HAPPENING -- 19

EVIRONMENT AWARD AND INITIATIVES OF SAVOY AND GATEWAY HOTELS

 

BY P S SUNDAR

 It is praiseworthy that the star-studded hotels – Gateway in Coonoor and Savoy in Ooty – belonging to the IHCL SeleQtions from the Taj stables The Nilgiris in South India have bagged ‘Platinum Certificate’ of EarthCheck, the worlds’ leading International Certifying Agency from Australia, on high level environment.  

Additional Chief Secretary in the Department of Environment Climate Change and Forests Supriya Sahu told me,” This is a marvellous milestone to be achieved at the commencement of peak summer tourism in The Nilgiris.   She said that the certification is a recognition of the hotels' commitment to adhere to high level environment protection measures.    Observing that the Government has been consistently working for re-defining environment to accord a sustainable global value, she said that this recognition deserves to be emulated by the entire hospitality industry.    She congratulated the Cluster General Manager of the Hotels Ritesh Choudhary on winning the coveted recognition and urged him to be the leader to help other hotels also to follow line.

Complimenting the Chief Engineers Sagaya Nathan (Gateway) and Sudharsan (Savoy) for their valuable contribution in winning this global recognition, Ritesh Choudhary said that both the hotels have been applauded for their pro-environment ambiance, controlled carbon footprint and quality hygiene.

In keeping with this and the tradition, both the hotels laid impressive footprints on World Environment Day on June 5.   “We did this in line with the framework to drive our sustainability and social impact measures under Paathya.    Derived from the Sanskrit term पथ्य, inferring a path, Paathya encapsulates initiatives to lead positive change with IHCL’s core values of Trust of all stakeholders, Awareness around the needs of our ecosystem and Joy at heart.  Taking ahead our organisation’s legacy, Paathya forges a journey focused on Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility, Excellence in Governance, Preserving Heritage, Value Chain Transformation, and Sustainable Growth”, said S N Deepak, HR Manager of both the hotels.

“We planted more than 500 saplings at various spots through Savoy Hotel Ooty and gave a sapling to each guest on departure. We also conducted emission test on all vehicles of the guests and associates. We conducted an on-the-spot painting competition for the associates on the theme, ‘Only One Earth’.  Likewise, we conducted painting competition for the children of guests”, Ritesh Choudhary disclosed.

“Through Gateway Hotel in Coonoor, in addition to the above activities, we planted tree saplings at Stanely Park, Shanthi Vijaya Primary as well as Higher secondary Schools, and Coonoor Heritage railway station.  In all, we planted 520 saplings”, he noted.

Every year at the summer Flower Show being held by Tamil Nadu Government at the Government Botanical gardens in Ooty, both the hotels receive prizes for their well-maintained gardens and lawns.    This year, both the hotels individually received the largest number of awards in many decades at the world-famous Flower Show 2022 held at Government Botanical Garden Ooty, inaugurated by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin.

Ritesh Choudhary has listed the awards as under:   

 

Savoy Ooty

 

v  2 Rolling Cup for Best Flower Garden (A) Category in Ooty

v  1^st Prize for Best Lawn (Villa Flora Lawn)

v  2^nd Prize for Best Lawn (Front Lawn)

v  1^st Prize for Best Flower Pots

 

Gateway Coonoor

 

v  2 Rolling Cups for Best Flower Garden (A) Category in Coonoor

v  1^st Prize for Best Lawn

v  1^st Prize for Best Flower Pots

v  2^nd Prize for Herbal Garden (Dining Room)

(Response can also be sent: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com) 

 OUTLOOK – 2:

 

IHCL TO ADD 300 HOTELS NEXT FOUR YEARS

 

BY P S SUNDAR

 

Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) will add 300 hotels in the next four years, said Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO.

 

Of them, Taj will have 100, Vivanta and SeleQtions 75 and Ginger 125.

 

Along with, there will be 500 homestays and 25 Qmin (culinary and home delivery platform). 

 

Presently, IHCL has 236 hotels (including 60 under development) in over 100 locations in 11 countries across four continents.  In the past five years alone, it signed 100 hotels and opened 40 hotels.

 

IHCL’s goal is to maintain 50-50 portfolio of owned hotels vs management contract hotels.   Currently, 46 per cent are under under management contract and 54 per cent are owned.

 

“I see a scope for increase in occupancy and Average Room Rate across the industry”, Chhatwal said. 

(Response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)  

OUTLOOK -- 1

 

TOURISM IS GROWING IN THE POST-COVID ERA.

 

By P S SUNDAR

 

That the tourism sector is growing in the post-Covid era is evident from various studies undertaken by Government and private units.

 

In particular, a study by Tourism department of Government of India projects the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of tourism sector to grow by 17.30 per cent in the period 2020 to 2029.

 

The value of tourism sector is projected to rise to $ 512 billion in 2029 from $ 194.3 bn in 2019 and $ 121.9 bn in 2020.  

 

Last two years were testing time for the hospitality sector as a whole because of Covid-linked restrictions.

 

Travel and hotel stay have already picked up in 2022 due to the easing of restrictions across the globe.   

 

In 2020, Bangladesh topped the inflow of foreign tourists to India.  Tourists from the USA, UK, Canada, Russia, Australia, France, Germany, Malaysia and Sri Lanka followed in that order.

 

The largest number of outbound tourism (Indians travelling abroad) was to the UAE.  This was followed by visit to the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Singapore, Oman, the UK, Thailand, Canada and Kuwait in that order.

 

In the case of domestic tourists’ visit in 2020, Tamil Nadu topped the list.    UP, Maharashtra, Karnataka, AP, Telangana, Maharashtra, West Bengal, MP, Gujarat and Punjab followed in that order.

 

Among foreign tourists, the largest number visited Maharashtra, closely followed by Tamil Nadu.   UP, Delhi, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Punjab, Kerala, Bihar and Goa followed in that order.  

 

Largest number of domestic travellers visited Taj Mahal.   The other monuments they visited were Mamallapuram, Sun Temple (Konarak), Golkonda Fort (Hyderbad), Qutab Minar (Delhi), Upper Fort (Aguada), Agra Fort, Hazardurai Palace (Mushidabad), Chaminar (Hyderabad) and Gol Gumbaz (Vijayawada) in that order.

 

Likewise, Taj Mahal was the monument visited by the largest number of foreigners.  The other monuments they visited were Agra Fort, Qutab Minar, Humayun’s Tomb, Fatehpur Sikri, Saranath, Red Fort, Baori at Abhaneri, Itimad-ud-Daulah Tomb and Mattancherry Palace (Kerala) in that order.  

(Response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)

 

 CELEBRATIONS -- 25

WHEN STAR HOTELS CELEBRATED NEW YEAR WITH DEPRIVED PERSONS

 

By P S SUNDAR

 

In a moving gesture, the star-studded Taj group’s IHCL SeleQtions Hotels in The Nilgiris – Savoy in Ooty and Gateway in Coonoor – celebrated New Year on January 1, 2022, with the deprived segments of the society.

 

This is in continuation of the tradition established by these hotels over the years. “Our HR department colleagues Deepak and Sachin planned and executed the celebrations with great enthusiasm in true reflection of our ‘Tajness’ culture”, Cluster General Manager of these hotels Ritesh Choudhary told me.

 

The executives of Gateway Hotel Coonoor visited ‘Anbalayam’ the old age home run by M N Trust in Denalai village.   Started and run by a Baduga couple Ramamurthy and his wife Rajeshwari in 2005, the Trust, bearing the name of Ramamurthy’s mother Mitchiammal and father Nanjaayyaa, presently has 51 inmates, most of them elderly women.    They are all deserted by their family members and belong to very poor economic background mostly in rural centres.

 

“We served Vebetable biriyani, vegetable kurma, raita, steamed rice, rasam, plum cake, ice cream, apple and banana to all the inmates.   

We cut the cake specially made by Executive Chef Ramalingam.  

We presented each inmate with a coffee mug as our New Year gift.   

We danced and kept the elderly happy for the period we were in”, Riesh told me.

 

The executives of Savoy Hotel Ooty went to Mizpah Trust which takes care of the orphaned children since 2000.

 

Every year, Sonam who runs ‘The Wishn Oven’ cake extravaganza in Ooty, enjoys preparing a multi-tier special cake for these children.  Continuing with this practice, she donated an excellent cake which the children enjoyed cutting and eating!

 

“Here, we served mutton biriyani, raita, laddu, apple and banana.  We gifted each child with stationery materials and chocolates”, Ritesh said.

 

“We followed the Standard Operating practices in both places and also used the occasion to create awareness on safety norms against Covid”, he added.

(Response can also be sent to: pssundar.coonoor@gmail.com)