Taj Hotels to shift market focus in Sri Lanka

Though it’s bullets and bombs in Sri Lanka, it’s business as usual for the Taj Group. The secret - adaptability. The group has come up with a revised marketing strategy to attract its customers.

With occupancy ratios hovering around 55 per cent of the total 2,500 rooms spread across the city of Colombo, the Taj Group with three properties - Taj Samudra, Taj Exotica and Airport Garden - has decided to focus on the business-class visitors, mainly from India.

And the flow of these visitors is estimated to rise, as Sri Lanka and India have recently signed a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Sensing business in this political move, the Taj Group has revamped its hotels to adapt to the new customer traffic.

Spread over 1.5-acres, the 292-room Taj Samudra, for instance, has been refurbished at an outlay of $2.5 million. "The number of travelers from Europe has gone down while we are getting more Indian visitors," says sales manager Mr. Siraj Cader. The renovation is not only restricted to the hotel’s rooms and suites but also extends to its landscape, lobby, restaurants and bar.

Describing the new-look Taj Samudra, Mr. P. K. Mohan Kumar, general manager, Taj Lanka Hotels Ltd. says, "By implementing the ‘Club Floor’ concept, we now have a dedicated floor for business travelers with 37 rooms, including five suites, for them."

All the rooms/suites have been redesigned with new furniture, carpets and even bathroom fittings. The floor has a dedicated boardroom with overhead projection facilities for guests conducting business. The executive floor also has latest communication systems and a business centre.

According to him, the hotel will also offer attractive conference package for corporates to hold their conferences/meetings. Currently, Taj Samudra occupies the second slot in the banquet business in Colombo. "The revenues from food, beverages and room rent are in equal ratios," says Mr. Kumar.

The hospitality major also has tied up with Sri Lankan Airways and the tourism department for this purpose.

"Traditionally, Sri Lanka attracted European and US tourists. But the civil war here has affected the flow", says Mr. Kumar.

The Taj Group’s presence on the island dates back to the eighties. It floated Taj Lanka Hotels with a 51 per cent holding, the rest held by institutions and the public and built Taj Samudra - a luxury hotel.

Later, the group promoted Taj Lanka Resorts Hotels Ltd. as a 50:50 partnership with a garment business group, Hideramani, and built a 160-deluxe room Taj Exotica, a leisure hotel. After that, the group took over the management of 120-room resort hotel Airport Garden owned by Airport Garden Hotel Ltd. belonging to the Hideramani group.

In all, the Indian hospitality group has around $ 38 million exposure in its hotels on the island nation.

While the main focus is on business travelers, the group does not want to leave other tourists out. The three Taj hotels in Sri Lanka have come out with attractive packages for them too. "As the group has a hotel in Maldives, we intend to offer Indian Ocean package - Kerala-Sri Lanka-Maldives, " he adds. The group will be promoting the package in collaboration with the Sri Lankan Airways and ministry of tourism.

Meanwhile Taj Lanka Hotels is looking up financially by clocking operating profits. The company is in discussions with financial institutions, banks for restructuring its dues. As per financial restructuring scheme lending banks (State Bank of India, Bank of India and Canara Bank) have agreed to write off $16.5 million of outstanding interest and $3.5 million of principal. Taj group on its part will pump in necessary money to settle its SL Rs 500 million dues.