India's Top Hotels Will Now Deliver Meals At Lower Rates Amid Lockdown

India’s top hotel chains have worked out a way so that food connoisseurs do not have to go though the lockdown period missing delectable food or cooking with gourmet ingredients.

With social distancing becoming the new normal, hotels such as Indian Hotels, Marriott, Grand Hyatt and Accor Group Hotels are ensuring their meals reach the doorsteps of guests. For an industry that counts heavily on the overall experience, a personalised touch and ambience to pamper its guests, this is a first.

Guests can choose their favourite cuisines from a specially curated compact menu at a tad lower price than what they would have paid when dining at the hotel restaurants.

Take Indian Hotels, for instance. Under its hospitality at home services, the owner of Taj hotels is offering confectionary and gourmet hampers and a hamper for spa at home.

This is over and above the order takeout from the signature restaurants including Shamiana, La Patisserie, Capital Kitchen, Vista, Southern Spice, Blue Ginger, Cal 27, and Machan across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.

It's even offering laundry services. Guests can drop off their clothing and linen at the hotel and pick it up, washed and pressed in 24 hours from the hotel lobby.

Marriott International, the world's largest hotel chain, too, is pulling all plugs for its guests to beat the lockdown blues. Its brands including JW Marriott, Sheraton, Ritz Carlton, and Four Points are giving the guests an option for a take away or home delivery.

“Given the current scenario and as we encourage our guests to practice social distancing, many of our hotels have introduced home deliveries,” said Khushnooma Kapadia, area director of marketing, South Asia at Marriott International.

The hotels have introduced a compact menu of their signature dishes and are already seeing a positive response from local residents in their vicinity, she said. Stringent checks and safety measures are being taken while preparing, packaging and delivering these meals across homes.

While most of them have started the services in the first week of April, some like ITC Hotels, are in the process of firming up the plans.

“Being at the forefront of responsible dining, we are evaluating the perfect model for takeaway and delivery. These will be ‘responsible menus’ that is well suited for delivery while keeping the food nutritious,” said Anil Chadha, chief operating officer, ITC Hotels, adding: “The world has certainly changed with the Covid-19 crisis.”

Meanwhile, Grand Hyatt is using Swiggy’s platform to serve its customers. French hospitality major Accor, too, has introduced similar options at its Novotel brand of hotels in Chennai, Mumbai, and Visakhapatnam. It has joined hands with food tech platforms Zomato and Swiggy. The restaurants are offering elaborate options to choose from.

“At Accor, we are committed to safety and security of our guests and employees, thus, we are ensuring that the food is prepared with all necessary precautions and hygiene,” said a company spokesperson.