#1 hotel in the world -- and now a symbol of hope

I shared with you last September my experiences in Mumbai, India, when I traveled there to speak at the 2008 Asia Brand Congress. While there I was fortunate to have some time to take in the culture, meet some great people and explore the beautiful city. My stay included a visit to the iconic Taj Palace & Tower Hotel. It is hard to believe that I took pictures at the very place such tragedy would unfold months later.

I came across a couple striking advertisements for the Taj (pictured below) in Conde Nast Traveler magazine and The Wall Street Journal the other day. There are plans to rebuild the damaged section of the hotel, and the undamaged sections were able to reopen a couple of weeks ago.

My hope is that the Taj, as well as the people of Mumbai, will fully recover from this event and that I will have the opportunity to make it back again soon.