Two of Asia’s most iconic luxury hotel groups, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts and Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces have formed a ground-breaking strategic alliance to broaden their reach and offer more unique experiences to guests across Asia and the world.
Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts, based in Hong Kong and Taj Hotels Resorts & Palaces, based in Mumbai, cooperates in order to broaden their reach and scale across their 200 hotels, 27 countries and 131 destinations. Both Taj and Shangri-La are extinguished internationally for their exceptional service philosophy inspired by the cultures and traditions of the markets they operate in.
This association will officially come into effect in March this year with the introduction of the “Warmer Welcomes” program. The program consolidates Taj InnerCircle and Sangri-La’s Golden Circle guest loyalty programs hospitality alliance.
The “Warmer Welcomes” program will offer Shangri-La and Taj’s combined 6 million loyalty program members prominent benefits such as;
Recognition – Members will be able to enjoy the perks of their elite status when they stay at any Shangri-La or Taj hotel with remarkable status matching.
Earn points – Members of either program will now be able to earn award points across 200 hotels, 27 countries and 131 destinations in their preferred programs while staying with Taj or Shangri-La. Key destinations include Mumbai, New Delhi, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Paris, London, New York and other more.
Seamless redemptions – As it is a merged effort, members will be able to convert points to redeem awards between both programs.
Madhu Rao, Shangri-La Acting President said “As hotel owner-operators who share similar values and service philosophies but have minimal overlap of properties, Taj and Shangri-La are in a unique position to establish a seamless alliance that goes beyond a marketing partnership or multi-hotel distribution platform,”. He also mentioned “Our alliance bridges two iconic Asian brands and opens up a world of new experiences for our loyal guests. We will be able to enhance brand awareness and increase market share by providing Golden Circle and Taj InnerCircle members more value and more reasons to stay with us.”
MD and CEO Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, Rakesh Sarna stated “This is a strategic step in bringing greater synergies amongst two brands known for their legendary hospitality. Over time, our valued guests and loyalty members had shared their desire for a wider selection of world class hotels in key destinations. This alliance will help drive deeper engagement for our most valuable guests and members as they will now be recognized seamlessly at some of the world’s finest hotels across multiple geographies.”
As India and China are currently the fastest-growing major economies of the world, they have a flourishing outbound travel market in terms of number of travelers. They have also witnessed double-digit yearly growth rates for the past few years.
Shangri-La’s Golden Circle has introduced a number of new member benefits and partnerships as part of its “Loyalty Is” fifth anniversary celebration this year. The most recent benefit being ‘Infinite Journeys’ with Singapore Airlines. Other benefits offered include Golden Circle’s recently introduced programs such as Event Planner Rewards and ‘The Table by Golden Circle’, Shangri-La’s first global dining loyalty program.
Taj relaunched InnerCircle in 2015 with developed features and enhancements, applicable globally across all their hotels. The revamped program has no blackout dates, an easy redemption process with countless opportunities from accommodation, restaurants and spas, and all without worry of points expiring for active members. Taj InnerCircle also redesigned its Epicure program recently. Renewed with globally extended offers. The patrons of this service can now get an all-encompassing experience of Dine, Drink, Stay, Spa and Redeem.
