Terror at the taj bombay: Case Analysis

1. 1. The Taj Mahal Hotel became operational in 1903 during British India which was founded by
Jamsetji N. Tata in the Colaba district in South Bombay (now Mumbai). The hotel was
constructed keeping in mind that Bombay needed a luxury hotel which would reflect India
as an emerging economic force. During British India non Europeans were denied entry to
hotels which made Jemsetji Tata furious and fuelled his thought of constructing a hotel in
Bombay which would be accessible to everyone. The 26/11 attack shook the entire nation
through its massive devastation and death toll. From the devastation emerged bewildering
tales of courage and ownership from unexpected people and places. 34 people died in the
Taj attack of which 17 were guests, 12 were Taj Hotel staff, 3 were staff family members and
2 were from military/police. Though the 26/11 attack was not only on the Taj, it also
captured other places equally in its terror like the Oberoi hotel, Chatrapati Shivaji terminal
station and other places, 1200-1500 people were rescued from the Taj itself which is
considerably higher as compared to the other attacked places. The credit of this high
number of people rescued totally goes to the staff of the Taj as they were the only people
who knew the fire exits and entries by heart and helped the guests to escape through those
exits without the terrorist getting to know. The telephone operators patiently attended all
the calls of the guests during all this when they had an option to run away and save their
own lives first.
After experiencing all this, being a first-time customer it would be a thrilling experience for
me to visit the hotel once again as it would give me a chance to see all the renovations that
happened after the attack and meet all the staff once again who helped me save my life. My
chances of patronizing the hotel would increase even more if I would have been a long-
standing customer as it would be a pride for me to be a part of such a hotel which has such
courageous and brave personnel.
2. 26/11 was a usual busy day for the Taj with around 500 guests checked in and hosting a
wedding as well as an international conference. Taj employees were definitely not prepared
for such a terrific disaster and whatever they did during that incident was out of their stimuli
and core ethics.
Employee response would surely be different in a different hotel/industry as every
industry/hotel has its own ethics and values which all the employees inculcate. As per the
HR head of the Taj, there was a simple yet a difficult aim to achieve for all the employees,
which is to not only satisfy customer needs but exceed them. It all depends on the culture of
an industry or hotel on how they would react to a certain incident. We never know that if
the same incident happens in some other hotel, that hotel may outperform the way the Taj
responded to this disaster.
SNU has a very diverse crowd with students and faculty coming from different regions of the
nation, still every student and faculty count themselves as one of the family members of
SNU. If such attack took place in SNU, I think all the faculty would join hands to make sure
that all the students evacuate the college premises on priority. Once ensured the students
have escaped, the faculty would take all the necessary actions to save themselves while
continuously coordinating with the police and military for rescue. SNU has many retired
army personnel in different departments who have a lot of experience of such terror attacks
so this would surely be an added advantage for SNU to tackle such situations.

2. 3. Firstly if I were in the shoes of Ratan Tata I would have not tried to recover the Taj brand
from being the ‘the living image’ of 26/11 because this could be the driving source of new
opportunities for the hotel and it might work as a fascination for the tourists as well the
people from India itself to visit and be a part of the Taj. Moreover the fast recovery from
such a disaster would count as a sense of pride for the hotel which can in turn be marketed
wisely worldwide.
If this image had to be removed from the Taj brand, being in the shoes of Ratan Tata, I
would have first changed the exterior appearance of the Taj hotel so that no outsider can
relate much from the hotel’s photographs circulating in the news. Secondly I would change
the names of the restaurants inside the hotel. Lastly I would change the uniforms of the
staff to a uniform which has a different look and feel altogether to change the perceptions
of the customers.