Indian Hotels Company (IHC), operator of the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces, has launched its fourth hotel brand.

Called Gateway Hotels, the new brand aims to target mid-market travellers and will be positioned above its economy brand, Ginger.

Taj Hotels plans to open 50 Gateway Hotels over the next three years and already is in the process of rebranding 16 existing hotels with a further 10 in the pipeline.

Raymond Bickson, managing director of parent company IHC, said: "The Gateway Hotel will be a new brand catering to the emerging set of contemporary travellers.

"Gateway is a part of the Taj Group’s strategy to have a large footprint across India. It will be an important growth vehicle for the Group and we are looking at quickly scaling up the brand to a large number of hotels across India."

Brand consultancy Landor Associates has worked closely with the Taj team to develop the brand.

The first hotels that will be reflagged as Gateway properties are located at Agra, Bangalore, Calicut, Chikmagalur, Coonoor, Jaipur, Jaisalmer, Madurai, Mangalore, Nasik, Surat, Vadodara, Varanasi, Vijayawada and Vishakhapatnam.