Resort & Hotel Operations: How heritage resorts and hotels changed the face of tourism in Indian state of Rajasthan

Rajasthan is the largest state of India. Rajasthan contains the Thar Desert which is the eighteenth largest subtropical desert in the world. Rajasthan was once among the poorest and least developed states of India. But over the past three decades the economy of the state has grown on the back of its emergence as the most popular tourist destination of India (Somani, Ram Vallabh, 1993).

Rajasthan is divided among a large number of erstwhile princely states. The princes and rajahs have a number of palaces, fortresses and havelis. In the decade f 70s and 80s many of them turned their ancestral palaces and fortresses into heritage hotels and resorts.

These heritage hotels and resorts are today the biggest tourist attraction of Rajasthan. They are driving the tourism boom that the state is seeing. Domestic as well as international tourists are thronging to the state in unprecedented numbers.

The model followed in heritage hotels and resorts of Rajasthan varies across properties. Some of the princes have given the management of these hotels and resorts to major hotel companies like ITC Hotels, Indian Hotels, and Intercontinental etc. These companies charge a percentage of revenues as their management fee besides charging a percent of net profit as management commission.

In some cases the owners themselves created hotel management companies which both own and manage the hotels. This silent revolution in the heritage hotel and resorts industry of Rajasthan started in the early 70s. Rajah Sawai Man Singh of the royal house of Jaipur and Rajah Bhagwant Singh of the Royal House of Udaipur approached the Taj Hotels group (now Indian Hotels) which was the hotel operations arm of Tata Group. Both of these rajahs had converted their grand palaces into hotels but met with failure in managing them. So it was their idea to approach the Taj Group and ask it to take over the management of their hotels (Crites, Mitchell Shelby; Nanji, Ameeta, 2007).

Taj Group entered into a strategic alliance with these hotelier Rajahs. As part of this alliance Taj started managing and marketing the heritage properties of Sawai Man Singh (Rambagh Palace Hotel in Jaipur) and Bhagwant Singh (Lake Palace resort in Udaipur).

Taj’s management expertise coupled with the heritage charm of these two hotels soon did wonders. Both the hotels became an instant hit with foreign tourists from United States and Western Europe. Other princes and rajahs of Rajasthan emulated the example set by Rambagh palace and Lake Palace. They turned their palaces into hotels and resorts and gave them for management to professionally run hotel chains (Crump, Vivien; Toh, Irene ,1996).

By the decade of 80s the heritage hotels and resorts had firmly put Rajasthan on the global tourist map. The production team of James Bond movie Octopussy especially flew to Udaipur to shoot some of the scenes of the movie at Lake Palace resort Udaipur.

Tourists from countries like France and United States now came to Rajasthan especially for getting the experience of staying in a heritage resort that was once the royal palace of a rajah or prince. The marketing strategy of these resorts positioned them as places of stay that provided unique experience to guests. The focus of brand positioning was on the experience aspect. Tourists who were interested in history and architecture found these hotels and resorts especially attractive.

By the turn of the decade of 90s India had started its economic liberalization process. Globalization entered the country and with it the inflow of business and leisure tourists increased. The tourism landscape of Rajasthan underwent another change. Now many princelings taking a cue from the larger princes or rajahs started turning their heritage properties into hotels and resorts. These heritage hotels were smaller in size, usually having only 20 to 25 rooms. They focused on retaining the traditional elements of Rajputana Royal way of living and cuisine. Most of these resorts are family-managed and are doing fairly well for themselves. They charge much lower rates that the large, professionally managed properties. In many cases they are more successful than their larger counterparts in giving their guests a taste of Rajput culture, cuisine and way of living (Michell, George, Martinelli, Antonio, 2005).

The essential elements of the recipe of success of these heritage resorts and hotels of Rajasthan are: the unique aura and charm lent by the architecture and past of heritage properties; the focus of management in operations was to retain the essential elements of Rajputana culture, living and cuisine; and last but not the least, effective and right marketing succeeded in communicating the value proposition to the customers.

The heritage resorts and hotels have emerged as the biggest tourist destination of Rajasthan. Heritage tourism driven in the region by the popularity of these resorts and hotels provides direct and indirect employment to a significant portion of the population of the state.

The success of heritage resorts and hotels in Rajasthan provides important lessons for a student of hospitality and hotel & resort operations. Firstly it shows the commercial and hospitality potential of turning heritage properties in hotels. There are thousands and thousands of such heritage properties spread in Australia, Europe and rest of the world. Many of them can be restored and transformed into heritage resorts and hotels.

The second important lesson is on management of these properties. Heritage properties should be managed in such a way so that the heritage elements are retained as closely as possible. The marketing strategy should fit well with the operational strategy so that the right brand positioning can be achieved. Marketing is very important for the success of heritage resorts and hotels (William Warren, Jill Gocher, 2007).

And last but not the least, heritage resorts have the potential to emerge as tourist attractions and destinations in themselves. If they are marketed rightly then tourists will come to a place just to get an experience of staying in these heritage resorts and hotels.

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