A growing number of hotels and shared-living facilities are being earmarked as potential venues for quarantine and care of the sick, or for accommodating healthcare workers, as efforts intensify to contain the spread of the new coronavirus infection. While some of these companies have been asked to do so by state authorities, the others are coming forward on their own.
At present, nine hotel chains, including Lemon Tree, Radisson Hotels and Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG), are collectively offering 392 rooms as paid quarantine facilities (in Gurugram), according to the district administration of Gurugram. Their room tariffs have been capped at Rs 3,600.
Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), which runs the Taj Group of Hotels, is not only offering its Ginger hotels in Mumbai and Bhubaneshwar for quarantine purposes, but is also providing complimentary meals on a daily basis to all the medical staff and patients admitted in Kasturba Hospital and other Brihanmumbai municipal corporation (BMC) hospitals through its subsidiary Taj Sats. The BMC has also asked ITC Maratha to facilitate quarantine arrangements.
“We are in receipt of government orders for converting our hotels into quarantine facilities in some places. In each instance where our hotels are providing towards temporary care for Covid-19-affected patients, we have rolled out detailed SOPs and mitigation strategies in line with WHO recommendations,” said Zubin Saxena, managing director at Radisson Hotel Group, South Asia. “We remain committed to taking the necessary actions under these demanding times…”
Another hotel industry executive said the West Bengal government has approached his hotel chain for using its properties for quarantine purposes.
Some companies are also coming forth on their own. In a tweet, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra offered to provide Club Mahindra Resorts as temporary care facilities.
Shared living accommodation provider Stanza Living said it has an inventory of new residences across 10 cities and is prepared to support the government by earmarking these spaces for quarantine purposes.
Dharamveer Singh Chouhan, cofounder of online experiential travel platform Zostel, said, “The wellbeing of our traveller community has always been on top of our mind and, therefore, we have chosen to abandon most of our stay and reservation policies to accommodate all sorts of requests.”
Singh said that since Zostel has wide presence in terms of beds and places across the country, it is stepping up to provide its properties as quarantine centres, if asked by the government. Zostel Srinagar has already been set aside to serve affected people in Kashmir.
He also said that Zostel is letting stranded travellers stay for as long as they like at discounted rates and has allowed rescheduling of bookings for any dates till December 31.
French multinational hospitality chain Accor, which operates brands including Ibis, Pullman and Novotel, said its Ibis hotel in Delhi’s Aero City is providing full support and assistance to the Delhi government with regard to medical care and observation for Indians returning from foreign destinations.
The Delhi government has called upon all Aero City hotels near the international airport to manage and accommodate incoming travellers who are asymptomatic to Covid-19 and should be isolated as a precautionary measure.
“These returning Indian citizens have been accommodated on dedicated floors, with the government providing medical supervision and security. The safety and wellbeing of our staff and guests is our first priority, and we are closely following the strictest hygiene and sanitation procedures and government requirements,” a spokesperson for Accor said, adding that should the need arise, the company will offer more help.
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