EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Differentiation is essential, as the presence of a variety of Hotel brands in India is limited, whereas consumer choices and patterns show a need for more brands. Taking this into account as well as branding a strategy of not wanting an omnibus known as Taj defining all its properties the company has rebranded its properties into Taj, Vivanta by Taj, The Gateway and Ginger. Gateway is positioned above the economy brand Ginger but placed below the Residency and the Taj brands. The Gateway Hotel caters to a pan-India network of hotels and resorts offering all the key services at competitive prices. The pricing starts from Rs 3,000 and to over Rs 6,000 depending on the location. The company plans to invest aggressively to promote the brand through owned and managed properties. The Gateway Hotels are to be set up in each of the country’s business districts and leisure locations, catering primarily to the contemporary traveller. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The world has changed drastically over past one year and so has business and its trends. With the global melt down of the economy and its impact most of the corporate have resorted to drastic cost cutting measures. The effect is contagious- the meltdown is getting transmitted throughout the industries. Due to this The Gateway Hotel is experiencing a slowdown in its banquet sales. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY ➢ To understand the effectiveness of the standard operating procedures of banquet sales department and determine the gaps that occur during implementation. ➢ To understand a corporate clients preferences while choosing a particular banquet facility ➢ To determine their perception of The Gateway Hotel’s banquet facilities and recommendways to make The Gateway Hotel a preferred banquet destination for the corporate customer. 1 CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY……………………......................................................6 THE HOSPATILITY INDUSTRY……………………........................................14 HOTEL INDUSTRY IN INDIA.......................................................................... 18 THE TATA GROUP……………….........................................…………………31 • The Taj • Indian hotels company Ltd THE GATEWAY HOTEL RESIDENCY ROAD…..............................…........36 DESIGN & ANALYSIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE……….................………….39 • Introduction & objectives • Research Methodology • Analysis of the questionnaire • Observations SUGESSTIONS………………………………………...............................….56 CONCLUSION…………………………………......…........................……...75 ANNEXTURE…………………………................................….....………….80 HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY – AN OVERVIEW 2 Hospitality is all about offering warmth to someone who looks for help at a strange or unfriendly place. It refers to the process of receiving and entertaining a guest with goodwill. Hospitality in the commercial context refers to the activity of hotels, restaurants, catering, inn, resorts or clubs who make a vocation of treating tourists. Helped With unique efforts by government and all other stakeholders, including hotel owners, resort managers, tour and travel operators and employees who work in the sector, Indian hospitality industry has gained a level of acceptance world over. It has yet to go miles for recognition as a world leader of hospitality. Many take Indian hospitality service not for its quality of service but India being a cheap destination for leisure tourism With unlimited tourism and untapped business prospects, in the coming years Indian hospitality is seeing green pastures of growth. Availability of qualified human resources and untapped geographical resources give great prospects to the hospitality industry. The number of tourists coming to India is growing year after year. Likewise, internal tourism is another area with great potentials. The hospitality industry is a 3.5 trillion dollar service sector within the global economy. It is an umbrella term for a broad variety of service industries including, but not limited to, hotels, food service, casinos, and tourism. The hospitality industry is very diverse and global. The industry is cyclical; dictated by the fluctuations that occur with an economy every year. Today hospitality sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. It is expected to grow at the rate of 8% between 2007 and 2016. Many international hotels including Sheraton, Hyatt, Radisson, Meridien, Four Seasons Regent, and Marriott International are already established in the Indian markets and are still expanding. Nowadays the travel and tourism industry is also included in hospitality sector. The boom in travel and tourism has led to the further development of hospitality industry. In 2003-04 the hospitality industry contributed only 2% of the GDP. However, it is projected to grow at a rate of 8.8% between 2007-16, which would place India as the second-fastest growing tourism market in the world. This year the number of tourists visiting India is estimated to have touched the figure of 4.4 million. With this huge figure, India is becoming the hottest tourist destination. The arrival of foreign tourists has shown a compounded annual growth of 6 per cent over the past 10 years. Besides, 3 travel and tourism is the second highest foreign exchange earner for India. Moreover, it is also estimated that the tourism sector will account for nearly 5.3 per cent of GDP and 5.4 per cent of total employment. Visitor Personal Capital Govt. GDP Employment Export T&T Investment Expenditure Outlook for 7.80% 1.40% 10.90% 6.90 % 8.30% 7.70% 2006 Outlook for 6.60% 1.00% 7.80% 6.70% 7.80% 6.60% 2007- 2016 ATITHI DEVO BHAVO (guest is God)- we have all heard this phrase many times during our childhood from our parents and grand-parents. We can also find its presence in the earliest Vedas and religious epics. Hospitality is deep-rooted in our traditions and comes as an integral part of our heritage. In very simple terms, hospitality is the art of being warm to strangers and has been derived from the Latin word hospitalitem, which means "friendliness to guests". The hospitality industry covers a diverse range of establishments in the form of accommodation, food and drinks. It includes hotels, motels, restaurants, bars, ships, airlines and railways. The concept of hospitality business started when people started traveling away on business and they needed a place away from home which could cater to all their needs. Today hospitality has evolved from the basic food and accommodation industry and taken a very important position in almost all businesses. In fact, it has become a huge industry and drives economies across the globe. The scope of hospitality/ service industry today is far more than one could have ever imagined a few years back. Earlier people who graduated from a Hotel School could get employed either in Hotels, Cruises or Airlines. But service is the BUZZ word for all businesses today. Be it the Retail Sector, Banking Industry, BPO, Telecom world, Real Estate or any other sector having direct customer contact, a person with hospitality background has an edge above the rest, because of their sheer capability of understanding the needs of a customer better and handling difficult customers/ situations efficiently. 4 Hotel industry depends largely upon the foreign tourist arrivals further classified into business travelers (around 65% of the total foreign tourists) and leisure travelers. The following figures show that business as well as the leisure travelers (both domestic and international) formed major clientele for hotels in 2007. Over the last two years, the hotel industry has seen higher growth rates due to greater number of tourist arrivals, higher occupancy rate (being around 75% in FY'06) and significant increase in average room rate (ARR). The major factors contributing to this growth include stable economic and political conditions, booming service industry, FDI inflow, infrastructure development, emphasis on tourism by the central as well as state governments and tax rationalization initiatives to bring down the tax rates in line with the international levels. CONTRIBUTION TO INDIAN ECONOMY The Indian hospitality industry is going great guns presently, with high operating margins and increase in the number of travellers visiting India - both inbound and 5 outbound. Thus, the only direction left for the sector points upwards. However, what needs to be focussed on is the fact that opportunities are not missed, which presently include the large gaps in rooms supply as compared to demand. India has approximately 100,000 rooms only in totality, which is lesser than that in Las Vegas, besides contributing to an insignificant portion of the GDP - just 5.4 per cent says Sudeep Jain, executive director of JLLM. In comparison to nations like China, Thailand and Malaysia where the hospitality share ranges between 12 and 15 per cent, India's growth potential is boundless. "By 2020, the hospitality and tourism sector would be a major contributor to the Indian economy," says Jain. South Asia is and will remain a must-visit destination and India is looking more and more lucrative. Within the nation, major contribution as destinations will be from the growing tier I and II cities with a special emphasis on business hotels across categories as well as the prime leisure destinations like Goa, Rajasthan, etc, which will remain on the growth path, creating the aura for India as a leisure destination. Accordingly, the needs of the traveller, will be nothing less than perfection. Jain says, "They will