City’s star hotels step up for stranded guests, COVID frontline workers

The lockdown has totally altered the hospitality sector landscape making the hotels focus on their social commitment rather than wooing guests.

With the usual buzz missing, the pandemic has made the hotel staff wear masks, use sanitiser and request the guests to frequently wash their hands and remain safe in their rooms. “We are using thermal scanners to check our guests. Pilots from the cargo flights are also checked for temperature and requested to take all precautions,” sources at a popular hotel said.

The Ascott’s accommodates expats based in India, those who are in the city for medical treatment and guests affected by closure of borders due to the lockdown. Ascott Somerset Greenways and Citadines OMR offered a home away from home experience to the guests, with the management rolling out various initiatives to keep the morale of guests and staff high. The feature standard rooms and suites with a fully equipped kitchen allowed guests to cook for themselves if they wished, or order from the in-room dining menu.

The guest services team provided grocery shopping to ensure that the guests stayed indoors. Apart from providing food to those firefighting at the forefront, GRT Hotels and Resorts offered food to migrant workers. The employees also reached out to over 100 stray dogs.