Thread by @TheGameOfBrands

Brand Stories- Story No. 4

The Beginning of Taj - How Mr. Jamsetji Tata built one of the finest hotels in the world?

A proud moment for every Indian! 🇮🇳

( A Thread )

1) Mr. Jamsetji Tata (founder of Tata Group) was much more than an industrialist- he was a nationalist with a desire to see India ranked among the great nations of the world.

2) One day, back in the 1890s, Mr. Jamsetji Tata was invited by a foreign friend to dine at a hotel in Bombay (Mumbai).

3) As he walked in with his host, he was rudely greeted by the English hotel manager with the words- "We don't allow Indians in here."

4) How would you reply to an insult like this — an insult to you, to your country, to your countrymen?

Well, if you’re Jamsetji Tata, you build one of the finest hotels in the world!

5) Mr. Jamsetji Tata chose a site facing the magnificent ocean, selected one of the leading architects and equipped the hotel with the best facilities.

6) He spent more than £300,000 on the Taj Mahal hotel. That was an enormous sum of money a hundred years ago!

7) Jamsetji's friends and business associates urged him not to go ahead with the project as it would lose a lot of money.

However, Jamsetji was determined to build the hotel and said "perhaps it will. But it makes no difference."

8) When the Taj doors opened in 1903 it inspired delight and awe in every Indian.

It was first building in Bombay to be lit by electricity and had telephones in every room.

9) It had the first ice-making machine. The first soda maker. The first lift. The first generator. The first mechanised laundry. The first polishing machine.

10) It also was the first to have American fans, German elevators, Turkish baths and English butlers.😝

11) It preceded the famous Gateway of India by over 20 years. Until then the hotel was also the first sight for ships calling at the Bombay port.

12) For many Indians who had never travelled abroad before, Taj was an incredible wonder of the modern world, a tantalising glimpse into the future.

13) However, after a few years of operations it started facing financial difficulties.

14) Since the hotel was way ahead of its time it was extremely difficult to run it profitably.

But somehow the Tata Group managed to keep it operational.

15) As fate would have it, 45 years after the opening of this hotel, in the year 1948, the farewell speech of Lord Mountbatten took place in this very hotel's grand ballroom!

16) He boarded his ship and left from The Gateway of India nearby.

17) Over the years, Taj managed to grow and came up with several iconic hotel properties across the world.

18) Today, the Tata Group owned Indian Hotels Company (Owner of brand Taj) owns an entire chain of luxury hotels and has more than 100 properties. It is one of the largest hospitality companies in Asia.

19) And that is how Jamsetji Tata's dream was fulfilled!

The dream of building a hotel into which any Indian could walk with his head held high, confident that he would be treated with courtesy and respect.

[The End]

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