In a major shakeup in the hospitality space, Ginger Hotels has been given a makeover, effectively turning into a full-service hotel. The first ‘new look and feel Ginger’ was unveiled recently in Goa. The rebranding exercise includes a new logo as well. The new full-service hotels are expected to feature a swimming pool, a conference area and F&B offerings and an all-day diner Café Et Cetera, among others. In a first for India, Ginger will introduce the lean luxe segment.
Vibrant and warm colours have been used in common spaces and rooms, which will help Ginger gain more traction among the millennial travellers – who have emerged as a major influencer of trends.
The transition reflects Puneet Chhatwal’s strategy of driving “profitable growth.” He had strongly emphasized how he would revamp Ginger properties, as part of his ‘Aspiration 2022’ for IHCL which was aimed at ensuring improved EBITDA margins from 17% to 25% in the timeframe. The image makeover and brand repositioning will decidedly bring in increased revenue as the price-points are also expected to be comparatively higher than the erstwhile offering of the Ginger brand.
Owned and operated by IHCLs Roots Corporation, a Tata subsidiary, Ginger was conceived eying the budget segment with its first property in Whitefield, Bengaluru in 2004. Since then, the hotel company has grown to become a formidable entity, along the way, bringing much-needed standardization in the budget segment. But with the rebranding exercise, IHCL has exited the budget segment for good.
Commenting on the development, Puneet Chhatwal said, “The Ginger brand journey is aligned to Aspiration 2022 that defines a brandscape that addresses diverse customer segments and price points. It will be an important growth vehicle for the company and we are looking at quickly scaling up the brand to a large number of hotels across India.”
While Deepika Rao, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Ginger said, “The brand is slated to appeal to an on-the-go lifestyle and is anchored in the idea of seamlessness, facilitating a ‘never stop’ lifestyle. Ginger will now be an aspirational hotel chain that is also surprisingly affordable.”
According to the company’s official communication, the company has signed 6 new hotels already in this financial year taking the portfolio to 56 hotels, the highest in its competitive set. The new openings in the next two quarters will be in Madgaon in Goa, Patna, Sanand, Surat, and Visakhapatnam.
The first new look Ginger opened two days ago in Panjim, with a galaxy of local industry present alongside the senior management of IHCL, which happened to be in the city attending the hotel chain’s culture meeting. In a way, the new colours and vibrancy of Ginger is also a reflection of the new mood at IHCL, witnessed by observers attending the Culture meet, where Chhatwal re-affirmed his commitment to his goal to go asset-light and re-energize the company around its crown jewels that the company can boast of, virtually in every other city that it is present in – from Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi, and equally in Goa, Kerala and in the Southern cities of Bengaluru and Chennai.
