17 September,2010 02:00 PM IST | | AFP
Indian hotel chain Taj Hotels has launched a new brand as it attempts to broaden its appeal to consumers.
Vivanta by Taj will offer "upper upscale" five-star hotels and will be "stylish and sophisticated, vivid and creative," said the firm in a statement Wednesday.
The chain will debut with 19 properties in India and the Maldives and will offer 30 hotels in the next two years, aimed at "cosmopolitan global" travelers.
Newly built Vivanta hotels are scheduled to open in the next few months in Bangalore (Yeshwantpur), Hyderabad (Begumpet), Coimbatore (Race Course Road) and three in Delhi/NCR (Dwarka, Gurgaon and Shahdara).
The hotels will sit between Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces (the brand's high-end luxury offering) and The Gateway Hotel, which the 107-year-old company launched two years ago in the upscale segment.
The name is taken from the French "bon vivant," with Taj spokesman Ajoy Misra saying that the brand "exudes style and a strong sense of living life to the hilt."
Earlier this year, luxury Middle Eastern chain Jumeirah Hotels announced a similar "lifestyle" brand, VENU Hotels.
The first of the properties, which are expected to target a similar type of traveler as the Vivanta chain, is reportedly set to open in Shanghai in 2011.
