When the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi was renovated during the pandemic, the hotel dedicated two whole floors to residential suites. The 27 one- and two-bedroom suites come with a pantry equipped with all appliances needed for a home-like experience, including a refrigerator, washing machine, dishwasher, microwave, kettle and even crockery and utensils.
The Oberoi Mumbai in May this year introduced 20 residential suites in two categories that again offer all the comforts of a home plus facilities of a hotel to long-stay guests.
While these are recent, Hyatt has been offering residences since 2010 at Hyatt Regency Pune, and Park Hyatt Hyderabad since 2012. At Andaz Delhi, a Hyatt hotel, 125 residential suites are included in a separate section of the hotel. Occupancy is at over 85%, with 80% corporate bookings, and general manager Hardip Marwah is looking to improve this figure too given the hefty revenue the hotel accrues from the residences. Flexible about how to use the residences, the hotel even has the office of an international airlines operating from the hotel, with minor structural changes allowed in the suite for a lease of 2-3 years. “Not only does the hotel earn revenue from the suite, the collateral needs of an office get us good revenue from food and beverage, room bookings, conferences, etc,” said Marwah. With a sizeable Japanese clientele, he is now planning a Japanese-Korean restaurant in the hotel to make them feel even more at home.
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At Taj Mahal Hotel, general manager and area director, Delhi, Anmol Ahluwalia revealed that residences at the hotel have an 80-85% occupancy, with 95% reserved by corporates and consulates. Some takers include people whose houses are being renovated or built, etc.
“The average stay is for a month, and guests have access to breakfast plus the Taj Club Lounge that offers high tea and complimentary cocktails. The tariffs range from about Rs 20,000 for a single room to Rs 40,000 for a doubles,” he told FE.
IHCL also offers residency hotels in the Taj Wellington Mews at Mumbai and Chennai which include fully serviced apartments. Residential suites are available at Taj 51 Buckingham Gate, London, and The Pierre, New York, too. Older hotels like the Taj Bengal in Kolkata have also been renovated to include residences.
As Vikram Oberoi, CEO of The Oberoi Group, commented at the launch of residential suites at the Oberoi: “The Oberoi residential suites herald a new era of modern urban living.”
The logic of a hotel home is illustrated by Marwah when he recounts how a client stayed in his hotel for five years despite owning a house in Delhi. “The guest preferred the hotel as all his needs were taken care of here. He told me he had given his three-storey house in Delhi on rent as he did not need that huge a space, and moved into the hotel, which worked out cheaper too.” The hotel not only provides full support to the residences, it even orders groceries for guests. Housed in a separate section with their own gate, one can even see children going to school from the residences. There is one grouse though. “School buses don’t have this route covered. Yet.” Well, you really can’t have it all!