| "PEOPLE
HAVE STRONG MEMORIES ABOUT TAJ BANJARA" |
 The
first five star hotel of the city, Taj Banjara
has carved a niche for itself in the hospitality industry
with its quality food and warm service. The picturesque
surroundings and delightful ambience makes Taj Banjara
as one of the favourite hotels for the tourists who frequent
the most happening city of India. Mr. Satish Nambiar,
General Manager, Taj Banjara spoke to Hyderabad-best.com
in an exclusive interview and shared his views about the
hospitality industry as well as Taj Banjara.
Mr Satish Nambiar, who was born in Hyderabad is just thirty
three years old and is the youngest General Manager of
Taj Banjara. The dynamic and affable Nambiar is fond of
easygoing lifestyle of Hyderabad and loves to enjoy his
free time by swimming, browsing the net and watching his
favourite television channel HBO.
What have been some of Taj Banjara's
main strengths that contributed to its growth over the
years?
Taj Banjara has been the first five star hotel in the
city. It has grown along with the city's growth. Other
hotels have come up much later when the people have realised
the potential of the hotel industry in Hyderabad. In that
way, Taj Banjara is a pioneering hotel in Hyderabad. People
who have grown in the city have literally seen the hotel
from their childhood. And they have strong memories about
this hotel. For a business traveller who comes to Hyderabad,
Taj Banjara has always been a hotel with value for money.
Even though it is categorised as a five star hotel, but
the kind of value perception, which the customer gets
in this hotel, it is difficult for him to perceive in
bigger hotels. Banjara has always known for its warm hospitality
and great courteous service. The staff of this hotel establish
a great rapport with the customers and all the guests
know the staff very well. I think this is one of the strongest
points of this hotel.
What are some of the special
features of Taj Banjara that distinguish it from the rest
of the hotels in the city?
 We
have different categories of rooms to cater to different
segments of the market. One of the main features of our
hotel is the lake. This year we are planning to purify
the lake, which is in bad stage. For that we are planning
to invest close to a crore rupees. There is no other hotel
in the city with a lake attached to it. People come to
our hotel and request for the room which is facing towards
the lake. Other important feature is that we are centrally
located in the city. We also have a beautiful driveway
and I think it is one of best long driveways and it is
just like a private road, which drives you into the hotel.
One of the predominant things about this hotel is its
quality food and service. Everybody knows that this restaurant
serves best food. Our Kebab-e-Bahar restaurant
is a brand by itself in town. Above all, there is some
hidden charm in Taj Banjara which attracts everyone.
What in your opinion are the ingredients of a perfect
ambience?
Today guests want variety of things. They want variety
in their menus as they get bored with regular menus. We
have to change the menus faster. They need some lighter
atmosphere in the hotel that means there should be some
kind of entertainment in the evening. Entertainment has
become an important feature of ambience today. People
like trendy things. We have a pub Under Deck, which
is quite famous in the twin cities today. People like
bright corners and they prefer lively places. They want
places where there is lot of light. They don't want stiff
places. So your ambience has to be made lighter and liven
up the moods of the people by your staff and also by the
surroundings with the help of lighting.
Could you tell us about the scenario
of hotel industry in Hyderabad? Both past and present?
 Hotel
industry was going at a slow pace two years back. But
in the last two years, thanks to our dynamic Chief Minister
Mr N Chandrababu Naidu, the hotel industry has
witnessed tremendous growth. The kind of travelling which
happens into the city by Indians and foreigners, domestic
and international travellers is phenomenal. I think the
growth will keep going up. Thanks to our Chief Minister
who has new focuses always. First it was software industry
and now tourism sector. Two years from now Hyderabad will
become a prominent tourist destination. Four years back
Hyderabad was not at all in the world map. Today everybody
knows about this city. Right now the travellers are mostly
business people but two years from now it could be tourists.
First the government has brought in business, which is
fundamental for growth by focusing on IT as the strong
point. Now they are concentrating on tourism sector. Because
of the growth in industry, the spending capacity of the
people has increased. Tourism is the mainstay in business
today. Whole world is now focussing on tourism. Today
the city has the right mix of tourism and business. It
is one of the unique cities where growth is happening
on both ways. Growth has reached to a new height as far
as business is concerned. And I feel that Hyderabad could
see its best of times in the near future.
What is Taj Banjara's strategy
in gaining the market share in Hyderabad?
We are only focusing on our strengths to ensure that we
gain more loyalty from our business travellers. Give more
value for the money, which they pay. Look at the basic
IT requirements and have them placed in the rooms. Ensure
good service and have proactive front-line staff who can
deal with the customers in such a way that the loyalty
builds up. The idea is that if the customer comes to us,
we want to ensure that he stays with us forever.
Can you just tell us about the
in- house restaurants of your hotel?
We have an open-air barbecue restaurant called Kebab-e-Bahar,
Dakhni, a South Indian multi-cuisine restaurant
called Coffee Shop, which serves excellent continental
food. It has breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet for the
weekend. And a trendy fun pub called Under Deck, which
is quite different from other pubs. People come here to
have only fun.
Who are some of your high profile
guests?
From the glamour world, almost all the film personalities
stay with us. Apart from them, we also have ambassadors,
high commissioners, and leading industrialists staying
in our hotel.
How much importance does the hotel give to the customer
service?
 Our
whole business revolves around the customer only. Our
bread and butter is the customer. All of us work for the
customer first. I would say, out of my 100 percent time
70 percent of the time is spent with the customers. Only
30 percent goes for other things. All the activities that
are done in the hotel have some relation to the customer.
I follow a simple philosophy of keeping my staff happy
so that they keep the customers happy. When you keep the
customers happy, the business comes in and when the business
comes in, the shareholders are happy.
In what way Taj Banjara is different
from other Taj Group hotels of the city?
There are three Taj hotels in Hyderabad and we have categorized
our hotels. Top of the line is Taj Krishna, which
is a luxury hotel; Taj Residency is a residency
hotel, which is a top of the line business hotel. And
Taj Banjara is a fully budget hotel today. Previously
Taj had only one hotel in Hyderabad so we portrayed it
as a number one hotel for Taj in the city. Now we have
three hotels so we have changed our strategy. We have
clear business and pricing strategies for each hotel.
This is to ensure that we don't encroach into our other
hotels. There is  a
synergy between three of them so all activities are planned
according to the three hotels. If there is a festival
in one hotel we ensure that there is no festival in other
two hotels. We draw a calendar of events for three hotels
together. It is a remarkable strategy as far as Taj group
is concerned to have three hotels together. This is the
only city where Taj group has got three hotels in one-kilometer
radius. Previously the market was not going up because
there was infighting between the three. But today there
is no such competition because we are together. And at
present we garner our strengths to fight everybody else.
Can you briefly tell us about
the future plans of Taj Banjara?
Our future plan is to be the market leaders in the budget
segment. We want to be a number one hotel as far as budget
segment is concerned.
Address: Taj Banjara, Road # 1, Banjara
Hills, Hyderabad-500 034. Phone: 666 9999 Fax:
339 2218. |
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