INTERVIEW
Rakesh Sarna, CEO of Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces, talks to Tom Otley about expansion, the appeal of the Taj brand and why India’s time has come...
RAKESH SARNA’S OFFICE IN MUMBAI IS A CORNER ROOM with views out across the Bay of Bombay. From the vantage point of Express Towers at Nariman Point he can look north along Marine Drive and see Malabar Hill across Back Bay. Perhaps more importantly, though, he can also look straight across at one of his main competitor’s hotels, the Oberoi Trident. If there’s any symbolic point of being able to look down on the competition, Sarna isn’t going to be the one making it. Listening to him speak about Taj Hotels, and the other Indian hotel brands, it’s clear that while he feels honour at taking over the job with this famous Indian name, there’s a hard-headed business plan underlying his decision. Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces is backed
by Tata, one of India’s, and indeed the world’s, best-known companies. So although Sarna admits “the brand Taj had a special place in my heart”, he also adds, “but I’m not sure I would be sitting here today if Taj wasn’t part of the Tata family [of companies]”.
INDIAN EXPANSION It’s an exciting and challenging time for India and for the hotel brands looking to expand there. Sarna recognises the competition from the likes of Oberoi, Leela and ITC, but also the international hotel brands, particularly in a period of consolidation and mergers. “There is no doubt that the likes of Marriott, Starwood and Accor are formidable opponents with great global reach,” he says.
“But when it comes to delivering a level and nuance of Indian service, Taj is at the top.”
This begs the question that if Taj is at
the top, what does he think needs fixing? “When I was CCO [chief commercial officer] for Hyatt, India was the second overseas market for us after China,” he says, “China did not have a home-grown hotel industry, but India was very rich with Taj, ITC, Oberoi and Leela.
“So when we were embarking on a massive expansion in India, we took a good look at all our competitors, including Taj, and felt confident that we didn’t have much to worry about going forward.” As a result he sees his role now as “to take
Taj and restore it to its former glory, and give it its true shape”.
THE ‘TAJ-NESS’ PRINCIPLE In that form he talks about “Taj-ness”, which as far as guests are concerned, does not mean staying at an Indian hotel wherever you are in the world. “The principle of ‘Taj-ness’ is to pay homage to where you are. So Dubai will not feel like Kerala or like the Pierre in New York. There will be hints and shreds of evidence of Taj-ness, but don’t turn up at the hotel in Cape Town and expect everyone to be dressed in saris.”
The expansion of the brand will be more focused under Sarna. “I think it’s very glam- orous to be in New York, Paris and Cape Town,” he says. “But where Taj needs to be is where our customers come from. A case
We welcome the international brands,
because they bring credibility and new best practices, but we’re not intimidated
32 BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016
in point is Thailand. It’s the number one country visited by Indians. So we need to be in Bangkok, as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Muscat, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “But even before that we need more in
India. We need two or three thousand more rooms in Mumbai alone. And then there’s Delhi, Goa and Rajasthan… “So much as we want to go international, for us we need to get more hotels in areas where it matters. The intra-Indian spend- ing is going to be so big it will dwarf what international visitors will spend.”
DIGITAL PRESENCE Attracting visitors to the hotels also depends on investing in new websites and a new loyalty programme. Sarna sees this as “the oxygen for the business”. He says: “If you don’t have a presence in the digital world, your product doesn’t exist. We have spent a lot of money and we believe we will have a formidable website. It has not been easy, but that is going to be the foundation of our future.”
Sarna acknowledges the challenge of at-
tracting developers to choose Taj over larger brands. “This question has taken on a new dimension since the merger of Marriott and Starwood, and Accor and Fairmont,” he says. Despite the presence of these global trade- marks, Sarna says there’s been increasing interest in Taj from developers. As the larger brands consolidate, he says some developers “may want to deal with someone who’s maybe a little bit hungrier, who understands the Indian landscape a little better, someone who can nurture that relationship and not just become one of 5,000 hotels”.
As for competition: “We welcome the international brands because they bring credibility, and standards and new best practices, but we’re not intimidated. The pie is large enough to keep everyone extremely well filled. So it’s about how we treat the dividend of Indian demographics as well. India’s time has come.”
Rakesh Sarna, joined Indian Hotels Company (known as Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces) as managing director and chief executive officer in September 2014. He previously had 30 years’ experience in various senior roles with Hyatt Hotels Corporation. These included group president-Americas and international chief operating officer, during which time he lead the launch of Hyatt’s Andaz brand. Sarna moved to Canada as a young adult and completed his diploma in hospitality administration in Ottawa.
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