ITC's Hotel division was launched on October 18, 1975, with the opening of its first hotel – Sheraton Chola Hotel in Chennai. ITC-Welcomgroup Hotels, Palaces and Resorts, is today one of India's finest hotel chains, with its distinctive logo of hands folded in the traditional Namaste is widely recognised as the ultimate in Indian hospitality.
Each of the chain's hotels pays architectural tribute to ancient dynasties, which ruled India from time to time. The design concept and themes of these dynasties play an important part in their respective style and decor.
With more and more hotels being added at strategic destinations, ITC-Welcomgroup recently entered a new phase in its collaboration with its partner, Starwood Hotels & Resorts and now have an exclusive tie-up with Starwood for its premium brand “The Luxury Collection” in India. The seven hotels which are now part of this unique brand are ITC Maurya, New Delhi; ITC Sonar, Kolkata; ITC Maratha, Mumbai; ITC Grand Central, Mumbai; ITC Windsor, Bengaluru; ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad and ITC Mughal, Agra.
ITC-Welcomgroup was perhaps the first hotel chain in the mid 1980s to foresee a boom in business travel and realised distinct needs of the corporate traveller.
ITC-Welcomgroup has pioneered the concept of "Branded Accommodation" in the hospitality industry. Branding led to the creation of separate categories of rooms, each with a different service design, aimed at different target segments. The different room categories were branded Executive Club, The Towers and lately, ITC One. The Towers and ITC One introduced the winning concept of a 'hotel within a hotel'. The Indian corporate world gave its unqualified approval to this segmentation.
Going beyond the corporate travellers, the chain's flagship hotels, ITC Maurya, New Delhi and ITC Windsor, Bengaluru have had the proud privilege of hosting many world leaders: from President of USA, Mr. George Bush, former US President Bill Clinton, Russian President Vladimir Putin, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, to business tycoons like Bill Gates and Michael Dell.
These hotels received not just the stamp of approval not only from these leaders, but from their security chiefs as well!
At ITC-Welcomgroup, India’s culinary heritage has always been strengthened by the safe hands of the Master Chefs. The award winning Bukhara (rated as the Best Indian Restaurant in the world and among the world’s top 50 by the Restaurant Magazine, UK in 2007, for the fifth time) and Peshawri restaurants give epicures the rugged, outdoor cuisine and the 1000 year culinary adventure of the North-West Frontier Province. Dakshin has brought together the highly evolved cuisines of the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. DumPukht is a unique restaurant dedicated to a 200-year old culinary tradition of slow cooking food in sealed ‘deghs’. The fragrance of the meal become an invitation befitting royalty. Today the connoisseur can savour the delicacies across the country. Rated high by food connoisseurs all over the world, ITC-Welcomgroup takes exceptional pride in showcasing its internationally renowned cuisines. Distinguished for its ambience and unsurpassed standards of food and beverages, the list is a gastronomical journey starting with Dublin, the Irish Pub; along with West View, an authentic western grill; with the Pan Asian, serving specialties from China, Thailand, Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia. |
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