Udaipur’s Fateh Prakash Palace Hotel, which was recently taken over by Tata Groups IHCL which owns the TAJ Brand, is a part of the strategic growth plan of IHCL, as informed by Puneet Chhatwal, Managing Director and CEO at IHCL.

Currently TAJ Group has 18,500 rooms under its ownership/management across various locations and properties.

Apart from Taj Fateh Prakash Palace in Udaipur, the new destinations will include Devi Ratn in Jaipur and Taj Convention Centre in Goa.  The Goa property will be the 11th for the Taj group at Goa, making it the largest operation destination for the group.  Other IHCL openings scheduled for this year include properties at Karad, Kaliganagar, Navi Mumubai, Haridwar, Wayanad, Gangtok, Shillong, Bharuch and Darjeeling.

This strategy will ensure that IHCL opens at least one hotel a month to reach the targeted room inventory.  This will chart and unprecedented growth trajectory for IHCL, in line with their immediate competitor, Marriot, who have also charted their own aggressive plans.  Last year Marriot opened 13 hotels across india, including Marriot Courtyard, Fairfield, Ritz Carlton, The Four Points, The Le Meridien and The Sheraton.

Over the year 2018-19, IHCL has signed on 46 hotels across its four different brands, that include Taj, Vivanta, Ginger and SeleQtions. Ginger accounts for atleast 25% of the company’s new hotels for the near future.

As per analysts, newer tourist hubs across the country are getting attention of the larger operators and future traction hinges on how the hospitality circles are built around there.