TAJ & GINGER:

A SERVICESCAPE FACE OFF

A Brief Background
TAJ
Incorporated in 1902, IHCL is promoted by the Tata Group. It has long standing operations
spanning over 100 years and operates the largest hotel chain in South Asia. It is headed by
Mr. Ratan Tata, Chairman. Mr. Raymond Bickson, the Managing Director takes care of the
day-today affairs of the company. They are assisted by a team of experienced professionals
heading various functions. The company and its subsidiaries and associates are widely
recognised under the umbrella brand name 'Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces'1.

The Taj Group of hotels has been the standard for luxury in India having acquainted guests
for over 100 years now. The Taj Group began in 1903 when Jamshetji Tata opened Taj’s first
hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower in Mumbai on 16 December 1903. It is widely believed
that Jamshetji Tata decided to build the luxurious hotel after he was refused entry to one of
the city's grand hotels of the time, Watson's Hotel, as it was restricted to 'whites only'.

GINGER HOTELS
Ginger is managed by Roots Corporation of India, the fully- owned subsidiary of Indian
Hotels Company. Ginger is IHCL’s revolutionary concept in hospitality for the value
segment. The first hotel was located at Whitefield in Bangalore. These hotels have been
conceived and designed by New Delhi based design firm called Incubis Consultants (I)
Private Limited, which has been working on the concept since 2003 and is now handling the
rollout of all the new hotels2.

Broad Facilities Offered

TAJ
Pre-Arrival
Reservations: During the reservation a preference sheet is mailed to capture the details and
to enhance the stay experience.

1
www.tajhotels.com
2
www.gingerhotels.com
Airport pick-up: An airport representative is sent along with a chauffeur holding a
placard with just the hotel’s name to maintain guest privacy. A personalised message is sent
to the guest mobile just before the landing assuring him that the hotel has taken care of his
travel arrangements. Amenities such as cold towel, Mineral water are offered upon arrival.

Arrival
Welcome at the lobby: Royal welcome by the guards in typical Rajasthani Attire.
Royal Welcome for Groups: Special arrangements for groups are made. A huge caravan of
elephants, camels, horses along with a professional band is called for the reception of the
group.
ATG (Aarti, Tiki and Garlanding): This is just to give a traditional touch to the welcome
and give a feel of Indian hospitality.
Welcome Drinks upon arrival

Check-in
Escorting: It is an opportunity for the escort to create the excitement within the guest
about how splendid his experience is going to be. A touch of history along with the
necessary information about the various facilities is given.
Welcome Letter: A personalized welcome letter signed by the General manager
himself is presented to the guest during the time of the check-in
Room Orientation: This is another important aspect of the check-in process. The guest is
educated about the various facilities available to him in the room.

Experience during Stay

Champagne Walk (Heritage Tour): This is one of the special attractions of Rambagh
Palace. The entire history of the palace is explained to the group of customers. This is
done along with a trip to various parts of the palace. The trip ends in the Polo Bar where the
guests are offered complimentary champagne.
Special Occasions celebration: Special occasions such as honeymoon and anniversaries are
very important occasions for a guest. The hotel staff takes it as an opportunity to leave
a long lasting imprint on the heart of the guests by making it an experience of a
lifetime for the customer.
City Tour by Vintage cars: Staying in a real palace in itself is a special experience
and this experience is further complimented by travelling in a vintage. A tour in a
vintage is something many people dream of and the guests who stay in Rambagh are actually
able to live this moment and cherish it for a lifetime.
Cultural Dances: Traditional Rajasthani dances are organized every evening in the centre of
the garden restaurant.
Royal Carriage: It is another way of taking the customer closer to the royalty in
which the kings of ancient India used to live.
Cultural Music: Behind the spa, every evening there is a special musical performance
which is well appreciated by almost every guest.
Unique Dining experience: This is a special dining arrangement made for small groups in
few surprisingly beautiful parts of the palace.
Grand Weddings: Foreigners who visit the country are often amazed with the grandeur of
Indian weddings. Taj enables them to live this moment by organizing a royal wedding
on request of a guest.

CHECK OUT
Feedback Form at time of Turn Down
Souvenir: A fragrant incense stick wrapped in a satin cloth is gifted to the customers
as a souvenir.

GINGER
Ginger as such caters to the value segment only who are price conscious and who are
concerned only with the core services of the hospitality industry. Their expectations from
Ginger Hotels are met out through the following basic necessities that the Hotels offers.

Self check-in
Water dispenser
Smart Space rooms
Conference room
Meeting Room 8-10 people
Wi-fi and Net zone
Gymnasium
Safe zone- electronic safes in every room
Give and Take laundry Services: Give before 9.30 am at the counter and get clothes
laundered before 7.30pm
100% power backup: Single room, twin room for 2, Double room, Special PH room
Tea/Coffee maker STD local dialling 17” Flat TV3

3
Mahesh J. Surana, 2001. Ginger Hotels up for grabs, 22-34
Comparison of Servicescapes
The Servicescape is defined as the built or the physical environment surrounding the service.
However, since the people in this physical environment also shape and influence the
environment, the social environment is also included in the definition. The Servicescape
plays a critical role in shaping customer expectations, service differentiation, facilitating
customer and employee goals and influencing the nature of customer experiences. It can
influence important customer relationship goals starting from customer attraction to retention
and even enhancement of relationship of the service firm with the customer. The design and
presentation of Servicescape help attract customers into the service facility: signs, colors,
music, scent etc can be used to attract customers. Then the Servicescape will help to serve the
customer’s experience and influence his or her satisfaction with the service delivery4.

Servicescape plays a number of roles like package (essentially “wraps” the service and
conveys an external image of what is “onside” to consumers), facilitator (how the setting is
designed can enhance or inhibit the efficient flow of activities in the service setting), socialize
(the design aids in socialization of both the employees and customers in a way that it conveys
expected roles, behaviours and relationships) and differentiator (the design of the physical
facility can distinguish and differentiate a firm from its competitors and signal who the
intended market segment is).

Research typically accords priority to the service encounter to increase sales and profits and
customer satisfaction. Servicescapes are an important tangible component of the service
product that provide cues to customers and create an immediate perceptual image in
customers’ minds5.

Servicescapes, thus, in this case, are not only an important component of a customer’s
impression formation, but also an important source of evidence in the overall evaluation of
the servicescape itself and the service organization in general (Exhibit I).

Particularly in the hotel division of the hospitality industry, guests interact with the physical
environment more than with the service agent. That is, consumers interact with the
servicescape prior to experiencing the service in an exchange with a service agent. Hence, it

4
The Servicescape- Mary Jo Bitner, Handbook of Services Marketing and Management by Teresa A. Swartz,
Dawn Lacobucci.
5
Bitner, M.J., 1992. Servicescapes: the impact of physical surroundings on customers and employees.
Journal of Marketing 56, 57–71.
is various environmental cues and physical components that help individuals form a holistic
picture of the overall servicescape6.

Visual Cues
The various visual cues within a servicescape include the following: colour, lighting, space
and function, personal artefacts and plants, and layout and design.

COLOUR:
Colour is one of the obvious visual cues in a servicescape. Colour is a strong visual
component of a physical setting, particularly in an interior setting. Research has shown that
different colours stimulate varying personal moods and emotions. In evaluating a
servicescape, this visual sensory input includes forming a mental picture through cognitive
processing prior to affecting individuals’ personal moods and emotions.

Many researchers assume, contrary to this model, that environmental cues within a
servicescape directly stimulate people’s emotional response without being cognitively
processed first7.

As far as Ginger hotels are concerned, they basically go for bold solid colours with minimum
complexities. Almost most of the time the walls and the ceilings and even the entire ambience
is of only one solid colour which would depict no mixtures or rather other hues whatsoever.
The colours that they prefer using are usually not very vibrant (Exhibit II). These include:
off-white, brown, pale yellow, dusky blue, etc. These hues give a sense of comfort and
complacency to the visitor which in turn elicits a negative demand and clamour for luxury.
The customers don’t feel the need for luxury amidst these relaxing hues.

On the contrary to what the rooms have to offer, the common areas like the dining space, the
check-in area are comparatively brightly coloured in shades of yellow and orange (Exhibit
III). These colours serve the purpose of attraction and as such, these common areas are a
good place wherein the customers experience some change in their ambience.

6
Donovan, R.J., Rossiter, J.R., 1982. Store Atmosphere: An environmental psychology approach. Journal of
Retailing 58, 34–57.
7
Bellizzi, J.A., Crowley, A.E., Hasty, R.W., 1983. The effects of colour in store design. Journal of Retailing
59, 21–45.
Even the outermost walls of the Ginger premises are bright orange in colour, so as to attract
customers. Warm shades serve good for the purpose of attraction.

Taj employs the shades of red and yellow inside its rooms most of the time. But in varied
locations the hues differ from place to place. Most of these in-house colours are put to ensure
luxury and comfort to the customers. Along with the walls, the curtains are also draped in the
same shade. Almost every luxury room has very light shades which gives a sense of cosiness
to the customers. Combined with the effect of lighting and curtains, the visitor feels cocooned
inside a warm and comfortable ambience generated by its shades of light hues of varying
degrees.
The restaurant areas, the common spaces, lounges are basically in deep lustrous colours,
which add to the grandeur of the luxurious ambience (Exhibits IV & V).

SPACE AND FUNCTION:

The furnishings in a servicescape link the space with its occupants and convey the personality
of the servicescape through form, line, colour, texture, and scale. The furniture placement
may convey a sense of enclosure, define spatial movement, function as walls, and
communicate visible or invisible boundaries. Recognizable changes in ceiling heights affect
spatial perception more than a similar change in room width or length. High ceilings convey
feelings of spaciousness, whereas low ceilings are associated with cosiness and intimacy 8. All
of these elements help individuals form a mental picture prior to affective response and
judgments toward a specific servicescape.

Ginger Hotels stress on the utility of space and its optimum utilisation. The various
architectural dimensions are absolute and hard edged with definite symmetry and proportion.
These definite dimensions give a sense of exactness to the hotel in terms of its service and the
expected service that the customers want. It is a way to promote a message with clarity and
substantiality. Ginger Hotels are famous for no frills, as such the textures too ensure that they
are as simple as possible, very much like their business itself promising core utilities only.

Taj, on the other hand is all about more and more of space. The edges are smooth and
invisible at culminations are the aspect of optimum space allocation is not much of a concern

8
Ching, F., 1996. Architecture: Form, Space, and Order. Van Nostrand, New York.
owing to the custom luxury needs of the customers. The textures are delicate and beautiful,
all serving the part of sophistication and extravaganza.

LIGHTING:
The type of lighting in an environment directly influences an individual’s perception of the
definition and quality of the space, influencing his or her awareness of physical, emotional,
psychological, and spiritual aspects of the space. Light influences the perceptions of form,
colour, texture, and enclosure9.

Ginger goes through the minimalistic approach as afar as the lighting is concerned. The
rooms have a single or two light sources, mostly fluorescent in nature.
Everything about the company is about saving the costs and passing the benefits to the
customers. As such Ginger relies on fluorescent light sources, mostly white in colour and
pervading throughout the room.

Taj, in order to add grandeur and luxury to every aspect of its interiors relies heavily on
beautiful lighting effects, achieved by custom jewelled spot lights, chandeliers, imported
personal light sources and a mix of modern and traditional pieces of lighting artefacts.
These varied and rich combinations of lights of different colours provide and impart the
necessary vibrancy and life to the surroundings (Exhibit VI).

Auditory Cues
MUSIC
In a servicescape, guests take note of music and noise as auditory components of their
evaluations. Studies on music and consumer behaviour have demonstrated that music can be
used as an effective tool to minimize the negative consequences of waiting in any service
operation10. Music can also be a positive auditory cue stimulating specific consumer
behaviours and emotions, as many research studies have discovered.

9
Areni, C.S., Kim, D., 1993. The influence of in-store lighting on consumers’ examination of merchandise in a
wine store. International Journal of Research in Marketing 11, 117–125.
10
Milliman, R.E., 1986. The influence of background music on the behavior of restaurant patrons. Journal
of Consumer Research13 (November), 286–289.
Ginger Hotels as such caters mainly to the business travellers who have tight schedule. In this
context Ginger Hotels can afford to compromise on the auditory aspect. They need lay much
stress on the auditory cues perspective in their servicescapes. Indeed, music plays a vital role
in affecting consumer mood, but the hotel industry itself in which Ginger is operating does
not provide scope to use the same. Customers check-in on their own and accommodate
themselves in their respective rooms in a jiffy. In a restaurant where customers sit and spend
some time at a particular place, music can be added to the ambience. Since, Ginger does not
cater to such tastes, they do not go for auditory injunctions.

Taj as a 5-star hotel has varied places for its customers in the interior. There are private and
public lounges, swimming pools, ball rooms, dinning halls, reception cum check-in area, etc.
All these areas are places where customers spend considerable amount of their time owing to
the premium prices they shell out for these facilities. It is at these places that Taj brings in
some music as a part of the servicescape. The music normally played is slow and melodious
mainly jazz and classical. These cues give a sense of happiness and relaxed atmosphere
wherein customers are tempted to splurge more and more on the facilities and as such spend
more time too.
Not only the common rooms, the deluxe rooms for two and the family suites are provided
with inbuilt sound systems which play good soothing music early in the morning and during
the evening. Customers can choose to turn on and off this service as they deem fit. The idea is
to bring in the sense of peace and calmness during their stay at the hotel. Of course during
party times, in the banquet halls and discos, entirely different genre of music is played as per
the flavour of the situation and popular customer demand.

Managerial Implications
A servicescape is composed of many elements. These elements translate into specific
environmental cues. The principles of Gestalt 11 psychology can be critically employed in
creating a pleasant servicescape. For example, when service providers make decisions about
the overall layout and design of a service environment, the purposive visual targets should be
taken into account and put together so as to form a perceptual figure that stands out from the
background. The servicescape should be compatible with the guests’ expectations. Hence,
service providers have to define their target customers prior to determining the overall layout
and design of the servicescape.
11
I.Y. Lin / Hospitality Management 23 (2004) 163–178.
12
At the macro-level, on the other hand, service providers need to define their market
positioning, segmentation, and target market by creating a servicescape that will meet the
target customers’ needs, wants, and expectations. In the context of services marketing,
consistency between brand perception and the design of the physical environment is critical.
Designers need to create a servicescape that fits the purpose of customers’ consumption
experience and the functionality of both private and public areas of a specific service
environment. Different service environments provide guests with different functions. For
example, a hotel guestroom and a hotel lobby each has its own purpose. A hotel guestroom is
considered a private environment, while a hotel lobby is considered a public space.

Servicescapes play an important role in many service organizations (e.g., hotels, restaurants,
and hospitals) in that they provide a first impression, before customers have a chance to
interact with service employees. Therefore, these servicescapes are an important element that
customers will use to guide their beliefs, attitude, and expectations of a service provider.
Customers interact with the physical facility continuously, an experience that outweighs their
interactions with service employees. Hence, researchers, service providers, and designers
should not neglect the importance of servicescapes. The evaluation of a servicescape can be
idiosyncratic; however, understanding the individual cognitive and emotional effects of
servicescape design can help service providers and designers to create pleasant, effective
servicescapes.

Exhibits:

12
Levitt, T., 1981. Marketing intangible products and product intangibles. Harvard Business Review 59 (3),
94–102.
EXHIBIT I

EXHIBIT II

EXHIBIT III
EXHIBIT IV EXHIBIT V

EXHIBIT VI