Ginger Hotels

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Roots Corporation Limited (RCL) is a subsidiary of The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL). Incorporated on December 24, 2003, RCL operates the first-of-its-kind category of Smart BasicsŒ hotel chain across the country. IHCL operates Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, one of South Asia's largest and finest group of hotels. The company was incorporated on 1902 by the founder of the Tata Group, Mr. Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and opened India's first luxury hotel, The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, Mumbai in 1903. Launched in June 2004, the Smart BasicsŒ concept created a revolution in the world of Indian hospitality. A GenNext category of hotels, they signify simplicity, convenience, informality, style, warmth, modernity and affordability. The concept was developed in association with renowned corporate strategy thinker, Dr C. K. Prahalad, and the hotels have been indigenously designed and developed by IHCL. The first of the Smart BasicsŒ hotel was launched in Bangalore and was called IndiOne. Having completed the test marketing of the concept and subsequent fine-tuning of the hotel facilities and services, the Smart BasicsŒ concept is now ready to roll out across India. These hotels have been launched with a new name ± Ginger Hotels ± in sync with the fresh, simple-yet-stylish and warm world of Smart BasicsŒ. The Ginger Hotels are built around a unique concept that provides facilities to meet the key needs of today's traveller, at surprisingly affordable rates. They have created a new category in the domestic hospitality landscape, while giving a major fillip to Indian tourism and other ancillary industries. The primary objective behind the launch of these hotels is to provide a superior product offering and consistent experience to travellers, beyond the present offerings in the industry. Contact Roots Corporation Limited, Ginger Corporate Office, Godrej & Boyce Complex, Gate no. 8, Plant no. 13 Office Building, Vikhroli (E), Mumbai 400079 Phone: +91-22-6777 3366 Fax: +91-22-6777 3377

Rediff.com » Business » Budget hotels: On the Ginger trail

Budget hotels: On the Ginger trail
March 22, 2006 13:44 IST Share this Ask Users Write a Comment Print this article

A hotel chain now emulates the Air Deccan example and provides rooms sans frills.

Downsize? Dumb down? For the Indian Hotels Company [ Get Quote ] (that's the Taj group of hotels), going low-cost was a logical decision. The airlines had been doing it, true, but could a group associated exclusively with luxury do efficient, business hotels sans frills? Hotels that sold rooms for Rs 1,000 a night? With IndiOne in Bangalore, launched in June 2004, the chain proved it could, but other promised hotels didn't follow through. Was the formula working, or had it run out of steam even before it had begun? With the renaming of IndiOne (under the "Smart Basics hotel" banner) to Ginger, the Indian Hotels Company Limited and its subsidiary, Roots Corporation Limited, has proved it has been working on the concept. It has now revealed that Ginger hotels are set to roll out budget hotels across the country. Priced between Rs 950 for a single room and Rs 1,175 for a double room, Ginger hotels have created a new category in the domestic hospitality landscape, said Raymond Bickson, managing director and chief executive officer, IHCL. RCL's chief operating officer, Uday Narain, said Ginger hotels cater to the modern, experienced traveller who does not relate cheap with poor standards. For instance, these hotels include a cyber café, an ATM machine, 24-hour automatic check-in kiosk, wi-fi facilites all over the hotel, a basic gym, and a 17-inch television in every room.

The first Ginger hotel in the new rollout phase was launched in Haridwar Wednesday. Bickson added that a new Ginger hotel will be launched every six weeks on average. By the end of 2006, Ginger hotels will be operational in Bhubaneswar, Pune, Mysore, Thiruvanthapuram, Durgapur and Goa [ Images ], while work will soon commence on hotels in Agartala, Tirupur, Pondicherry and Nashik. Excluding land cost, the budget of each Ginger hotel is approximately Rs 10 crore, said Narain, the money to be raised from long term debt and equity. After an average of 85 per cent occupancy rate, the Bangalore hotel last year had a turnover of Rs 3 crore. The hotels will employ skeletal staff; services such as facility management, maintenance, and food and beverage services will be outsourced. Excerpts from a tete-a-tete with Ajoy K Misra, senior vice-president, sales and marketing, IHCL. With increase in demand, will you raise room prices? When every other hotel in Bangalore was charging up to Rs 10,000 a night, we were the only rooms at Rs 950. We were being asked if we would come up with deals for corporates, but we stuck to our guns. Will you tie up with low-cost airlines or offer package deals? We have no intention of offering any packages or deals. Neither will we introduce on-season or off-season prices. Our room prices are fixed. Why did you decide on secondary and tertiary cities? It was a mixture of demand and land cost, with the latter playing a more important role. With our operating costs, it is not feasible to open in places like New Delhi [ Images ], or Gurgaon, where real estate prices are so high. Are all your hotels going have 100 rooms? No, we plan a 200-room model as well. Are your rooms mainly for single business travellers? It depends on the location. In Bangalore, it makes more sense to have single bedrooms while in Haridwar, most rooms will have twin beds. What is your ad strategy?

It doesn't make economic sense to come up with national campaigns. We will have regional advertising, such as hoardings in places like railway stations, highways and airports, to catch clients.

Ginger Hotels : Luxury of Simplicity Brand : Ginger Company: Roots Corporation ( Taj Group)

Brand Count : 209 Recently I was intrigued by a simple ad of a hotel in Television with the tagline " Please Help Yourself"

because seldom we see hotels advertise and decided to read more abo ut the brand Ginger. There was many surprises in store for me about this brand. Ginger is the new version of Indione chain of hotels touted as the budget hotel chain from the Taj Group. Owned by the TATA's Ginger brand is expected to shake up the hospitality industry for the better. Indione launched in Bangalore in June 2004 was Taj's first foray into Budget hotels. The hotel chain was expected to tap in the growing population of Business and leisure travelers and expected to satisfy the need for a hotel that offers service at affordable price. The Bangalore property was a test market of this concept.The test market results was encouraging and the Bangalore hotel averaged 85% occupancy rate. After testing and fine tuning the process and service, the company nationally launched the chain of hotels. Tata's however decided not to use Indione for the chain of hotels ( for some reasons). The brand Ginger

was chosen to this new chain of hotels. The brand Ginger was developed with the help of Internationally renowned Brand consultancy firm Landor Associates. Ginger brand radiates simple unique,basic, lighthearted,very different, Indian, innovation as its Brand values. The company wanted the brand to radiate Freshness and Ginger communicates that freshness. Although the concept of budget hotels looks attractive, it is not easy to sustain the cost and the service

expectations. Hence Taj conducted an extensive consumer research to fine tune the service delivery and the ambiance.The national rollout of Ginger Hotel was on March 2006. The brand already has its presence in 6 locations. Ginger differentiates itself from other budget hotels by its SMART BASICS feature. Smart Basics concept was co-created by Ginger with the help of the Renowned Management Guru CK Prahlad. Smart Basics provide a value proposition of a different kind. It represents a Next Generation category that signifies Simplicity, convenience,informality,style ,modernity and Affordability.The hotel offers a mix of high end facilities with an affordable price tag. Ginger offers a customer following facilities: A/C, electronic

lock,comfortable beds, work area, 17" Flat TV,Direct Dial with STD, Gym,cyber cafe etc at a rate of Rs 999 for single and 1175 for double room.The hotels operate with skeletal staff but is highly process oriented so that most of the necessities of the customers are taken care. Some of the services are outsourced but available to the customer on call. As the tagline says " Please Help Yourself", most of the services are self service ( to reduce cost) including check in. The trick is to be process driven so that customers will just have to follow the process and things will be taken care by the process.That also gives the company an option to charge for specific services demanded for the customers. Ginger effectively fills a gap that existed in the hospitality sector, a need for a budget hotel that delivers reasonable/assured service. Ginger helps that decision making easier for the customers. Ginger is an example of Masstige service and holds huge potential in the Indian market. The budget hotel market in India is estimated to be around Rs 6000 crore and Ginger is all set to conquer this market.

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