Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Asia’s largest hospitality chain, is looking to set up luxury properties in Africa, West Asia, China and Southeast Asia. Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which owns the Taj brand in addition to three others, has 16 properties spread across the US, South Africa, Sri Lanka, UAE, UK, Australia, Bhutan, Maldives and Malaysia, plus some more. This is in addition to 65 properties in India, with more in the pipeline.
The international hotels are currently managed by subsidiary companies of IHCL.
The company is in talks with companies in the Gulf region, Egypt, Morocco, South Africa and China for adding more properties. These would be through the management route (where the property is owned by the developer but managed by Taj), as well as through a franchise.
IHCL, which has been aggressive in acquisitions abroad in the past such as that of The Pierre (New York), Ritz Carlton (Boston) and The Campton Place (San Francisco) is keenly exploring opportunities in West Asia, including Egypt, for total buyouts.
The company is also looking at Indian Ocean countries, Europe, Asean and Australia.
Ajoy Misra, senior vice president, sales and marketing, IHCL, said: “In the Middle East, we have hotel properties in Qatar, Doha, in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Ras al-Khaimah. We are looking at projects in North Africa, specifically in Morocco. We have a project underway in Phuket, Thailand, we have two projects signed and underway in China - one in Beijing and other in Hainan. We are looking for other opportunities in China.”
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