hotel companies in promoting their business. We also call it a pamphlet bound in the
form of a booklet.

Folder:
 We find folder the most commonly used sales promotions tool. In this respect, it
is essential that folders have an impressive appearance in totality. The particulars are
required to be in brief but clear. We find it is single piece of illustrated paper, which is
found less voluminous than the brochure. The folders are usually printed on a single sheet
of paper and then folded. The quality of paper and printing used for publication are
found significant to make folders more attractive. The hotels can use folders for
promoting the business.

Packaging:

We call packaging an attractive wrapper of product. When we talk about

packaging in the hotel industry, our emphasis is on the outer cover and internal layout of
brochures and leaflets. We find it a final persuasive move on the part of hotels and hotel
companies. The materials used for packaging are required to be attractive.

Attraction leaflets:

This is exclusively meant for presenting a view of the different theme parks,
museums, amusement parks, outstanding points of attraction in the hotels or so.

Merchandising:

It is found helpful in promoting mass-market. This tool is found significant to

restaurants and bars. The merchandising involves displaying of foodstuffs and drinks in
the right location. The restaurants and bars are required to place their important items at
such point where the guest/clients get an opportunity to have a close view of special
drinks or special menu.

Direct Mail Materials:

The sales letters are found to be a direct mail material, which can either be used alone or
in combination with brochures and folders.

Display Materials:

In the materials to be displayed at sensitive points are posters, dispensers, exhibits etc.
We can use these materials in the offices of the travel agents, tour operators or at the
places where tourists come, such as tourists spots, resorts, airports, railway and bus
stations.

Competition and Exhibition:

We find a provision for special offer for all, such as users, travel agents, tour operators,
hotel personnel.

The aforesaid tools of sales promotion help hotels and hotel companies in increasing the
business. The hotel personnel need professional excellence to make the tools of sales
promotion productive.

WORD -OF- MOUTH PROMOTION

We consider word-of-mouth promotion very much instrumental in sensitising the

prospects. In the hotel industry, it is much more significant that the satisfaction of users
is give top priority. Of course, there are a number of components to promote sale but it is
right to mention that other constituents may be ineffective but the word-of-mouth can’t.
The word-of-mouth promoters are those who are satisfied with the services of hotels or
are motivated to motivate the prospects. We can’t deny the fact that one bad meal would
often do more damage by word-of-mouth would often do more damage than fifty good
meals. Out guests take a good meal for granted but don’t forget to narrate to their friends
and relatives about a bad meal or the bitter experiences of menu-fatigue. This speaks of
the fact that word-of-mouth promotion can show more negative effects and therefore the
hotels and hotel companies need to assign due weightage to this component of the
promotion mix.

PERSONEL SELLING
Nothing happens unless anyone sells something and nothing is sold unless the buyers are
motivated to purchase things of their choice. The oral representation in conversation
bears the efficiency of transforming the motivation into persuasion. Thus we find
persuasion the main thing in energizing the process of marketing. We can’t deny the fact
that the personal selling has proved to be an important constituent of promotion. There is
no doubt in it that the goods or services are found half sold when their properties are well
told. Every business house be its insurance, travel and tourism and hotel, we found
professionally sound sales force or employees playing a decisive role in promoting the
business. It is against this background that we talk about this constituent of promotion
mix.

Personal selling substantially influences the hotel business. The personal selling brings
considerable momentum to the process of boosting the hotel business. The feedback
received from the sales force engaged in the process helps marketers in designing the
plan.

PERSONAL SKILL

At the initial stage when the hotel receptionists, housekeepers, waiters, travel clerks
encounter their clients or guests, the first impression presented by them would have a far
reaching impact. The appearance and proper grooming of personnel dealing with the
guests play a significant role. We find a number of tourist organizations and hotel
companies paying attention to regulate the same. Presenting a good show by the
personnel goes a long way in influencing the image of the hotelthe hotel personnel need
to realize that their way of dealing with the customers would influence the business.
SOCIAL SKILLS

It is significant that the hotel personnel approach customers in a friendly and confident
manner. It is meant welcome smile, eye-contact, attractive deposition, and willingness to
listen. While shaking hands we convey a sense of confidence and responsibility
considered essential for opening the negotiations and transforming them into good
business.. The waiters, housekeepers, porters, receptionists’ work in close association
with the guests. They can ask a customer – attitude browsing through the brochures – is
there any particular holiday you have in mind. This helps in generating the sales
sequence.

TELE MARKETING

In an age of information explosion, we find frequent use of sophisticated information

technologies for promoting the business. The telemarketing, of late has found gravitating
the attention of number of organizations where we find use of telephonic services for
promoting the business. We can’t negate the fact that even in hotel industry, the
telemarketing can play an incremental role.

We accept the fact that the instrumentality of telemarketing is substantially influenced by

the skill of telemarketers vis-à-vis the instruments used in the process. A person with
high communicating ability is to perform as a telemarketer who bears the responsibility
of answering to the questions and queries of customers, prospects regarding the business
transactions. In the hotel industry the tele marketing can be helpful in promoting the
business since the tour operators, transport operators, travel agents and the users develop
a number of confusions and misunderstanding about booking, confirmation, cancellation,
availability of package tour, a change in hotel tariff and so. The telemarketing thus
simplifies the task of hotel professionals since the prospects think about the deal after
getting the confusion removed.

PEOPLE

In an age of sophisticated information technologies when we have been making

superhighway for communications, we find a basic change in the expectations of users.
The personnel serving the hotel companies no doubt depend substantially on the
instrumentality of information technologies but here it is also important that hotels and
hotel companies assign due weightage to the development of personnel. Sky is the limit
for perfection. This phrase is meaningful not only for the technologies but even for the
people who manage them. It is against this background that the marketing experts the
world over has been found making a strong advocacy in favour of an ongoing training
programme for the personnel servicing the hotel companies.

In this context, our prime focus is on the front-line-personnel working in hotels in

different capacities. The receptionists, the porters, the housekeepers, the waiters and
waitresses and even the doormen play an incremental role in promoting the business. The
sales executives, the marketing managers, the senior executives bear the responsibility of
managing the front-line-personnel in such a way that the promised services reach to the
ultimate users without making any distortion. Of course, they are supposed to have
proper education and knowledge regarding the services they need to offer but here, it is
also important that we organise for them an ongoing training programme, refresher
courses, capsule courses, lecture programmes, specially related to the behavioral profile.
We find several cases to quote that even the five star hotels where the users stay with
high expectations, a minor mistake committed by the receptionists or the housekeepers
has resulted in a big loss. The front-line-staff in particular need to identify the changing
levels of expectations of users and in a majority of the cases they virtually fail in doing
such. A gap is generated between the quality promised and the quality-offered. If the
hotel personnel pave to be high-performers, personally committed, professionally sound,
value-oriented, aware of the behavioral management; familiar with the aesthetic
management; they can satisfy the users even if the sophisticated technologies develop a
fault. This makes it essential that the hotel personnel are made available an ongoing
training facility efficacious in enriching their professional excellence. The cases of menu
fatigue, power interruption, mismanaged bedrooms, function rooms and restaurants,
indecent behavior of doormen, poor information to the receptionists and enquires can be
minimised considerably if we assign due weightage to performance-orientation.

We can't negate the fact that employee-orientation makes the ways for performance-
orientation. This gravitates our attention on -the multi-dimensional incentives to be
offered to the hotel personnel. Incentives pave the avenues for the generation of
efficiency vis-à-vis their personal involvement. But efficiency based incentives need an
overriding priority, which on the one hand would induce efficient while on the other
hand, would also energies inefficient to perform their best. If we keep on moving the
process of efficiency-generation by offering incentives, a strong foundation would be
engineered for generating the efficiency albeit by the low-performers. It is against this
background that we find it significant to make possible a fair synchronization of
performance-orientation and employee-orientation. We should not forget that the
technologies in no case can replace the high-performers.

PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
It’s the front of the hotel that the guest sees; so must be designed in such a manner that it
- sells the hotel to the potential customer. This includes the space, colour, light & such
other element; as these affect guest impression about the hotel. Lobby- It being the first &
the last part of the hotel that the guest sees; its designing plays a very important role. It
must be designed with fine art, elegant finishing & comfortable furnishing. And also the
lobby must be functional with receptionist area apparent to the incoming guests. Though,
the architect of the lobby grabs the customers interest but it’s the guest room that keeps
them coming back. Guest room with conformable furnishing, space, colour is a must.
The intangible nature of services makes consumers more concerned about the service
providers. In order to create trust, marketers have to provide tangible evidence. The less
tangible a service, the less the service marketing resembles goods marketing.
Performance here can be judged only after the service is completed and consistent service
level is difficult to maintain.

A hotels promotional effort must show the benefits to be derived from the service, rather
than emphasizing on the service itself. The promotional strategies usually used to portray
the strength of the service are.
Visualization – It promotes the tangible element of a service. For example, a hotel
depicts the benefits of dining at its restaurant with its ads, which shows beautiful
interiors, well laid facilities, etc.
Association- While promoting the hotel, the service is associated with a tangible person,
object or place. For example: Mc Donald’s has associated itself with Ronald, the clown in
order to appeal to children.

Physical representation – Services when represented by some physical representation

help in building the trust of the customers for example: restaurants dress their service
providers in uniforms to emphasize visibility, reliability and cleanliness, attractive menu
cards also help.

Documentation- Documentation is sued by service providers to tangibles their

intangibles. Hotel orchid advertises the awards received by it in the recent past and
emphasis its hotel as an environmentally sensitive hotel.

Branding- Also adds tangibility to intangibles. Brand help in differentiating the service
from that of its competitors in terms of name, logo, mascot and other identifying features
and forms an important component of the communication mix
 PROCESS

It’s the manner in which service is delivered. Since, in hotel industry service are rendered
by hotel & experience by the customer simultaneously, because of the inseparability
nature, the process in which these services are delivered becomes very important. This is
because every process is carefully by the customer & the customer is judging the quality
of the service on this basis.

Service Encounter: Acc. to FHRAI report, there are around 250 moments of truth in a
hotel industry where the customer comes in direct contact with the service provider,
equipment, and physical asset.
Critical incidents: Out of these 250 service encounters, there is certain encounter which
makes the customer extremely delighted or extremely disappointed. These are:

1)Check-in -If the customer who had booked the hotel in the room arrives & to his
surprise finds that no room is vacant for him. Another hand, If in an festival season when
there no hotel rooms available in the city, a hotel makes arrangement for accommodation
for a customer who has not booked his room in any hotel.

2) Bell person carrying the luggage to the room- When the bag arrives in the room, its
in extremely bad condition. This leaves negative impression in the mind of the customer.

3) Food - Quality of food, time taken for food to arrive

4) Wake up call- As wake call not made by the receptionist, the customer misses his
flight)
5) Check out- Too much time taken, procedural failure.

SERVICE TRIANGLE OF 5 STAR HOTEL

Hotel Owners/Admn
HQ.

External Marketing Internal Marketing

(Making promises) (Enabling
promises)

Employees/Waiters/ Consumers
Managers Interactive Mktg.
(Keeping promises)

EXTERNAL MARKETING: External marketing functions means anything that is

communicated to the customer before the service is delivered. In case of the Hotels,
external marketing means the promotional activities and advertisements done by the hotel
in newspapers, travel magazines, television etc. since there is direct customer contact in
an Hotel, their advertisements are centered around their employees whereby they try to
reflect customer care, attitude and other aspects of the employees and their hospitality.

INTERNAL MARKETING: In the hotel industry, the employees, who are the internal
customers of the company have different positions ranging from the doormen, the
bellboy, the receptionist to the chef, the waiter, etc. the basic principle of internal
marketing is ‘ every individual in a service organization should recognize that they have
customers to serve’. The main thrust in this is that it is not just the customer contact
employee who need to concerned about satisfying customer but also all the service
employees. In order to ensure that the final consumer receives quality service, every
individual employee and every department within the organization must receive and
provide a quality service. In fact each functional department should be treated as the
customer of another functional department. Further, all employees must be convinced
about the quality o the service being provided.

For example, the quality received by an ultimate customer of restaurant will depend upon
the quality of the service provided b each individual in the supply chain. The chef needs
quality ingredient from the stores and well-trained waiter to give a quality service to the
ultimate customer. The following model explains the impact of functional departments
quality delivery on the overall quality received by the final customer.

Service 100% 100% 100% 100%

Quality
STORE CHEF WAITER CUSTOMER
Delivered
INCHARGE

91% 81% 73%

The above model shows that every employee connected with service organization need to
recognize that there is someone whom he or she must serve.

INTERACTIVE MARKETING: Interactive marketing takes place between the Customer

and the front line managers, receptionists, employees etc. all the individuals must
successfully complete all interactions that add value to the service encounter. The
employee- customer encounter plays a major role in the hotel industry, where relationship
management is a vital factor so that the customer loyalty is maintained.

Apart from these three marketing concepts, there is another concept of Relationship
Marketing that needs to be considered.
Relationship marketing aims at developing and maintaining relationships with the
customers, the employees, the suppliers, distributors (the tour operators and travel agents
in case of the hotel industry) and other parties in the marketing environment.
Towards Customers: In case of hotels the receptionists and in case of Restaurants, the
Supervisor of the dining areas should always try to recognize their regular customers and
maintain healthy relationship with them. They can do so by providing such customers
with discounts, membership cards, etc so that the customer gets easy recognition from the
employees of the Hotel/ Restaurant.
Towards Intermediaries: the hotel must try and maintain good relationships with
intermediaries like tour operators, travel agents, etc as they are the one who escort
travelers to the hotels by advertising and recommending our hotels. Hence they must be
given fair and timely compensation to maintain the good relationships.
Towards Employees: Hotels also have to maintain healthy relationships with employees
as its HR department spend a lot on training and development of the employees. It has to
train the employees in various aspects like table communication, order taking, food
service techniques, hospitality, etiquettes, etc. hence the hotel cannot afford to have a
high amount of employee turnover as hotel will not just loose a precious trained
employee but it will have to incur additional cost on selection, recruitment and training
the new employees.
 PEST ANALYSIS

Organizations operate within an environment. There are many variables that operate
within an organizations environment that have a direct or indirect influence on their
strategy. A successful organization is one which understands and which can anticipate
and take advantage of changes within their environment .The organization's marketing
environment is made up from:
The internal environment e.g. staff (or internal customers), The microenvironment e.g.
our external customers, agents and distributors, suppliers, our competitors, etc. The
macro-environment e.g. Political (and legal) forces, Economic forces, Sociocultural
forces, and Technological forces. These are known as PEST factors. The purpose of
carrying out a PEST analysis is to analyze the external environment in which the
organizations operate and to identify how these factors influence the organizations
marketing decisions.

POLITICAL FACTORS

The political arena has a huge influence upon the regulation of businesses, and the
spending power of consumers and other businesses. They include:
Taxation:
50% of profits derived by hotels, travel agents and tour operators in foreign exchange are
exempt from income tax.
Hotels located in locations other than the four major metro cities are entitled to 30%
deduction from profit, for a ten-year period.
Hotel Expenditure Tax has been abolished. Waiving HET means total hotel billing of
customers will now become 10 per cent cheaper. And here goes the reality byte – almost
75 per cent of travellers do not access hotels that come under the purview of HET. Hence,
the benefit will accrue to a select few and not all tourists.
Tax benefits are also given to the financial institutions lending to hotel companies. The
incentive to finance hotel projects is likely to boost investment as projects would now
cost around 30-40 per cent less.
Government Rules & Regulations:
Approvals for Technology agreements in the hotel industry are available on an automatic
basis, subject to the fulfilment of certain specified parameters.
Approved hotels are entitled to import essential goods relating to the hotel and tourism
industry up to the value of 25% of the foreign exchange earned by them in the preceding
licensing year.
The industry has received boost from the open sky policy of the government, entry of low
cost airlines, government’s thrust on infrastructure development and increasing domestic
as well as international travel.
The CRZ Act or Coastal Regulation Zone Act prohibits the development of any structure
within 500 metres from the sea. This is limiting the growth of the hotel and tourism
industry as foreign tourists want to stay near beaches and there are no facilities like
resorts and hotels to cater to them near the beaches due to this Act.
The Visa regime needs to be liberalized to allow tourists to obtain a tourist visa on arrival
at the airport, as is the practice in many important tourist destinations

CORRUPTION:
As we all know politicians in India are the most corrupted. Though they have
realized the importance & potential of the tourism industry & have come up with lots of
benefits & incentives. But to avail these benefits & incentives,bribes have to be paid for
every permit & license required. When it comes to getting work services from the
government officials even after bribing them, the work is delayed.you are never sure of
time that wil be taken complete the procedures bythe officers. Therefore constant
liasoning with the minister & other government official is necessary.
Internal stability
The issues of safety and security are paramount in the minds of travelers and the
travel industry. If incidents like Godhra riots & attack on parliament keep happening,
then, confidences of the tourist regarding their safety will be hampered. It was also
observed that after these incidents the tourist arrivals showed a steady decrease, which
has affected the turnover of hotel industry.
Environmental law
Now a days protecting the environment has become one of the major issues for
most of the government. Government in this respect has taken a lot of steps. Recently the
Maharashtra government has banned constructions of new hotels in Mahabaleshwar.
There is a lot of illegal construction taking place in the hill station. According to the state
govt. many of these upcoming hotels would be causing a lot of harm to the environment.
Also many of the existing hotels have been asked to shut down because they are not
following the guidelines laid down by the court/law to protect the environment.

ECONOMIC FACTORS

BUSINESS CYCLE:
Business cycles have a wide reaching impact on hotel industry. All businesses are
affected by economical factors nationally and globally. Whether an economy is in a boom
(prosperity), recession, depression or recovery, the consumer behaviour is greatly
affected. An economy, which is booming, will have high overall ARR and occupancy
rates. If an economy in recession the overall ARR & occupancy rated will decrease. This
factor has to be taken into account by the hotel industry because it will directly affect
their profits.

EMPLOYMENT:
 At present, about 6.8million persons are directly employed by hotel industry. This
is about 2.1% of the total work force of the country. In addition, the industry provides
indirect employment to about 25 million persons. Though they are providing employment
to a massive number of people but retaining them in the organization has been seen as a
major threat in hotel industry. Hospitality business leaders have long recognized the
difficulty of retaining quality employees as a continuous threat to the health of the
industry. Attrition affects the profits & it increases the recruitment & other cost. The
quality delivered is also affected. The current bad situation is worsening.

ECONOMIC GROWTH:

The Indian hospitality industry is cyclical and largely contingent on economic

growth and international trade. These factors have turned favorable, and have translated
into improved tourist inflows and have pushed up occupancy rates. India is being seen as
a developing country with a great potential. Hence a number of MNCs are coming to the
country. Executives & representatives are having constant visits to India to finalize the
agreements & other documents. This is increasing the business travel section of hotel
industry.
Over the last few years, while FDI inflows and approvals have been improving
steadily, FII inflows too have surged during the last few quarters. This indicates the rising
foreign interest in India, which will result in higher tourist arrivals. This will in turn
increase the hotels turnover. Strong Economic Recovery And Favourable Macro-
economic Indicators To Boost Arrivals.

Infrastructure

Keeping in mind the future demand, Hotels are all ready to increase their room
capacity by 20-25% everything seems to be finalized. But one thing, which needs to be
taken care of, is that of infrastructure. Development of infrastructure is essential for the
hotel industry & in that case for any economy. In India first the industry is developed &
then the infrastructure. For India, infrastructure has been always a hindrance in
development of the hotel industry. The airports across the country are nowhere close to
world standards. With stress now being laid on improving the facilities at the airports and
developing road infrastructure across the country, the tourism & hotel industry is all set
to gain.

SOCIAL FACTORS

CONSUMER TASTES & PREFERENCES:

Especially, since India is a land of extremes there are people from various
religions and castes and hence their preferences & taste also vary. In society, most people
want to achieve the highest possible standard of living and as such, consumers are
becoming even more demanding as living standards rise.hotels also have to keep in mind
the demand by various group. For e.g. A Jain would be satisfied with the service only if
he is served jain food and it should be kept in mind that the customers next to him are
also jain or at least vegetarian.

CHANGING LIFESTYLE:

Lifestyles are becoming less predictable, more fragmented, and we have more active but
riskier lives. People are working most of the time & due to this changing lifestyle,
changing habits, they prefer going on a short trip to reduce the level of stress. Earlier
people used to go on a vacation only during the summertime & at the most twice. But
now you find people going for a trip say to Matheran or Lonavala to reduce the level of
stress & spend some quality time with their family or friends. Thus this in boosting the
domestic travel & the hotels industry is benefited the most.

CONSUMER BELIEFS:
 Most hotels generate large quantities of solid waste including bottles and food
packaging, Kitchen and garden waste, old furniture and equipment and potentially
hazardous wastes such as asbestos and solvents. The solution is recycling and reusing
waste materials wherever possible, and by safely disposing of residual wastes. The
Orchid Hotel in Mumbai, India, provides a particularly good example of innovative
recycling and waste disposal. Virtually all in-room products are reusable or recyclable;
paper usage is kept to a minimum.
Many tourists feel good knowing that they have spent a low-impact holiday and
used the services of environment conscious operators. The feel-good factor is not limited
to tourists – it can also extend to employees. In fact, good environmental stewardship has
been found to reduce employee turnover, and motivate employees to become
environment-conscious citizens. Many hotels are even trying to position themselves as
eco friendly hotels. Hotel Maurya Sheraton and Towers is the first hotel in India to be
awarded the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for 2001 by the World
Environment Foundation. It won this award again in 2004.

TECHNOLOGY FACTORS

In days gone by it was said that in order to succeed, all a hotel needed was a
scenic location and good cuisine. But in today’s competitive environment, a mistake as
trivial as not taking down a customer’s order can prove disastrous. As the hospitality
industry started looking for ways to improve efficiencies, efforts and investments in the
field of information technology intensified. One of the first deployments of IT began at
the front desk when receptionists began checking the name of the customer and then
allotted a room to him. Big hotels also started putting in place accounting systems and
back office software to improve processes. The industry has moved from the traditional
transaction-based processes such as check-in and reservations to features that are built
and designed specifically for the customer. Services like providing wireless Internet
access to guests will only increase in the future.
CRM:

While IT initiatives like centralised management and automating daily operations

are important, the key part of retaining a customer is critical to the hospitality industry.
CRM is also being adopted in a big way by almost all the big hotel chains in India. At
present, every major hotel chain in India is investing in comprehensive systems that store
complete profiles of their customers. The moment a guest checks in, he fills a form
indicating his various preferences. If he is a regular client, the hotel immediately knows
of his preferences and serves him accordingly. Every hotel has a major chunk of its
revenue coming from its regular clientele. We too recognize this and have deployed
customer information systems (CIS) to service the customer in a better way.” The same
CIS can be accessed through any of the group’s properties. A CIS enables the hotel to
keep a record of the exact profile of the customer and keep a tab on his preferences
during his subsequent visits. CIS creates guest-centric processes that are essential for
CRM. And since it focuses on preferences, requests and problems of different customers,
it is a boon to the hotel management.
Earlier, data management systems contained only static information, which was
used only to enhance efficiency of the hotel staff. But today, with the help of analytical
tools, we can provide consistent service quality. CRM and software tools for front line
staff have enhanced successful one-to-one relationships.

Wireless technologies

One of the best examples of the use of wireless technologies is the hotel industry. Major
hotels are betting on wireless services as a new lure for business travellers who rely on
high-speed Internet connectivity and wireless services to conduct day-to-day business.
Initially, wireless technology in big hotels was traditionally confined to the guest room,
the business centre or conference rooms. Hotels have started looking at using wireless
Internet services throughout the hotel.
Another significant use of this technology is seen in wireless-equipped handheld phones
called digitally enhanced cordless phones, which serve the purpose of tracking a person
anywhere in the hotel premises. This phone is especially useful for mobile staff who can
attend to a complaint immediately.

INTERNET:

This is one of the technology that every company is using in this world. It can
help a company either to gain advantage over its competitors. Companies are using
Internet for advertising their services. Through this they are able to reach thousands of
people at long distances. Hotels have their own web sites which can be used for getting
information about rooms, services offered by them & also for online reservation.
Customer is also benefited as he can get the prices of different rooms & different hotels
and accordingly make a choice.
But the sad part of the story is that Websites of most hotels serve only as
information outlets, and almost no bookings take place through the Web.One obvious
reason is security, which makes customers reluctant to reveal their credit card details on
the Web. Hence, Proper security systems are a must to avoid fraud in non face-to-face
transaction.
Thus several forces are driving the service sector today. The four important
environmental variables are forcing rapid changes in the hotel industry. People have
started thinking differently & marketers have to understand the new definition of
customer & their perception in context of these variables.

GLIMPES ON INDIAN ECONOMY

In India, agriculture still remains a predominant activity and any fluctuation in it has
serious repercussions on the whole of the economy. However, the importance of
agriculture appears to be slowly declining. In early years of 1970s its share in the net
domestic product used to be around 50 per cent. It has now come down to 26 per cent.
The country not only has gradually moved towards industrialization, but the industrial
sector has also undergone a structural change. At the time of independence not only in
terms of employment, but also in terms of its contribution to the net domestic product, the
small sector had a slight edge over the organized sector. However, during the past five
decades the rapid growth of modern industries has undermined the relative importance of
the unorganized sector.
Lastly the share of service sector has also increased in Indian economy. The given below
statistics clearly shows the dominance of service sector in the Indian economy.
GDP’s SECTORIAL SHARE

SECTOR Percentage
AGRICULTURE 30.8
MANUFACTURING 8.04
SERVICES 51.16

GDP’s SECTORIAL SHARE

60
50
Percentage

40
30 Percentage
20
10
0
AGRICULTURE MANUFACTURING SERVICES
Sectors

The given below table clearly indicates the increasing rate of service sector and its
dominance in the Indian economy.
 It also indicates the increasing share of hotel industry in the service sector.

TABLE OF SHARE OF SERVICE SECTOR IN INDIA’S GDP

Share of the service sector in India's GDP (in Rs. crore).

Figures in brackets indicate percentage share of different sectors and subsectors.
Figures for 1994-95 onwards are on a changed base (1993-94=100), so they show huge increases compared to
preceding period.
1996- 1995- 1994- 1993- 1992- 1991- 1990- 1985-
1998-99 1997-98 1980
97 96 95* 94 93 92 91 86
569005 537642 498572 463980 423200 108974 102142 97045 92733 66306 5017
Services
(51.16) (51.24) (49.91) (50.08) (49.15) (45.62) (45.34) (45.35) (43.69) (42.25) (40.9
of which
50328 49313 47382 46054 42560 10517 10386 10047 9833 7183 6114
Construction
(4.53) (4.70) (4.74) (4.97) (4.94) (4.40) (4.61) (4.70) (4.63) (4.59) (4.99
Trade, hotels & 164355 155954 143858 127532 31057 28650 26827 26580 19649 1471
....
restaurants (15.68) (15.61) (15.53) (14.81) (13.00) (12.72) (12.54) (12.52) (12.55) (12.0
of which
155120 147305 136087 121546 29082 26866 25147 24933 18498 1383
i) Trade ....
(14.78) (14.75) (14.69) (14.12) (12.18) (11.93) (11.75) (11.75) (11.81) (11.3
ii) Hotels & 9235 8649 7771 5986 1975 1784 1680 1647 1151 874
....
restaurants (0.88) (0.87) (0.84) (0.70) (0.83) (0.79) (0.79) (0.78) (0.74) (0.71
Transport, storage 79819 74956 68788 63118 13057 12398 11785 11164 7951 5724
....
& communications (7.61) (7.50) (7.43) (7.33) (5.47) (5.50) (5.51) (5.26) (5.08) (4.68
of which
11521 11189 10647 9846 1746 1758 1778 1677 1404 1124
i) Railways ....
(1.10) (1.12) (1.15) (1.14) (0.73) (0.78) (0.83) (0.79) (0.90) (0.92
ii) Transport by 50144 47895 44513 41706 9209 8735 8275 7853 5309 3680
....
other means (4.78) (4.79) (4.80) (4.84) (3.86) (3.88) (3.87) (3.70) (3.39) (3.01
655 646 652 621 188 180 175 177 163 122
iii) Storage ....
(0.06) (0.06) (0.07) (0.07) (0.08) (0.08) (0.08) (0.08) (0.10) (0.10
 17499 15226 12976 10945 1914 1725 1557 1457 1075 798
iv)Communication ....
(1.67) (1.52) (1.40) (1.27) (0.80) (0.77) (0.73) (0.69) (0.69) (0.65
Financing,
127205 119814 110575 102438 94609 27711 25084 23972 21700 14708 1079
insurance, real
(11.44) (11.42) (11.07) (11.06) (10.99) (11.06) (11.14) (11.20) (10.22) (9.39) (8.81
estate
of which
i) Banking & 65814 58034 51343 45190 16111 13861 13107 11169 5828 3408
....
insurance (6.27) (5.81) (5.54) (5.25) (6.74) (6.15) (6.13) (5.26) (3.72) (2.78
ii) Real estate, 54000 52481 51095 49419 11600 11223 10865 10531 8880 7383
....
dwelling business (5.15) (5.25) (5.52) (5.74) (4.86) (4.98) (5.08) (4.96) (5.67) (6.03
Community, social, 131047 124341 109705 102842 95381 26632 25624 24414 23456 16815 1283
personal (11.78) (11.85) (10.98) (11.10) (11.08) (11.15) (11.37) (11.41) (11.05) (10.74) (10.4
of which
i) Public admin. & 58631 48736 46635 43620 12483 12170 11570 11328 8016 5794
....
defence (5.59) (4.88) (5.03) (5.07) (5.23) (5.40) (5.41) (5.34) (5.12) (4.73
65710 60969 56207 51761 14149 13454 12844 12128 8799 7041
ii) Other services ....
(6.26) (6.10) (6.07) (6.01) (5.92) (5.97) (6.00) (5.71) (5.62) (5.75
Total GDP: 1112206 1049191 998978 926412 861064 238864 225268 213983 212253 156566 1224

5 STAR HOTEL MARKETING IN INDIA

The British made the plantation of a western concept in the eastern environment initially.
The Taj Mahal Hotel built by Jameshedji Nauroji Tata in Bombay in 1903 is the only
exception since till dawn of the independence by and large almost all the hotels in India
were owned and managed by British or Swiss. After the attainment of independence and
to be more specific with the beginning of the planned concept of economic development,
the contours of development underwent radical changes. The policy makers realised the
significance of hotel and tourism services in the emancipation of economy and gradually
we find. a change in the development processes. UNESCO Conference organized in
Delhi made the ways for the establishment of the Ashok Hotel in 1956, specially to
accommodate the delegates attending the conference. Since then, we find a change in the
development philosophy which encouraged albeit the private sector to . Participate in the
development process.

The hotel industry particularly in the Indian perspective has often considered marketing
as a tantamount of selling. We need to perceive that the marketing transplants the seeds
and sales harvest the crops. We can't think of harvesting unless we think seriously about
transplanting. The retarded development of hotel industry in the Indian environment is
also due to the delayed application of modern marketing principles. Of late, the policy
makers, the hoteliers, the tour and 'transport operators, the travel agents realise. That to
activate the process of development and to make” the services internationally competitive
vis-à-vis commercially viable; they have no option but to perceive and practice modern
marketing principles in a right fashion. Such an attitudinal change has opened new vistas
of the development of hotel industry.

Hotel marketing studies in its purview almost all the components directly or indirectly
influencing the maintaining of commercial viability along with the generation of
customer satisfaction. 14 We are aware of the fact that marketing is a process of
engineering users' satisfaction and practicing marketing in right perspective would make
possible multi-dimensional qualitative improvements. The task before the hotels and
hotel companies is to conceptualise marketing in the face of changing business
conditions. Of late we find the intensity of competition at its peak, the business
environment highly volatile and the domination of sophisticated information technologies
increasing very fast. The leading hotel chains have been found evincing their interests in
the development of hotel industry in the face of new emerging trends, which have been
helping them in increasing the market share and establishing the leadership.

We have high potentials for the development of tourism industry, which may be
considered to be a positive sign for the development of hotel industry. In addition, we
have also been successful in increasing the domination of corporate sector in the national
economic transformation processes, which has been opening new fronts for the
development of hotel culture. Significant developments in the field of transportation,
sophisticated communication technologies due to satellite communication have been
found influencing our lifestyles fantastically. The kids, teens, women are now found
crossing the threshold barriers. The professional education has been gaining popularity
specially among the women and now we find them working as business executives.
Women have also proved to be successful technocrats and bureaucrats. In almost all the
areas we find women contributing and sharing substantially.

These developments have made the business environment for the hotel industry more
conducive. The opportunities are not available and we need professional excellence to
capitalise on the same profitably.

The contribution of India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to the development

of hotel industry is found positive. The Ashok Chain is the largest hotel chain in India
which is run by the ITDC, the public sector undertaking. Originally, the name of the
chain was Ashoka but now it is Ashok. The Oberoi Chain is also found gaining
popularity. The Taj Group of hotels are managed and controlled by the Indian Hotels
Company Ltd. Besides, the Welcome Group is one of the fastest growing hotel chain in
the Indian perspective. The Hotel Corporation of India a subsidiary of Air India started
with one” hotel Centaur at Bombay airport, presently have a number of hotels in different
parts of the county try. The Clark group, Eastern Hotel International and Traveler are also
emerging as important groups.
It is high time that particularly in the Indian perspective the public as well as the private
sector realises the relevance of economic hotels for burgeoning Middle Class. In addition,
it is also important that the big hotel chains think about hotel accommodation facilities
albeit for the low-income group of the Indian society. This is essential because the urban
population is increasing fast. We find a profitable opportunity there which focuses on
development of new economic hotels.
The intensity of competition is found mounting which makes it essential that the hotels
and hotel companies think about innovative marketing. They need to blend core and
peripheral services in such a way that the product uniqueness is made possible. Since we
find least scope for innovating the core services, the hotel professionals need to think in
favour of innovative peripheral services. Enriching the peripheral services is the first and
foremost task before the hotel professionals. We can't deny the fact that a majority of the
Indian hotels have been facing image problem, which has been complicating their task of
in creasing the market share. Of late we have sophisticated technologies and a big team of
professionals having world-class excellence, which simplify the task of innovating the
promotional measure so that projection of a positive image is made possible. We need to
make possible creativity in the promotional measures with the motto of sensitising the
prospects and stimulating the demand. Of course we find luxury hotels symbolising status
but at the same time economic hotels or say inexpensive hotels need due attention of
hotel planners. The hotel personnel need an ongoing training programme. With the
sophistication in the process of inform action technologies frequently used by the hotel
companies, we need to redesign our personnel development programmes. We are living
in an age of high performers where the human resources are supposed to be personally
committed and professionally sound. This draws our attention on the motivational
schemes for the hotel personnel.
In view of the above', it is right to mention that innovation in developing and using the
marketing resources is felt urgent and the hotels and hotel companies have no option but
to make it possible so that the process of quality up gradation keeps on moving.
Perceiving right perception of marketing in a right fashion is crying need of the hour,
which is to be publicized and practiced by the world-class hotel professionals on a
priority basis
The Taj Mahal Palace
For more than 100 years, we have acquainted guests with the living heritage of India -
and a legendary experience in hospitality.

It began on December 16, 1903, when Jamshetji Nusserwanji Tata opened Taj’s first
hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai. This grand hotel epitomized a philosophy
that still holds true today: provide impeccable service and unparalleled facilities so every
stay is a memorable one.

A part of the Tata Group of companies www.tata.com, India's premier business house,
Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces comprises 57 hotels in 40 locations across India with an
additional 18 international hotels in the Maldives, Mauritius, Malaysia, Seychelles,
Australia, UK, USA, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Africa, and the Middle East. Over the years, Taj
has won international acclaim for its quality hotels and its excellence in dining, business
facilities, interiors, and world-class, personalized service.

In India, Taj is recognized as the premier hospitality provider, spanning the length and
breadth of the country, and gracing important industrial towns and cities, beautiful
beaches, historical and pilgrim centres, and wildlife destinations.

An innovator in dining, Taj was the first to introduce Sichuan, Thai, Italian, Mexican, and
Californian cuisine into the country. In 1972, it was the first to open a 24-hour coffee
shop in India at Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai. Today, each restaurant is reflective
of that tradition, setting benchmarks for an outstanding culinary experience

History
Billed by the Times, London as the finest hotel in the East, the Taj’s first hotel, the Taj
Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai was perhaps the only place in the world where a British
Viceroy could rub shoulders with an Indian Maharajah, where the Congress could debate
with right wing leaders, and where sailors on shore leave could flirt with the Pompadour
Follies. Built at the cost of a quarter of a million pounds, the hotel introduced a series of
firsts that set new benchmarks in Indian hospitality. Over the years, the Taj brought into
Bombay, “Professors of Dance’ Mademoiselle Singy to raise temperatures and a few
eyebrows with the Tango, the first air-conditioned ballroom to cool things down, the first
cold storage, the first licensed bar, and more.
The changing decades ushered in new tastes and newer guests including Mick Jagger,
Steven Spielberg, and David Rockefeller, to name a few. From Nobel laureates to rock
stars, fashion divas, to oil-rich sheiks, Taj represented a global village long before the
term was to become a cliché. Even today, a hundred years on, guests will find Taj taking
luxury to greater heights in all its hotels around the world including business capitals,
fairy-tale palaces, on secluded islands, in private yachts, aboard executive jets, and
amidst spas and resorts. Still, as the discerning traveller will note, a little ahead of its
time.

important milestones achieved by Taj grp of hotels

1903: Created history with the opening of The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Bombay
(Mumbai) – India’s first Luxury hotel

1971-72: Pioneered the concept of authentic Palace Hotels in the country with the
Rambagh Palace in Jaipur, the Palace of the Maharajah of the esrtswhile state of Jaipore.

1974: Conceptualized the unique beach resort at Fort Aguada, Goa built within the walls
of a Portuguese fort overlooking the Arabian Sea

1978-82: Taj launched in Delhi with its luxury hotel - Taj Mahal Hotel on No. 1 Man
Singh Road and then prepared India for the Asian Games by setting up Taj Palace, Delhi
with the largest convention centre in the country

1982: Taj established a presence in the Western Hemisphere with the historic St. James
Court Hotel near Buckingham Palace, London

1984-92: Well before these destinations became world renown for their beauty, Taj
expanded to Kerala and Sri Lanka

1992-97: Rolled out Business Hotels in key cities and towns across the country, branded
as Taj Residency hotels
2000: Consolidated its position as the largest chain in India with hotels in Ahmedabad
and Hyderabad, the latter city being a joint venture with GVK Hotels resulting in a
dominant position in the market for premium and luxury hotel rooms

2002: The new Taj Exotica Resort & Spa, Maldives, within six months of its launch, was
awarded the title of "The Best Resort in the World" in the first ever Harpers and Queen
Travel Awards

The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower

Apollo Bunder
Mumbai 400 001
India
Tel No. : (91-22) 6665 3366
Fax No : (91-22) 66650323 /24
Email: tmhresv.bom@tajhotels.com

Rooms & Suites

The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai offers generously appointed suites
and rooms, each adorned with original paintings and period furniture that
exude an aura of old-world charm and elegance. These unforgettable rooms and
suites live up to the fantasy of royal splendor

The Taj Mahal Tower Rooms

The renowned American architect Melton Bekker, conceived the Tower wing in
1973. With its arched balconies topped by a jagged diadem, The Taj Mahal
Tower stands in harmonious contrast to The Taj Mahal Palace. The rooms offer
a refreshing mix of European style and Indian elegance. Guests have a choice of
rooms that overlook the city or face the Gateway of India and the Arabian Sea.

Superior Rooms
Well equipped with 2-line speakerphones, international direct dial facility,
wireless Internet connectivity, mini bar, personal safe, channel music and
colour television with satellite programmes, interactive TV, and safe deposit
boxes for laptops.

Deluxe Rooms
Contemporary rooms exemplifying the ultimate in lavish comfort and style.
Well equipped with all the above guest amenities. All rooms have been
refurbished and include all superior room guest amenities.

The Taj Mahal Palace Rooms

The corridors stand testimony to a century old heritage, with genuine artifacts
and antiques gracing the aisles. Guests have a choice of rooms that overlook the
city or pool or face the Gateway of India and the Arabian Sea. The Taj Mahal
Palace guests enjoy a private sit down check in on arrival, in the lobby lounge
with a selection of welcome drinks, prior to being escorted to their rooms.

Luxury Grande Rooms

Renowned for their architecture exuding an aura of old-world charm and
elegance. Each room is equipped with a 42” Plasma TV, surround sound with
ultra fast internet access (via an infra red keyboard), a DVD player and NEOS
(an interactive TV network through which you can access our library of films
and music). The luxurious four feature Italian marbled bathrooms, offer Retro
style bathtubs with hydro massage hand-showers, as well as separate cubicles
with overhead Rain showerheads, a vestibule and a dressing area. Other
amenities include 2-line speakerphones with international direct dial facility,
wireless Internet connectivity, in–room tea/coffee maker, minibar and personal
safe (with inbuilt laptop chargers).

Taj Club Room

Offering a panoramic view of the city, the Taj Club rooms are located on the
top floors of The Palace Wing. The rooms are perfectly in tune with the needs of
today’s global business and leisure traveler. The value additions include
limousine airport transfers, personalized butler service, complimentary bottle
of wine, buffet breakfast. To unwind, we offer tea/coffee throughout the day
and a cocktail hour at the exclusive Taj Club Lounge. The buffet breakfast and
High tea are also served at the Taj Club lounge. The Taj Club also offers
business services and an exclusive meeting room.

Suites
The Taj Mahal Palace houses 46 generously appointed suites, each adorned
with original paintings and period furniture to transport guests into a world of
regal luxury and grandeur .Personal butlers can be summoned at a touch of a
button to attend to every request from the moment of check in to the time of
departure. Guests can choose from Junior Suites, Executive Suites, Luxury
Suites Grand Luxury Suites and Presidential Suites. Combining contemporary
and classic styles, the richly – hued interiors of the suites exemplify luxurious
living. Complimentary services include breakfast, high tea and cocktails at the
lounge and airport transfers. Each suite is equipped with a 42” Plasma TV,
surround sound with ultra fast internet access (via an infra red keyboard), a
DVD player and NEOS (an interactive TV network through which you can
access our library of films and music).

Executive Suites
Bright, airy, and stunning, these two room units offer spacious comfort with a
living room, bedroom and attached dressing area. Guests will enjoy stunning
views overlooking the pool, lawns and the city. The privileges of the Taj Club
are also included.

Luxury Suites
Offers a spacious living room, bedroom and dining room and are well equipped
with all the above guest amenities.. The privileges of the Taj Club are also
included.

Grand Luxury Suites

Transcending time, these picturesque suites are designed around a central
theme such as the Sunrise Suite, the Moonlight Suite and the Bell Tower Suite.
The artwork and antiques recreate old world charm with a blend of modern
amenities and gracious personalized service. The suites offer stunning views of
the Arabian Sea and The Gateway of India. The privileges of the Taj Club are
also included.

Presidential Suites
The Presidential Suite and the Rajput Suite have been home to many Heads of
State, Celebrities and CEO’s . The suites feature a grand living room, a private
patio with port harbor and city view, a master bedroom and a private balcony
overlooking The Gateway of India. Opulent old-world design including precious
original paintings and antiques, artwork and antiques that recreate old world
charm with a blend of modern amenities and gracious personalized service. The
privileges of the Taj Club are also included.

565 rooms including 46 suites.

12 rooms with a capacity ranging from 25 to 500 persons auditorium style or 18 to
2000 persons for cocktails / receptions. The hotel can also provide state-of-the-art
conference facilities for conferences and seminars.

Facilities & Services

The warm and friendly staff takes care of all meetings with great attention. The Taj
Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai also offers personalized Butler Service on its Taj
Club rooms and suites, where the butler plays the all important role of guide and
assistant.

The hotel has a well-equipped business center with five conference rooms, offering
the latest in hi-tech broadband wireless internet connectivity, PC workstations,
multimedia computers, laptops, portable printers and cell phones, colour copying
and secretarial facilities are available for the convenience of the business executive.

Hotel Business Services Yacht:

include:
Take to the sea with all the modern comforts you
Wireless Internet access need including three-air-conditioned bedrooms, a
Broadband Internet access salon complete with a Bar and entertainment
Colour copier system. The cruise takes you on a longer
In-house video-conferencing rendezvous across to the periphery of the
Laptop computers on hire Elephanta Island to view medieval period caves,
Mobile phones on hire and more.
Portable printers on hire
Secretarial services
Translation / interpretation
services
Workstations with Multimedia
computers

Hotel Leisure and Other

Services include:
24-hour in-room dining
Babysitting
Beauty & hair care salon
Patisserie
Car hire service
Concierge service
Currency exchange
Express laundry / Dry cleaning
Florist
House doctor
Laundry services
Travel services

Recreation at The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbai

Guest can take advantage of our recreation activities for irresistible fun and
relaxation.

Fitness and Fun include: Spa and Relaxation include:

Bookshop
Fitness Centre with steam and sauna
Shopping arcade featuring brands like
Montblanc , Ravissant , Regent that
offer exclusive writing instruments,
leather goods, accessories and scarves.
Souvenir shop
Swimming pool
Arrangements for Golf
Gift Shop
JIVA Spa – a wellness spa to revitalize,
relax, and refresh the body, featuring
classic, oriental and aromatherapy
treatments and massages. Day packages
also available.Yoga sessions.
Recreation outside the Hotel include:
City Site Seeing options (4 hours and 8
 hours packages available on request):
Beach and sports include: Elephanta Caves
Gateway of India
Golf, Badminton, Billiards, Squash, Jehangir Art Gallery
Table tennis and Tennis can be arranged Marine Drive
near the Hotel on charge Price of Wales Museum
Shopping – Courtyard, Colaba Causeway,
Westside, Crossroads , Kemps Corner
Victoria terminus

Food and Wine

From casual, all-day eateries to formal, fine dining, guests can look forward to a
wide selection of delectable dishes and refreshing drinks.

At Taj, we offer a distinctive dining experience, one that explores the nuances of the
finest Indian and international cuisines, serving traditional and contemporary
favourites.

» Café Sidewok:

Café Sidewok is a trendy “Coffee Shop” located on the picturesque Marine Drive
next to the National Centre for Performing Arts, a short drive from Taj Mahal
Palace & Tower.
Attire: Casual

» Golden Dragon:

Voted the best Chinese restaurant in Mumbai, with its exotic mystique and mouth-
watering fare, Golden Dragon offers an experience too tempting to pass up.
Attire: Semi Formal

» Harbour Bar:

Guests can savour the finest martinis, champagnes and Cigars at the Harbour Bar,
which opened its doors in 1933 as Mumbai’s first licensed bar and offers spectacular
views of The Gateway of India.
Attire: Casual

» Masala Kraft:

Masala Kraft reinvents classic Indian cuisine with a contemporary twist.

Attire: Semi Formal
» Sea Lounge:

This elegant lounge offers an impressive selection of delicious snack and finger
foods.
Attire: Semi Formal

» Shamiana:

From shawarma to sandwiches, and rotis to rotisserie chicken, this restaurant serves
an array of Indian and International favourites
Attire: Casual

» Souk:

This award-winning, rooftop restaurant offers spectacular views of Mumbai and the
Arabian Sea along with sumptuous East Mediterranean cuisine.
Attire: Semi Formal

» Starboard Bar:

This lively young bar offers first-rate entertainment

Attire: No Dress Code

» The Zodiac Grill:

Voted the best in the city, this restaurant offers European cuisine and a selection of
vintage wines in an unforgettable setting
Attire: Formal

» Wasabi By Morimoto:

Mumbai’s first contemporary Japanese restaurant, Wasabi showcases food by the

legendary chef Masaharu Morimoto, known to many as the Japanese Iron Chef.
Attire: Formal

Meeting Rooms & Banquet Facilities include:

F20,000 square feet of conference space spread throughout 8 rooms

Seating capacities for 30 to 550, auditorium-style and 30 to 750 for cocktails and
receptions
Boardroom seatingfor 12 persons

Catering is available for breakfast, lunch, dinner, meeting breaks and cocktail
parties. The hotel is renowned for its award winning restaurants

Incentives available at this Hotel:

Mumbai Roadside Yatra, a festival of Mumbai’s celebrated street food

Bollywood Night
Tour to Elephanta Island
The Jiva Spa

Dimensions & Seating Capacities

Venue Area Dimensions Ceiling U Rectangle Class- Theatre Round Floatin
(Sq. ft) (Feet) Height Shaped room Table
Ballroom 5335 97’55’ 16 75 80 (Hollow box) 200 450 300 650

Crystal Central 4608 96’48 16 75 80 (Hollow Box) 120 400 220 450
Crystal North 1392 48’29’ 16 35 38 45 60 80 80

Crystal South 1392 48’29’ 16 35 38 45 60 80 80

Emerald & Jade 1125 45’25’ 16 16 18 20 30 40 40

Gateway Room 2304 48’48’ 16 35 33 35 70 80 150

Golden Room 700 28’25 16 17 20 15 30 30 40
Golden – II 375 15’25’ 16 - 12 12 16 - -
Princes Room 1200 48’25’ 16 18 20 15 30 30 60
Rendezvous 2470 65’38’ 14.3 45 48 60 120 80 150
Ruby Room 420 21’20’ 16 7 9 - - - -
Sapphire Room 450 22.5’20’ 16 14 16 18 24 20 -

Place
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower completed a hundred years of welcoming guests and
being a pioneer in the hospitality sphere in the East, in 2003. This imposing edifice is a
gracious landmark of the city of Mumbai and alongside the Gateway of India (which was
built years after the hotel was constructed) is the most memorable image of the city.
It is 32 km away from the airport. A short drive away from Nariman Point and Ballard
Estate, the key commercial districts in this, the financial capital of India. It is within
minutes of the shopping and entertainment hubs of the city.
Distribution: The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower uses various Distribution channels to come
in contact and provide service to its customers. It also provides information about the
various links that the customer comes in touch with before contacting the hotel. The
following are the various distribution channels:
Direct Distribution: Because of better marketing strategies by the Hotel and increasing
awareness of the hotel among its customers, they do the booking directly themselves.
Distribution through intermediaries: The customer always has the option of booking
through tour operators and travel agents who act as middlemen in the distribution
channel.
Co-operative Distribution:

Price:
Single Double Single Double
Room type US$ US$ Rs Rs
Tower Rooms
Superior city view room 230 255
Superior sea view room 245 270
Deluxe city view room 250 275
Deluxe sea view room 265 290
Palace Rooms
Luxury pool view room 290 315
Luxury sea view room 315 340
Luxury Grande pool view room 325 350
Luxury Grande sea view room 350 375
Taj Club pool view room* 350 380
Taj Club sea view room* 375 405
Suites US$ Rs
Junior Suite* 500
Executive Suite* 650
Luxury Suite* 850
Grand Luxury Suite* 1200
Presidential Suite* 1500

Government taxes extra.

*Includes complimentary airport limousine transfers, continental breakfast and cocktail
hour in the Club lounge.

Promotion
For successful marketing, it is only not sufficient that the hotel concentrate on the quality
of services but it is also necessary that it promotes its business in such a way that the
prospects come to know about the quality offered to them as hotel customers. This
focuses on the importance of innovative promotional measures. It is against this
background that the promotional measures like advertisement, publicity, sales promotion,
personal selling, word –of- mouth promotion and telemarketing need due attention of
hotel professionals.
Promotional activities are of the utmost importance in a Hotel. Effective communication
is required for any marketing program. New customers generally require information.
Individuals, such as sales people, can deliver communications, e.g. a sales person can talk
about the supplementary services like the casinos, bars, and etc. provided by the hotel or
it can be delivered through media such as TV, radio, newspapers, magazines, posters,
brochures and websites.
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower has tie up with_________________________-where the
customers can earn Bonus miles on the money spent in the hotel. Promotion schemes are
carried on regularly to promote the hotel. The company has many loyalty programs, club
memberships, privileges etc.
Advertisement
The Hotel advertises in the newspapers like The Economic Times, The Financial Express
and the Mid-day. It also advertises in business periodicals such as ‘Business World’,
‘India Today’, ‘The Outlook’ and airline journals. This helps The Taj Mahal Palace &
Tower in promoting its services to the target consumers. On Television it prefers
channels like Star News, CNN, CNBC as they are considered to be business channels.

PEOPLE
In Hotels, People include the customers, employees, management and the society. The
management has to train their employees effectively to satisfy the customers and at the
same time provide a service to the society. The end motive of The Taj Mahal Palace &
Tower is to provide consistently and relentlessly an Indian experience of warmth and
hospitality by anticipating and exceeding customers expectations.
The key to retaining staff and ensuring the success of any business organization lies with
the HR department and its effective functioning. The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower incurs
heavy expenditure on their employees, especially from the time of their recruitment to
imparting skills through training. The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, in order to retain its
employees, provide them with various facilities such as training, bonuses, medical help
and traveling facilities.
Most of the services in the Hotel depend on the direct, personal interaction between the
customers and firm’s employees, e.g. eating at a restaurant. Customers will often judge
the quality of service they receive based on their assessment of the people providing that
service.
Hotels often involve higher level of customer interaction, employees assist the customers
in providing them the services, e.g. a receptionist helping the customer by telling him
what are the different kinds of rooms available in the hotel. Also, a waiter who serves
food to the customers should be well behaved and should possess good communication
skills.
Hence. People play a very important role in hotels. The employees should be well trained
and motivated to satisfy customer’s needs.
The hotel targets mainly at the business class i.e. the corporate and the international
tourists. Their customers form people who come for the business purposes, stay for a few
nights and checkout. They expect quality and speedy delivery of their requests.

PROCESS
Process involves the entire flow and progress of the service. The Taj Mahal Palace &
Tower have effectively trained their staff so that the service encounter and the whole
process move smoothly. In order to ensure that the core product and the supplementary
product is developed and delivered in the right time, the hotel has formed certain set
processes.
Every moment from the point the customer enter the hotel to the point he leaves the hotel
is a ‘Moment Of Truth’ for The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower. Thus the hotel takes utmost
care of all these ‘Moment Of Truth’ and converts them into ‘Moments Of Success’. The
Taj Mahal Palace & Tower claim to have nearly 250 moments of truth in their hotel
e.g. when the customer reaches the hotel the surrounding around the hotel, parking
availability, watch guard saluting the customer, opening the door for him, his contact
with front desk people, his stay, the room, the toilets, room service offered, time taken,
extra amenities available, programs held in the hotel itself etc.
PHYSICAL EVIDENCE
The appearance of buildings, landscaping, vehicles, interior furnishing, equipment, staff
members, signs, printed materials provide tangible evidence of The Taj Mahal Palace &
Tower service quality.
Amenities
Bar, Restaurant, Safe Deposit Box, Coffee Shop, Room Service, Room-Service 24 Hours,
Wheel Chair Access, Bus Parking, Outdoor Parking, Conference Facilities, Meeting
Facilities, Secretarial Service,