Epicure is a loyalty program from the IHCL group of hotels that offers different perks depending on the membership type. It’s great for frequent travelers, especially HNIs and corporate guests, who enjoy staying at Taj, Vivanta, and SeleQtions hotels.
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TAJ Epicure Variants
Epicure membership comes in 3 variants, as below:
| Variant | Complimentary Nights | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Privileged | 2 Nights | 50K INR + GST |
| Preferred | 1 Night | 25K INR + GST |
| Plus | – | – |
While the Taj Epicure Preferred and Privileged memberships are usually sold directly, the Plus variant is offered as a benefit through select credit cards.
Note: At times, Privileged/Preferred membership is offered with 10-20% discount via Neu/TAJ app or TAJ Offline
Features & Benefits
Epicure Privileged
- 2 Complimentary Stay Nights, at select TAJ/Vivanta/SeleQtions properties
- 4 Complimentary Lunch/Dinner Vouchers for 2, at select TAJ Restaurants
- 4 Complimentary 1 Level Room Upgrade Voucher for 1 Night
- 3 Times Complimentary 60 minutes Spa for 1 person
- 4 Times Exclusive TAJ Club lounge access for 2 persons
- Complimentary Cake during Member’s Birthday month
- Multiple Room upgrade/discount Vouchers
- 20% Off on F&B & Spa
- IHCL Gold status
Epicure Preferred
- 1 Complimentary Stay Night, at select TAJ/Vivanta/SeleQtions properties
- 2 Complimentary Lunch/Dinner Vouchers for 2, at select TAJ Restaurants
- 2 Complimentary 1 Level Room Upgrade Voucher for 1 Night
- 1 Times Complimentary 60 minutes Spa for 1 person
- Complimentary Cake during Member’s Birthday month
- Multiple Room upgrade/discount Vouchers
- 20% Off on F&B & Spa
- IHCL Silver status
Epicure Plus
- Multiple Room upgrade/discount Vouchers
- 20% Off on F&B & Spa
- Complimentary Cake during Member’s Birthday month
Membership via Credit Cards
- One Time Epicure Preferred membership with 1 Complimentary Stay Night via
- ICICI Emeralde Private Metal Credit Card (Joining/Renewal Fee: 12.5K+GST)
- Indus Solitaire Credit Card (Joining Fee: 30K+GST, Renewal Fee: 10K+GST)
- HDFC Speciale Platinum (Bank account) (AQB: 3L+)
- AU Ivy (Bank account) (AMB: 25L+) etc.
- Epicure Plus Customized variants, issued with Super Premium CCs
- Citi Prestige a.k.a Axis Olympus
- AMEX Platinum Charge / Amex Reserve
- AU Zenith/Zenith+
- Axis Burgundy Private
- HSBC Premier
Most Epicure Plus memberships include dining, room, or other discount vouchers but usually don’t offer complimentary stay nights, making them less appealing to many. However, they are a great option for saving on F&B, and spa.
Things to know
- I stayed at Vivanta Dal View, Srinagar using Complimentary Stay Nights. Availability isn’t an issue as per my experience.
- Only Base category rooms can be booked with Complimentary Stay Nights
- Even with Complimentary Stay Nights, 18% Taxes will still have to be paid
- You can use Cards or Neu coins or TAJ GVs to pay for the outstanding.
- 2 Adults+2 Kids upto 12 years are allowed per Night. May vary with Property
- Breakfast is Complimentary for 2 (Kids were allowed though)
- TAJ Palaces/Safaris & few other TAJ Properties can’t be booked via this route
- Vivanta Dal View Srinagar & TAJ Chia Kutir Darjeeling are some of the top 5 Star properties, that give very good value for Complimentary Stay Nights redemption
Bottomline
IHCL & Epicure treats their customers very well (as per my experience). Had a small issue with Epicure & I raised a complaint which was taken care promptly.
TAJ Epicure membership helps in reducing the TAJ Hotels stay & associated costs quite a bit, if you like TAJ group hospitality & want to experience their whole Bouquet of services. Redemption benefits at few properties like Vivanta Dal View Srinagar can be as much as 1.5X-2X the price paid towards membership.
Having said that if you are not a frequent traveler, paid Epicure membership isn’t worth for most. As it limits the scope of your stay to IHCL group of Hotels only.
Hello, thank you for sharing your thoughts. Has anyone here combined the epicure plus and the epicure preferred? I have plus from Amex, I am thinking of buying preferred. So does that mean I can have two vouchers of each? For example, two birthday cakes in my birthday month, 2 times pool access, etc?
I have two Taj vouchers. I am thinking of using them, along with (epicure preferred) complimentary one night and two upgrades but I don’t want to lose benefits offered by epicure plus in the process.
Thank you!
Is the Amex Platinum reserve Taj Innercircle plus membership complimentary only for 1st year or is the membership automatically renewed every year by Taj/Amex ?
I have nothing good to say about epicure ! Do not go in for it. It’s just a gimmick.
Maybe the paid ones aren’t worth it, but the complimentary memberships are totally worth it.
Google
Horrible stay I booked the room using my epicure privilege card till my arrival it was fantastic then i requested them for a room upgrade using my voucher then they started to treat me differently and told they have upgraded and it was my wife’s birthday
The room what they gave was just opposite to the house keeping room with loads of lenens in front of the room to one corner of the property
Once I entered there was no rv remote went to bath no shampoo and body wash
Requested for a buggy because it was raining I waited for 40 minutes
The room upgrade what they gave even I my prior booking was next to the kitchen chimney exaust in taj Madkeri I complained
Front office manager didn’t write any review publicly
This time also same thing
Then morning 9:50 I called for the buggy because it was raining the buggy came after the fourth follow up at 10:40 by the time I reached the Resturant it was 11 am
I requested the Resturant manager the problem i faced she told she is helpless
Asked us to take the left over see the words used by the Resturant manager
Then after we complaining they wanted us to shift to the better room
We requested for a sweet payasam using jaggery they told it’s not possible but we can arrange for next day lunch but when we went there next day there’s nothing than also we requested and waited for it but they served with sugar and then they are requesting to collect some sweet from buffet
Please I request the taj group to stop selling the epicure privilege card because u treat us as unprivileged
And ur complementary doesn’t sound good after we question
We pay u for the epicure card it’s not free it’s paid well in advance u people don’t fell ur offering us for free
Taj hotels are losing their charm
Thank u for making my wife’s birthday horrible
Dattarajesh rv
Thanks for the information.. I am trying to renew my free Epicure Plus membership got it with Icici Emerald Metal private credit card.
How do you renew it? It’s only a welcome/joining benefit in first year.
Was going to talk to Icici RM for the same or to buy the Paid Epicure Membership/
Hello Satish,
Nice and crisp article.
I recently got ICICI Emeralde Pvt Metal card. Would definitely like to redeem it for Vivanta Dal Srinagar. Also I would redeem 24K membership reward on my Amex MRCC for 14K (gold redemption) Taj Voucher.
Hi Sid, can Amex Taj GV be used to pay the balance incl taxes?
Can’t buy Epicure using Taj GVs .
I was asking if we can pay the excess using Amex vouchers after using the Epicure stay voucher.
As per tncs no. But no harm in trying
It cannot be declined by them but only condition (officially) is Amex issued vouchers can’t be used to pay discounted rates, but in practice many properties do accept.