Hotels open doors in fight against Coronavirus

New Delhi: About 45,000 hotel rooms across the country belonging to chains such as ITC, Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), The Lalit, Lemon Tree, Radisson Hotels, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and many others have been set aside for quarantining suspect patients, asymptomatic travellers or for accommodating medical staff battling the Covid-19 outbreak. More rooms could be allocated for the purpose, said people with knowledge of the matter. Hospitality chains have also been providing meals for those at the frontline.

Efforts at getting more rooms were ramped up after the tourism ministry sent letters to industry associations to liaise with state governments on such measures. Some of the rooms are being provided on a pro bono basis, while others are being charged at a discounted rate. Tourists stuck in India because of the travel ban have also been accommodated in some of these rooms.

“We have written to hotel associations and states to work together on this,” a ministry official said. “We have asked hotels to provide help wherever required.”

The Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) said members are extending support at the regional, state and city levels.

“Going by estimates and inputs received from members in different parts of India, in total, around 45,000 rooms have been offered to the local authorities and NGOs,” said FHRAI vice president Gurbaxish Singh Kohli. “The hospitality industry and its entrepreneurs have opened their doors to support the people and the central, state and local authorities to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The establishments range from five-star deluxe hotels to lesser known standalone properties.

On Friday, the Tata Group’s IHCL allocated rooms in the Taj Mahal Palace, Taj Lands End, Taj Santacruz and The President hotels in Mumbai for providing accommodation to health workers. IHCL’s Ginger hotels in locations such as Bhubaneswar, Faridabad and Bengaluru are providing rooms for quarantining people. Ginger hotels in Mumbai and Noida have been set aside for medical workers.

Besides the ITC Maratha in Mumbai, ITC Hotels has also set aside rooms in a Bengaluru hotel for quarantining people. The Delhi government announced this week that doctors on Covid-19 duty in the city will be housed at The Lalit, a five-star hotel. Lemon Tree Hotels is offering quarantining facilities for asymptomatic people in Delhi, Gurugram and Bengaluru.

The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH) has been apprising the tourism ministry of rooms set aside. FAITH chairman Nakul Anand wrote to the ministry detailing the list of measures being undertaken by different chains on March 30. He said he will continue to update this information.

Chains such as IHCL, ITC, Marriott, and Sarovar Hotels have also been providing thousands of free meals on a daily basis to the health departments of various states, government hospitals and police stations.

Apart from implementing the orders of the state authorities and the central government, hotel chains have also offered rooms at discounted rates for medical staff though the initiatives of companies such as Apollo Hospitals and MakeMyTrip.