Taj Hotels launches Amã, a homesharing endeavor

Puneet Chhatwal, the Managing Director and CEO of Indian Hotels Company Limited, as well as the CEO of Taj Hotels, is continuing his plan to diversify away from luxury hotels when it comes to Taj Hotels, itself. The latest move in this plan is to experiment in short-term accommodations like homesharing.

Taj Hotels will begin taking bookings for its official foray into home sharing with its new brand, Amã Trails & Stays in the beginning of March.

To start, it will offer nine heritage bungalows that have been managed for years by Tata Coffee, a sister brand of the Tata Group conglomerate that owns Taj parent Indian Hotels Company Limited. For example, guests can stay at a bungalow on a coffee plantation atop the Western Ghats in Coorg, India. The rental has a mix of Victorian furniture and modern amenities like wireless internet.

The company’s goal is to sign additional vacation homes and increase the property number to about 100 by the end of 2020.

Taj claims to be India’s largest traditional hospitality company by revenue. Its parent, Indian Hotels Company, has dabbled in vacation homes before. It has owned two bungalows in Goa, for example, that it will make available for booking under the Amã brand at a later time.

Members of the loyalty program Taj InnerCircle will be able to earn and redeem points for stays at the rentals. The Amã rentals will eventually be bookable on the Taj Hotels website and mobile app — though the brand wasn’t listed on the Taj or Indian Hotels Company sites as of this writing.

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