PROJECT REPORT

Objective:

Primary Objective:

To compare the ITC Luxury Hotels in Bengaluru with the other hotels of its

kind and to position it in the way the guests would perceive it in various

parameters.

Secondary Objectives:

To find out which hotel enjoys location advantage over its counterparts.

To see if there is any trend which is seen in the arrival pattern of the

guests or preferring the hotel in which they will stay.

To find out various factors on the basis of which each of the hotels

considered in the study can either boast of or grab on to attract guests, or

they require to work on to improve to serve their guests better.

To compare and study the Presidential Suite of ITC Royal Gardenia (a

seven star hotel) with its counterparts around the globe.

Research Methodology:

My whole project was divided into 4 major parts, the analysis of which would

help me in mapping all the 5 star & 5 star deluxe hotels in Bangalore.

Analysis 1: Location Appreciation:

In this analysis, all the roads within 5 Km radius of each of the seven

hotels (ITC Royal Gardenia, ITC Windsor, The Leela, The Oberoi, The

Taj West End, Lalit Ashok and Le Meridien) were identified along with

the corporate parks, Malls and shopping complexes, Historical sites,

gardens, theatre, Art Gallery, Hospital, Stadium and other leisure.

A hotel if situated in proximity of all these locations it would attract

guests of different taste & preferences.

All the data collected in this analysis are secondary data, i.e. through map

and internet search using relevant search phrases such as corporate/IT

parks in Bangalore, hotel name and the corporate parks, etc.

Analysis 2: Guest Arrival trend:

For this analysis, visit the airport (i.e. the source of our customer) was

done, to find out the normal arrivals of the business passengers in both

the domestic & the international flights and to find out how they are

moving out from airport to the destination or preferable to which hotel are

they going to stay.

Observing the passengers and looking at the pluck cards outside the

arrival gates which provided the details about the passengers coming

from the airport. From the pluck cards, information like name of the

passenger, company’s name, hotel in which they are staying and even the

car rental which they will be using.

All the data collected here are primary data, i.e. through observation and

communication. Visiting to airport was done for 8 days, only on Monday

to Thursday (as maximum business passengers travels on weekdays), for

2 continuous weeks.

Analysis 3: SWOT Analysis of all 5 star hotels & 5 star deluxe hotels

in Bangalore.

For this analysis some of the vital details of all the eight 5 star & 5 star

deluxe hotels of Bangalore were required on the basis of which, strength,

weakness, opportunity and threats of these individual hotels were to be

identified.

The analysis was divided into 5 parameters like, the accommodation, the

banquet facilities, the restaurants, the business centre and the spa, gym,

swimming pool etc.

Here the data collected are trough the hotel’s website or else trough

personal calling or even visit to these hotels, so the data are primary data

only.

Analysis 4: Comparing the Presidential Suite of ITC Royal Gardenia

with that of the few International brands in hotel industries:

ITC Royal Gardenia is basically a 7 star hotel (as 7 star category is not

applicable in India, it is rated as a 5 star deluxe hotel) so the facilities

which are offered here must be in comparison with the other 7 star or the

top class brands of the Hotel in the world. Especially the Presidential

Suite, which is one of its kinds in India, should give the services at par

with the international brands.

Here the only way of finding out the details of the Presidential Suite of

the international brands are through websites and all the data are from

primary sources through observation of product information on the

website of the hotels.

Assumptions:

First assumption of this report is that the target customers are the business

travellers. As Bangalore is better known as the IT Hub of India, so every

software company have their offices in the city. Also there are not many

tourist spots in Bangalore.

The sections of people who normally stay in the hotel are either the top

shot personalities or the Manager who holds important positions in the

company. Normally these guests travel only trough airlines. Also the

major section of customers comes from International flight.

ANALYSIS 1: Location Appreciation:

Location is a very vital point for any hotel. It should be centrally located to all

the facilities of the city. As mentioned earlier that the target customers are the

business travellers so the very vital parameter here is the commercial area or the

business or the tech parks in Bangalore. Even in the hotel it is been seen that the

maximum rooms are booked on the week days compare to that of the weekends.

Apart from this other parameters which need to be looked into is the shopping

complex, stadiums or grounds etc wherein big events take part, which again

invites big shots to come down to the city, say for e.g.; IPL or Cricket matches,

Bangalore Economic Summit, etc. so even these event also attracts many guests

to the hotel as the guest would love to stay close to event venue.

Apart from these two most important factors for any hotel’s location even other

leisure activities should be taken care of. After a tiresome day any guest would

like to spend time for his/her recreation or for relaxing. Here the guest can

choose any place, i.e. either stays inside the hotel or may be move out and

experience the city’s life. So the hotel should be located in such a location that it

should shopping malls, theatres, gardens etc are situated at nearby.

The summary of data collected is provided below:

Hotel

Names

Roa

ds

Corpora

te Park

Mal

ls

Historic

al Sites

Garde

ns

Theatr

es

Art

Galle

ry

Stadiu

m

Other

Leisu

re

The Leela

Palace50 26 22 3 3 2 5 7 11

The Oberoi 143 19 55 6 8 16 14 12 32

The Taj

Westend144 14 50 4 8 18 12 11 27

The Lalit

Ashok144 14 50 4 8 18 12 11 27

Le

Meridien144 14 50 4 8 18 12 11 27

ITC

Windsor144 14 50 4 8 18 12 11 27

ITC Royal

Gardenia173 23 58 7 12 16 14 15 33

TOTAL 202 45 62 7 12 20 14 15 38

INFERENCE:

The Leela Palace is situated near the old airport which used to be its USP

as it was the only hotel which was so near to the airport but recently with

the change in the location of the airport it is now the furthest hotel from

the airport and ITC Windsor became the most nearest hotel from the

airport (as of now). Even though The Leela Palace is still the most

preferred hotel for most of the companies because of the name it has

earned over past few years by its spectacular service.

Within the 5 KM radius of The Leela Palace there are not many roads

because on one side of it is the Air Force Defence Colony and the other

side is the airport. The only major business area which it covers is the

Indranagar, Domlur and the Marathalli area which house for many IT

giants in Bangalore. Further the area around The Leela Palace is

developing and there are many major tech parks etc are coming up which

is just km away from it.

With the smallest coverage area of the roads, the hotel still is in close

proximity to many of the IT companies in Bangalore as the city is packed

up with other business house and so they are moving to the outskirts of

Bangalore where they can get and cheaper place to for new tech parks.

The Taj Westend, Lalit Ashok, Le Meridien & ITC Windsor are located

in close proximity to each another. So there is not much comparison

among these hotels but then when we compare with the other hotels we

can see that they are located in the heart of the city. As mentioned earlier

that the newer tech parks are coming up in the outskirts of the city which

is a major drawback for these hotels.

ITC Royal Gardenia here is situated in the best location covering both the

coverage area of all the hotels. It is just about 7 km from The Leela

Palace but still it is well within the city, covering in both the corporate

parks, and also the amenities of the city. This is again strength of the

hotel which they should be putting forward to their client.

ANALYSIS 2: Guest arrival trends.

As already mention that the only way getting the details of the guest is trough

the arrival of the passengers from the airport. The only way to found out was

either to look at the pluck cards of various hotels/company or to build friendly

relation with the guys out at the airport and then in an informal way need to get

the data out.

The target customers are business class, who usually travel on weekdays rather

than weekends, so the days considered here are weekdays only. Main objective

of this data collection is to find out the name of the passengers along with the

company and also the hotel which they will be staying. The following is the

summary of my data collected:

 

Date  

12-

05-

2010

15-

05-

2010

16-05-

2010

18-

05-

2010

19-05-

2010

20-05-

2010

25-

05-

2010

26-

05-

2010

Total

No. Of

Arrival  8 7 14 80 58 33 36 31 267

Competitor

Hotels

Leela

Palace1 2   10     5 4 22

The

Oberoi    5 1   1 1 3 11

Taj West

End14 4 4 1   3     26

Taj

Residency    6       1 2 9

Taj

Gateway            1   1

Lalit

Ashok1 1 1 5 1 1 4 2 16

Taj

Vivanta      3         3

Ista 2 1             3

Le

Meridien      3   2   1 6

Clarke

Extorica

      2         2

Royal

Orchid      3     2   5

Royal

Orchid

Central

      2     1   3

In this analysis the all the details of the passengers were very hard to find out

because of the restriction to interact with the guests and also in the puck card

it’s either, the passenger name and the hotel name were displayed (for passenger

how have requested for the hotel cars for pick up facility), or the passenger

name and the company name were displayed (for those passenger whose either

have taken the rental cars or the company’s car). Also for the 1 st few days early

morning was the preferable time and then in the evening as maximum

passengers details can be made then, also the International flight, which was the

main target, used to arrive either late night or early morning.

From the above summary it is been clear that the maximum passenger where

heading towards either The Leela Palace or The Taj West End. All these are

surely going to be a high profile guests as they have either asked the hotel for

the airport pick up or else it is a complimentary service in their charge.

Of these few high profile guests few were able to identify their company. The

summary of this data is as below:

Competitor

Hotels

Company's

NameNo. Of Guests

Leela Palace

Net App 1

IBM 1

Dell 1

Tristar

Worldwide 1

Net Jet 4

HP 2

The Oberoi

MCML

Systems 3

Dell 1

Taj West EndWipro 14

HP 2

Taj Residency

Accenture 1

Dell 1

Wipro 2

Lalit Ashok

Fagor 1

Naukari 1

Labs

Akkenaer 1

Taj VivantaValtech 1

Oracle 2

IstaTexas 1

Levi's 1

Royal Orchid JTA 1

INFERENCE:

In this analysis it is clear that the maximum guests have preferred The Taj

Westend and The Leela Palace over the other hotels of the same category.

Also from the main database, one can observe that out of 98 companies

which have flown into Bangalore, maximum passengers works for the IT

companies.

Also it is been noticed that there are few passengers who take the services

of the airport transfer from the hotel itself. Either they hire a rental car or

preferably take the companies car only.

ANALYSIS 3: SWOT Analysis of all 5 star hotel & 5 star deluxe hotel in Bangalore.

Objective of this analysis is to find out details of all the eight hotels which fall

in this category (ITC Royal Gardenia, ITC Windsor, The Leela Palace, Taj

Westend, Taj Residency, The Oberoi, The Lalit Ashok and Le Meridien) and

then judge them on six parameters (Accommodations, Restaurants, Banquet

Facilities, Business Centre, Spa & Health Care). Based on these parameters and

also taking the above analysis into consideration, SWOT analysis is required to

be done for each of these hotels individually.

SWOT for The Leela Palace:

STRENGHT:

One of the oldest hotels in the

Bangalore, which is gives, the

nostalgic touch of the palace of

India.

Situated near the old airport and

so was preferred by many

people as they used to stay in

that hotel and were very happy

with the services offered there.

Apart from hotel there are also

offices of many companies in

the corporate wing and also an

underground shopping complex

WEAKNESS:

In the garden of the hotel one

can hear the sound of the

vehicles moving by.

For the base category rooms

their size and price are almost

the same of the other hotel but

they don’t have any

complimentary.

In their website they have a line

saying: “Every room and suite

at the Leela Palace mirrors the

royal resplendence befitting a

business hotel created for the

which brings the entire thing

together (stay, work and

leisure).

They have the maximum

categories of rooms (9 rooms’

category) which cater to the

need of all the class of people

who visit Bangalore and also

have the maximum rooms

compare to other hotels.

emperors of the IT world.” This

can send a wrong message to the

other companies which are not

into IT.

OPPORTUNITY:

Many business parks and tech

parks are coming up in the area

around the hotel.

They have Royal Club facilities

in the hotel where guest can

interact with each other. It also

gives a feeling of being in a

club.

Have maximum number of

Banquet halls and meeting room

to offer than any other hotels in

Bangalore.

THREAT:

As the airport has been shifted,

it is the farthest of all the hotels.

So new travellers may not prefer

it.

ITC Royal Gardenia has come

up, which is hardly 7 km from it

and offers equivalent services.

SWOT for The Taj Westend:

STRENGHT:

It has the architecture beauty of

that of the British time and also

it has the gardens surrounding

the hotel in the midst of the city.

even the location is excellent. It

is within the city but one can get

the feel of living in the outskirt

of the city.

It is the only hotel in Bangalore

that offers a tele presence

service.

WEAKNESS:

They have an excellent outdoor

party area, but Bangalore

weather is very unpredictable

and so this can spoil it.

They do not have a 24 hrs

restaurant.

OPPORTUNITY:

They have guards armed with

guns and guarding the gates

which is rarely seen in any of

the hotels.

The name TAJ Group of Hotels

is among the best brands in the

world.

THREATS:

Other three hotels (The Lalit

Ashok, Le Meridien and ITC

Windsor) are very close by; they

have no advantage over the

location factors.

No option of buffet dinner.

SWOT for The Oberoi:

STRENGHT:

The brand name “Oberoi Hotel”

is its key USP.

They have rooms with option of

shower cubicle and bath tub.

WEAKNESS:

There base category rooms are very

small compare to other hotel of its

kind.

They do not provide any additional

security to single lady traveller.

Even the banquet halls are very

small.

OPPORTUNITY:

In spa they have a weekend

program wherein the guests

have to stay for a night at the

hotel. This opportunity can be

used as a demo sort of services

which they provide to the in

house guests.

THREATS:

Suites are been offered with almost

same facilities and size of base

category rooms of that of Leela

Palace & Royal Gardenia.

They don’t have club facilities every

guest can interact among themselves

like other hotel of its kind have.

SWOT for The Lalit Ashok:

STRENGHT:

They have the 2 largest banquet

halls in Bangalore (with pillar).

WEAKNESS:

Rooms in all categories are very

small comparing its counterparts

in its competitive hotels.

OPPORTUNITY:

Only hotel to provide a

complimentary massage to the

in house guests. (In selected

rooms only).

It can be best placed to those

travellers who cannot afford a 5

star deluxe hotel but still avail

the luxury of living in the 5 star

deluxe hotels.

THREATS:

Provide Mahindra Logan car for

airport transfer. Also the city

taxis are the same model.

Suites are been offered with

almost same facilities and size

of base category rooms of that

of Leela Palace & Royal

Gardenia.

SWOT for Le Meridien:

STRENGHT:

Only hotel (apart from ITC

Windsor) to have a pool side

restaurant.

WEAKNESS:

Have only one signature

restaurant.

Spa is smaller in size and also

they do not have much option in

their spa menu.

OPPORTUNITY:

Rooms are bigger than Lalit

Ashok & Taj Residency and

also it is been priced low.

Can be targeted to those sections

of customer who aspire to live

in a 5 star deluxe hotel but

cannot afford to do so.

THREATS:

They do not provide any buffet

dinner.

SWOT for The Taj Residency:

STRENGHT:

Only hotel to have 24 hrs pastry

shop.

Banquets are very big compare

to most of the hotels in

Bangalore.

WEAKNESS:

Rooms are smaller in size

compare to its counterpart in

other competitive hotels.

Offers fewer categories of

rooms.

OPPORTUNITY:

Only hotel to have a European,

Italian signature restaurant.

Can be targeted to those sections

of customer who aspire to live

in a 5 star deluxe hotel but

cannot afford to do so.

THREATS:

Its top category suites are even

smaller than the base category

rooms of The Leela Palace and

ITC Royal Gardenia.

SWOT for ITC Windsor:

STRENGHT:

Apart from Taj Westend this is

the only building which has the

touch of British architecture,

which is rarely seen in the city

of Bangalore. Even it is located

at the heart of the city.

Have a wide variety of signature

restaurants to serve the guests

with cuisines of various

cuisines.

WEAKNESS:

Do not have many categories of

rooms for in suite to offer.

OPPORTUNITY:

Only hotel (apart from ITC

Royal Gardenia) where they

have a separate wing for the

single lady traveller called the

EVA floor where only ladies are

allowed to enter.

It is now the one of the nearest

hotel from the new airport,

which is located at the heart of

the city.

THREATS:

Taj Westend, Lalit Asok, Le

Meridien are located in close

proximately to each other. So

the only differentiate itself is by

the service it can offer to its in

house guests.

SWOT for ITC Royal Gardenia:

STRENGHT:

Asia’s first and world largest

LEED platinum- rated hotel. It

is a perfect combination of

luxury along with environmental

friendly responsibility.

Largest Presidential Suite in the

country (5040 sq ft area) with a

heliport directly connected to it.

Have the largest pillarless hall in

Bangalore. Also the botanica

(Garden area) can be covered if

it starts raining.

WEAKNESS:

Does not have a garden where

the in house guest can roam

around as in The Leela Palace.

Nothing is mention about the

Heliport and largest banquet

halls in the website. More

details about the hotel must be

added to the website.

OPPORTUNITY:

Only hotel (apart from ITC

Windsor) where they have a

separate wing for the single lady

traveller called the EVA floor

where only ladies are allowed to

enter.

Has the maximum number of

signature restaurant.

Culinary plus program includes

all the hotels of ITC which are

THREATS:

The Upper Crust and the

Business Centre at the same

place while all the other hotels

have that in separate location.

Even though it is a very new

property in Bangalore, it needs

to establish itself very fast, as it

can face a tough competition

from already established The

Leela Palace or from the

there all over India. upcoming International brands

like JW Marriott & Hilton.

ANALYSIS 4: Comparing the Presidential Suite of ITC Royal Gardenia with that of the few International brands in hotel industries:

For any International guests who will be coming down to India for the first time

to Bangalore and they have no idea about the 5 star deluxe hotels he will first

visit the hotel website and then consult the travelling agents. This analysis is

basically focused to these sections of customers. The main objective of this

analysis is to compare ITC ROYAL GARDENIA’s website with that of the few

5 star deluxe hotels who are the big players and also with the competitors in

Bangalore.

The sample size for this analysis is 13 hotels which are compared with ITC

Royal Gardenia. The parameters for evaluations are the size, amenities,

inclusions and helipad services. Tough the data source is from their website

only so all the information were not available there. The hotels are:

The Leela Palace, Bangalore,

The Taj Westend, Bangalore,

The Taj Mahal, Mumbai,

The Taj Mahal Mansingh, Delhi,

The Burj Kharifa (Armani Hotels), Dubai,

4 Season’s London, New York and Mumbai,

Waldorf Astoria, New York,

Oriental Mandarin, Bangkok,

Peninsula, Bangkok & Hong Kong,

Raffles, Singapore.

INFERENCE:

ITC Royal Gardenia and Peninsula, Bangkok is the only hotel which

provides a helipad service. This can be used by Royal Gardenia as one of

the key USP to sell itself. But if one take a glance in the website one

would not find anything mention about it.

Comparing the amenities of all the national property, ITC Royal Gardenia

is almost at par or even higher. But with International brands there are

certain branded or non branded amenities which are still not present in

ITC Royal Gardenia.

Size of the Presidential Suite is bigger than that of many Presidential

Suite of other hotel. This can also be a key USP to sell the property.

RECOMMEDATION:

Website of ITC Royal Gardenia should be reorganised as many of the key

USPs that should be mention are missing in it. So, customers who would

first look at the website would be confident in making the booking. Also

the virtual tour of the rooms is missing from the website. With the help of

virtual tour only one can provide a free demo to those guests who cannot

come down to Bangalore.

ITC Windsor can be placed as a historical property and the theme must be

that of British time as there are very few property left in Bangalore. This

can be a key point which can be used to distinguish it from the other three

properties which are there nearby.

ITC Royal Gardenia is LEED Platinum rated hotel and it provides

environmental friendly luxury. Now this USP must be used to bring

benefit to the guest who stays at the property. ITC Royal Gardenia can

join hand with some Government institute or any NGOs, which

encourage environmental friendly practices, and starts a program for

awarding those companies are giving a certain room nights per

month/year, with some certificate or recognition. This can be down by

publishing a small page ad in the newspaper or magazine stating that so

and so company have contributed so much to the environment and are

among those companies which are environmentally responsible.

ITC hotels are in collaboration of Starwoods Hotels which are big player

in International level. So they ITC Hotels can come out with some

program which would provide with some incentives and discount to those

international customer who can come down and in the ITC group of

Hotels.

ITC Windsor can come out with a program for those guests who are in

Bangalore for work and also want to spend a few days for holiday. They

can design a program were in the guest can have their business work over

in the weekdays and then on weekends can move out to nearby places for

sightseeing or holidays.

ITC Hotel groups one of the largest chains of hotels in India which covers

the entire nations. They can come out with a new program where in all

the hotels of ITC can participate. In this program instead of giving awards

to the privilege members, they can provide spot discount and other

incentives to them. Here, they can have different category of members

along with some condition which needs to work on. In this program, they

can also provide some discounts to low member group to encourage using

the luxury hotels in the city/country.

Conclusions:

After the analysis done by me, I came to the conclusion that the competition of

hotel in Bangalore is very fierce. In short there are every few differences in

which the hotels can be put into. In my opinion, ITC Royal Gardenia, The Leela

Palace and The Taj Westend are the top hotels in Bangalore which services the

elite section of guests arriving in the city. The second section in which includes

ITC Windsor, The Oberoi, Le Meridien and Lalit Ashok comes. Even there are

many other big players like JW Marriot, Hilton and Trident (Oberoi) which will

be operational in the coming years would be tough competition to the existing

players.

ITC group of hotels has a very good brand name in the market for the flawless

services which it renders to the guests. This is the only vital aspect for any hotel

to exist and have an edge over its competitors. Come can only attract loyal

customers to the hotel with the services and the ambience it offer to the guests ,

which are excellent with all the ITC Hotels in India.

Working with ITC Hotels was a great experience with for me. Coming from a

different background and understanding the working of the hotel industry was a

whole experience for me. ITC Hotels have more than 70 properties all over

India and is one of the largest chains of hotels in India. If all the section in the

hotel division can come with an integrated program it would cater all the

different level of companies operating in India.

Even its association with an International brands like Starwood, Sheraton it can

step into the international market too. Again a joint programme with these

hotels can bring in awareness among the international customer which is the

major section of customers coming down to the hotel.

ITC Hotel group has very rich resources available for its disposal and if these

resources can be put in a proper channel than ITC Hotel group is surely be the

cash cow for ITC group.

Limitations:

Customers are inaccessible, because our customers are the high profile

persons and they are not easy to get to them. Also the customers are

based outside the city.

Competitor’s data are extremely difficult to obtain from primary

sources. Even the basic details were not given out due to security

reasons.

Use of observation method to gather data hence there can be a chance

of subjectivity in interpreting.

Internal data are no easy disclosure, again for security reasons and for

the privacy of the customers. Also before revealing any information

they check the person’s profile as they do need to maintain the status

of their hotel.

Reliance on data collected from public domain (such as maps and

third-party provided information from the Internet). This can either be

misleading, old or even incomplete.

References:

www.google.com

www.itcportal.com

www.itcwelcomgroup.in

www.theleela.com

www.tajhotels.com

www.thelalit.com

www.lemeridien-bangalore.com

www.oberoihotels.com

www.hotelassociationofindia.com

www.tourism.gov.in

www.burjkhalifa.ae

www.fourseasons.com

www.waldorfastoria.com

www. mandarin oriental.com

www.raffles.com

www.peninsula.com