CRM INITATIVES BY HOTEL TAJ

In the coming years, Hotel Taj will see growth through the addition of 80 Luxury Residences at theTaj Wellington Mews, Mumbai, as well as rooms added atTaj Lands End, MumbaiandTaj West End, Bangalore.The Taj Lands Endis a hotel built with a capacity of 500 rooms with an additional 50,000 sq. ft. approximately that is yet to be built. Hotel Taj will reach this capacity over the next two years, which will include adding rooms and developing high-end offices or retail space created in the new 50, 000 sq. ft. block.Taj West Endwill have approximately 175 rooms added to it over the next two years. Associate companies viz. Taj GVK Hotels & Resorts Limited and Oriental Hotels Limited are also in the process of setting up properties in Chandigarh and Bangalore respectively, which would add to the properties under the Taj group. Taj groups has secured two management contracts for a high end luxury resort and an upmarket resort in Kovalam, Kerala. Both the hotels are under construction and will open in the current financialyear.

Spas
Taj group successfully launched the Taj Spa in theTaj Mahal Palace & Tower, Mumbaiand is in the process of launching Spas in a number of hotels. These will be a combination of Day and Destination Spas of international standards, with a unique treatment menu developed by the Taj. They will be the first and one of a kind - Indian Spa. Spas are being planned inTaj Wellington Mews, MumbaiandTaj Lands End, Mumbai. The Spas being rolled out in the key properties will be state-of-the-art, having areas in excess of 10,000-12,000 sq. feet.

Ginger Hotels
Taj group is in the process of rolling out its Smart Basics hotels, under the brand name "Ginger". The first prototype has been launched in June 2004 in Bangalore, with roll out being planned in a number of cities and towns subsequently. These hotels will cater to the economy or 'value for money' segment and being predominantly domestic clientele based, are far less prone to fluctuations than the luxury and upscale segments. In the long run, this segment will help in derisking the current revenue stream of the company.

Brand Architecture
Taj is in the process of clearly defining the product and service standards in order to have consistency across properties under each brand. This will help in further enhancing the brand value of Taj. Brand value builds customer loyalty and is one of the approaches of building customer relationship.

Product Upgradation
Hotel taj continues to invest in renovation and relaunch of key / brand defining properties. In the last financial year Taj upgraded rooms at theTaj Mahal Palace & Tower, MumbaiandTaj West End, BangaloreThe lobby and public areas ofTaj Lake Palace, UdaipurandRambagh Palace, Jaipurwere also renovated to provide a luxurious sense of arrival. The Sea Lounge and Harbour Bar atTaj Mahal

Palace & Tower, Mumbaiwas relaunched, while a new Vietnamese restaurant 'Blue Ginger' was opened inTaj West End, BangaloreThe renovated products and the new outlets were very well received in the market. The renovated rooms atTaj Mahal Palace & Tower, MumbaiandTaj West End, Bangalorehave emerged as the price leaders in the respective cities. In the coming year taj intends to open a number of F&B outlets by celebrity Chefs with international cuisine. In the upscale segment, the properties are being relaunched to be at par with international level upscale hotels. The rooms atTaj President, Mumbai,Taj Residency, Bangalore,Jai Mahal Palace, JaipurandTaj Holiday Village, Goaare being renovated and relaunched.

Service Excellence
In the last few years Taj has undertaken a number of steps to significantly enhance service levels to be in line with the best in class and to build superior customer relation. Taj has constantly benchmarked itself with the key international luxury chains and strived to raise the bar. Taj's service excellence philosophy, has at its core, delivery through our people, processes and culture. Taj has taken a number of steps to provide highly personalized service to the discerning customer, including butler services in its luxury properties. In order to take care of the entire stay experience, Taj has also completely revamped its Concierge services. The Centers of Excellence have been strengthened considerably to train staff to meet the exacting standards of a truly luxury hotel. Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM) will play a significant role in raising the bar of service provided. The TBEM has been rolled out in all the three hotel divisions and will be rolled out to the international properties also.

Tata Business Excellence Model (TBEM)

In order to intensify the drive for Business Excellence,Taj conducted Internal Assessments based on the Tata Business Excellence Model for Luxury, Leisure, Business SBUs as well as for Taj SATS Air Catering Limited. The Luxury Division has also applied for External Assessment, which is to be facilitated by Tata Quality Management Services. Based on the External Assessment (2003) feedback report and the feedback from the Internal Assessment, action plans to improve processes which finally impact the overall organizational effectiveness, have been drawn out and worked upon. Some of the key initiatives deployed across key hotels of the Taj group to enhance customer relation in the year 2003-04 are:

Raising the bar in terms of product & service quality:

In order to raise the standards of service & product quality to international levels, taj has benchmarked & gauged the performance against international luxury and super-luxury hotels and has upgraded its standards.

Introduction of international best practices

Taj group is using the expertise of international consultants and domain experts who work in different functional and operational areas in order to introduce world-class practices. They have launched the concierge service, butler service, and car hire service in key hotels of the group. This has resulted in a steep change in service levels beside increasing the overall customer experience.

Rollout of the Customer Feedback System (CFS)

The CFS was launched in November 2003 and has taken root in 30 hotels across Taj group. It is the primary and sole customer feedback system of the group. Till date, the system has clocked around 12,000 pieces of customer feedback. The feedback from all sources gets recorded and aggregated and analyzed to improve the service quality in areas of concern at each of the hotels. Feedback is not restricted to only guest difficulties (complaints) but also consists of compliments and suggestions. The feedback would ultimately be used for product planning as well.The customer feed back is used to deliver excellent services to the customer.

Reinforcement of the use of the Balanced Scorecard

The use of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) has been strengthened across the organization. It is used as the key strategy deployment tool. The key strategic objectives are captured in the BSC and cascaded across the units & departments. All the SBU scorecards are aligned with the corporate scorecard, as well as the HR & Sales & Marketing scorecard. The key focus of BSC is to build strategy that will help in retaining and building customer relationship.

Corporate Restructuring
In order to make Taj leaner and carry brand standards across domestic and international properties, the International division was merged with the Luxury, Business and Leisure divisions, so as to make the corporate setup leaner and more agile. We also continue to restructure the balance sheet and reduce the number of under performing / non-performing assets. Such restructuring, in the previous year, resulted in a net inflow of Rs. 37.25 crores. In the last financial year, taj sold the Gateway Riverview Lodge, Chiplun, which did not meet brand standards.

TOP
Taj's operational improvement programme, TOP (Total Overdrive for Profits), being managed jointly with McKinsey & Company, has made significant progress since its inception in July 2002. The programme's main focus is to improve customer relationship and providing superior services to the customer. The programme has identified improvement ideas across areas like Rooms, Banquets, Purchase, Engineering, Wines, Mini-bar, In-room dining, Chambers and several other operational areas. In addition, the TOP team has been working with a cross functional team to develop a strategy for maximising revenues from key corporate accounts. The focus of the TOP team for the next few

months will be in ensuring that all identified improvement ideas are fully implemented. In addition, the team will continue to focus on cost areas and address new areas like restaurant revenues and capital expenditures.

IT initiatives
From a situation in 1999 where there was limited IT application, Taj group has today achieved domestic leadership in deploying IT to leverage its competencies and is rapidly approaching benchmarks set by international highly regarded chains. The first three phases of implementation of the IT strategy included putting in place the physical infrastructure across the Taj Group and getting customer relationship applications to ride on this physical infrastructure, with a view to enhancing customer services through customer information and recognition systems and better inventory management. Some of the key IT initiatives being under taken by IHCL are Orion, a comprehensive back office system, implementing Revenue Management system, Interactive TV Systems and National Call Center.

Other customer focus services

WIFI -For business travellers, hotels often become a second home. So top-end hotels are investing heavily on systems that help them look after their customers better, especially with the help of the customers' history with them. In a unique development, Taj has introduced wireless broadband solutions Wireless Fidelity (WiFi)for its guests. Result: Using a laptop, a guest can log on to the Internet from anywhere in the hotel. Sms services - The hotel is also planning to introduce an SMS service. Whenever the hotel receives a call in the absence of the guest, the message from the caller will be passed on to the guest through SMS. This will help a business traveler keep track of the missed calls and act on important ones while away from the hotel. Customer database - Taj Hotels have created databases of customers' historyon stay information and profile which sit on a centralised server connected to each of the locations. Each time a frequent traveller checks in, the profile pops up at the reception desk with multilevel information and the hotel is ready to take care of the customer's needs and choices. This is one of the most important strategies to build customer relationship. It enhances the customer experience each time the customer book a room in Taj. Website - Taj is running an updated website to support customer services. The customers can book rooms, reserve rooms in advance, arrange parties, check status of reservations etc. Website helps in providing quick and easy services to the customer which results in customer delight.

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