COVID-19: Travel, hospitality cos assure customer-support

People have had to cancel or reschedule their travel plans of late, which also mostly entails a cost.

In a letter to the customers of MakeMyTrip, the company has said that it is working with airline and hotel partners on "lenient customer policies" for date change, cancellations and waivers.

"We are closely working with all our airline and hotel partners on lenient customer policies for date change, cancellations and waivers in the face of evolving travel trends and are seamlessly passing the waiver benefits to our customers, as applicable," MakeMyTrip said in the letter.

It also assured that its support teams are working round the clock and are constantly monitoring updates from the government and public health authorities.

The company said that it has boosted staff capacity across support channels to deal with the surge in customer query volumes.

Oberoi Hotels & Resorts in a letter to its guests has said that it is in the process of consultation and research to develop "immunity building wellness dishes and drinks", with recipes which it would list on its website soon.

"We are in the process of consultation and research to develop immunity building wellness dishes and drinks, with recipes which will be listed on our website very soon. We will also introduce these at our hotels on our menus."

In its letter, the company has also outlined the steps it has taken in the wake of the crisis including continuous sanitising or disinfecting all touch points in public areas and placing hand sanitisers at several places in its properties.

OYO Rooms on the other hand has reached out to the health departments of the state governments in India "to understand how we can leverage our network of hotels for providing pay per use or self quarantine facilities for travellers at a reasonable and affordable price", as per the company spokesperson.

"We are also setting up a central helpline number to ensure we are taking requests from people as well as all state governments and relevant authorities as the case may be. Our outreach is also to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare as well as to WHO for discussion over initiatives that OYO can quickly implement for the benefit of travellers and those looking for self-quarantine/isolation facilities," said the spokesperson.

In its markets outside India, the company said it has been sharing advisories and undertaking country specific initiatives, along with monitoring the situation and engaging with employees, stakeholders, asset owners, customers towards prevention and support.

Globally, the number of coronavirus cases have crossed 1.8 lakh and over 7,000 deaths have occurred so far. In India around 137 active cases of coronavirus infection have been reported while three people have lost their lives due to the virus. The travel, hospitality and aviation sector has been among the worst-hit sectors due to the pandemic.

Apurva Chamaria, Chief Revenue Officer at RateGain, said that the global hospitality industry is facing a lot of pressure as the room revenue declined 16 per cent in February 2020, compared to January.