Wah Taj

As the Taj hotel celebrates its centenary, Madhavankutty Pillai takes a look at the intervening years

At a locker in the office of Partha Chatterjee, director of sales, The Taj Mahal Hotel, is an advertisement which boasts of ‘Asia’s leading hotel’ having a ‘steam laundry, cold storage, elaborate and roomy elevators, electric lights, fans, clocks and kitchens supervised by four experienced chefs’. This was in the year 1906. Times have changed since. As the Taj celebrates its centenary this year, the name boasts of at least 63 properties across the globe including three hotels in every Indian metropolis and 10 hotels abroad. All of them have much more than a ‘steam laundry, cold storage, elaborate and roomy elevators, electric lights, fans, clocks’. There are also more than four experienced chefs. It is said that if you go anywhere in the world, in every hospitality institution, you will find an employee who was once with the Taj.

In 1967, when Subir Bhowmick came to Mumbai from Delhi for an interview at The Taj, the primary motive was to see Marine Drive. That the company was paying first class fare was an added incentive. Bhowmick is today chief operating officer & senior vice-president, luxury division. Thirty-five years have passed and he will retire in April, 2003. He has been a first-hand witness to the evolution of the hotel from a one-off property to a multinational brand. “In 1967, there were only 265 rooms, the sixth floor was getting ready, the staff totalled 550 and the tower block was still four years away. We have grown with the company,” says Bhowmick.

There were three major expansion drives in the hotel’s history - 1973, 1987 and 1997. In 1973, they converted Lake Palace, Udaipur, a heritage property, into a hotel. This was a pioneering concept and a harbinger of other hotels like Rambagh Palace, Jaipur and Taj Coromandel, Madras, the President Hotels, Taj Mansingh, New Delhi, etc. “It became a fashion. When Taj makes a hotel, everybody else follows,” says Bhowmick.

The year 1987 saw a major restructuring drive and since 1997, it was time for consolidation. Says Bhowmick, “In 1997, the new management came. It was realised that we were growing so fast that there were two areas where some neglect had been made. One was the renovation of the older properties which was essential with global chains entering and competition becoming severe. Secondly, B Krishnakumar, the new managing director, decided to reposition these properties with very structured systems.”

Which meant the introduction of aspects like standardisation – all luxury hotels having the same features, etc. To meet the completely new levels of competition, there was a complete sea change in satisfying the customer.

There were loyalty programmes introduced, there was thrust on the use of technology, new age concepts like spa was brought in. Says Bhowmick, “The profile of the customer had changed. Someone like Bill Gates, when we hosted him, used to get up at five in the morning to go to the fitness centre. We have to provide them the best. Earlier hotels were sold as a home away from home, today they are a home cum office away from your home and office.”

There was also a complete overhaul of food and beverage. Jamshed S Daboo, chief operating officer - leisure hotels, The Indian Hotel Co Ltd, said, “We as a group decided to bring about a change in F&B all across, like starting new restaurants, giving value add-on services to our guests and clients, etc.”

In fact, the Taj has been a pioneer in many things including food and beverage. In 1973, they introduced Schezwan cuisine for the first time at Golden Dragon. Shamiana was the first coffee shop in Mumbai to be open 24 hours a day way back in 1971. Thai cuisine, Italian cuisine, the concept of fine dining were all Taj introductions.

Bhowmick recounts an interesting anecdote about why Golden Dragon was set up in the ground floor. “We wanted it on the terrace but the fire brigade would not give us permission since Chinese cuisine needed high pressure cooking and the fire brigade had no equipments to reach the top,” he said. Golden Dragon has now been given a complete new look for the centenary celebrations which are already underway.

For the centenary, in the Taj Mumbai, all nine restaurants will change with Sea Lounge and Harbour Bar donning a new look. A new corridor will link the tower and the heritage wing, there will be a new health club, fitness centre, beauty parlour, etc. But, says Bhowmick, the crowning glory will be the millennium building – a 95-room service apartments. “The architecture is such that the building looks circular, even though it is rectangular,” says Bhowmick. The service apartments will be fully furnished, have the latest technology, a health club, business centre, travel desk, spa, swimming pool, a jogging track, beautiful green landscaping.

However, despite the strides made in 100 years, the driving force behind the Taj remains its people, says Bhowmick. “We have developed managers. No matter how much technology advances or business trends change, ultimately it’s all about people,” he said.

Celebrity Capers

It would be an understatement to say that the Taj has seen its share of celebrities. The list includes names like Microsoft head Bill Gates, former US president Bill Clinton, rock star Paul McCartney, former and present French presidents Francois Mitterrand and Jacques Chirac respectively, supermodel Cindy Crawford, former UK prime minister John Major and many more. In fact it is not easy to host such eminence especially if two of them hop in at the same time. Such was the case when the dates of Chirac and Crawford's stay overlapped. In the words of Subir Bhowmick, chief operating officer & senior vice-president, luxury division, “The French embassy didn't want to house Chirac here after they came to know about Cindy Crawford. But we wanted to have them both. So, we took both their programmes and chalked out our own programme so that both got equal prominence. It was timed in such a manner that as soon as one moved from a place, the other would walk in. A separate team of security managers were formed. The service lift was changed to look like a special elevator. We gave Cindy Crawford's corridor a floral touch while Chirac's corridor was given a more business-like ambience." Among the rich and famous who have been at the Taj, former British prime minister John Major was the most impressive, says Bhowmick. “He was active and quick. There is this whole security team standing near the lift expecting him to go down and Major says 'what a staircase' and starts walking down! Hundreds of people start following him with the security men in total panic."

The old garden and driveway has now given way to the swimming pool

The Taj, before the tower wing was built