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HRAO urges FM for assistance to tourism, hospitality sector

Bhubaneswar: Hotel and restaurants association of Odisha has urged Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for assistance to tourism and hospitality sector. In a letter, J K Mohanty, MHCIMA Chairman, Hotel & Restaurant Association of Odisha, has also urged Sitharaman to declare an economic trade and industrial revival package for COVID-19. The letter urged her to look at the global melt down of the economy, tourism in India which employs more than 4.2 crore jobs (8.1% of total employment in the country). This will be the worst hit due to coronavirus outbreak, it said. Mohanty in his letter said the countries like USA, UK, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia have given excellent revival packages for their economies. The hotel and restaurants association of Odisha said as the total country was under a lockdown period, the earning of tourism and hospitality sector is almost zero. Therefore, they request that the banks which are flushed with funds should share a part of the burden by exempting interest for six months. The letter further said industries, MSME sector, the banks should also share a part burden and charge 50% interest on term loan and working capital limits for a period of twelve months. The banks should not declare any account as NPA nor put the accounts under CIBIL, the letter added. On the ministry’s advise that all employers of Public / Private Establishments shall not to terminate their employees from job or reduce their wages, the letter said they appreciate this initiative. But, if there is no business, there is no earnings hence and we sincerely request the Ministry of Finance to reimburse salary / wages of employees at least for three months from EPF. The letter has requested the Finance Minister to consider a one year tax holiday for the hotel industry and waiver of property and municipality tax for six months. It also requested deferment of utility bills and waiver of electricity dues for a period of one year, license fee holiday for Excise and all other licenses applicable to the hotel industry for a period of one year. The HRAO has also written to Susant Singh, Minister- Labour & Employees State Insurance, Govt of Odisha requesting him for financial assistance to the Tourism and Hospitality sector of Odisha.

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OYO Rolls Out #FightCovidwithOYO Campaign With Donate A Night and Book A Night for Self-Isolation to Help Flatten the Curve

OYO, one of the world’s leading hotel chains today announced two initiatives- ‘Donate A Night’ and ‘Book A Night for self-isolation’ to support the Government of India in its efforts to break the chain, flatten the curve and maintain the necessary nationwide lockdown. First responders and medical professionals are working hard and spending long hours at the frontlines to protect citizens from this pandemic. They are also at the maximum risk of being exposed and contracting the virus. Besides first respondents, there are migrants who are stranded with limited access to accommodation owing to the preventive 21-day lockdown. To support such groups and ensure their wellbeing, OYO has gone live with ‘Donate A Night’, a crowdfunding campaign across its platforms including the OYO app. Through this initiative, users can voluntarily contribute to donate one night’s accommodation for people who need it the most - first responders like doctors, medical staff, emergency services personnel, policemen as well as low-income individuals such as stranded daily wagers or migrants. OYO’s second initiative, ‘Book A Night for Self-isolation’ aims to support those individuals who require or are being advised self-isolation. These include domestic and international tourists among others who require safe and hygienic pay-per-use self-quarantine facilities, at affordable prices. The hotel chain has already opened doors to several properties spread across major hotspots of Mumbai, Gurgaon, Pune, Hyderabad and Noida. OYO will provide preventive and contactless support to individuals; including stay, meals, WiFi connectivity, and proper waste management through local municipal agencies. OYO has formulated certain guidelines to ensure the highest levels of hygiene, health and safety of guests and on-ground employees. OYO is also working with a broad cross-section of corporates and public and private organisations to ensure that any of their employees impacted by the lockdown are able to avail affordable, accessible accommodation options in certain OYO hotels identified to help those who are stranded. Commenting on the company’s initiatives to curb the pandemic, Rohit Kapoor, CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes, India SA said, “This is a difficult time for all of us around the world but it’s also a time to step forward and pull together all our limited resources. While the medical community and essential services professionals are doing their part at the frontlines, it is our responsibility and duty as good corporate citizens to support those who support us. While the entire country is under lockdown in an effort to self-isolate and control the outbreak for the greater good, there are many migrants and international tourists that are struggling to find hygienic and safe accommodation.” He further added, “With Donate A Night and Book A Night, we open doors to our hotels and extend our full support to our frontline heroes, caregivers and symptomatic individuals. We urge each and everyone of our employees, asset partners and consumers to support this cause by donating one night’s accommodation for those who haven’t been able to safely self-isolate.” The government of India on March 24, released the Ministry of Home Affairs guidelines for the 21 day nationwide lockdown, which recognises under point 7, that while hospitality services will be suspended, the following exceptions will be made: • Hotels, homestays, lodges and motels which are accommodating tourists and persons stranded due to lockdown, medical and emergency staff, sea and aircrew. • Establishments used/earmarked for quarantine facilities Adhering to these guidelines laid down by the government, OYO will continue its two-pronged efforts to minimise the possibility of infection and maximise social distancing and hygiene. In line with this, OYO recently joined forces with Apollo Hospitals as a part of Apollo’s Project Stay I (Stay isolated) to develop and support accommodation requirements of suspected COVID-19 patients requiring quarantine or self-isolation. With Travel, Hospitality & Tourism sectors among the worst affected by COVID-19, the startup also recently announced that Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & Group CEO, OYO Hotels & Homes will forego 100% of his compensation for 2020, while OYOs entire executive leadership (CXOs) team takes a voluntary pay cut, starting at 25%, with many opting for an additional uncapped amount, and some going up to 50% to enable building the necessary runway for the company. OYO has also facilitated accommodation support to international tourists and engaged with multiple foreign embassies and diplomatic missions in India. About OYO Hotels and Homes Opening its doors in 2013, OYO Hotels & Homes, a young hotel startup, today is the world’s leading chain of hotels and homes. The portfolio combines fully operated real estate comprising more than 43,000 hotels with over 1 million rooms. Through its vacation homes business, the company offers travellers and city dwellers access to over 130,000 homes around the world under OYO Home, Belvilla, Danland, Dancenter and Germany-based Traum-Ferienwohnungen brands. OYO today operates in over 800 cities in 80 countries, including the U.S., Europe, U.K., India, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Japan.

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Top five-star hotels tap into food-delivery to garner revenue

New Delhi: Top five-star chains across the country are delivering food to homes from their in-house restaurants, in a bid to create an alternative revenue stream. At Indian Hotels Company's Taj hotels in five cities and Delhi's Hyatt Regency, restaurant takeaways and deliveries are open for business respectively. The Oberoi Bengaluru started home delivery on April 1, as did Park Hyatt Hyderabad. The Park Hotels across Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, and Delhi, too, has begun reaching out to customers through social media. Andaz hotel in Delhi started deliveries within a 15 km radius. Hotels continue to dish out popular but select dishes from their restaurants in the wake of the Covid-19 virus outbreak prompted the ongoing 21-day nationwide lockdown. Last month, ET reported that revenues of branded Indian hotels are expected to be 10-15% lower in February. Following the lockdown, however, as India's largest cities shut, revenues are likely to see a sharper dip. "It has been difficult for our guests to utilise hotel services as dining operations of all restaurants have been closed due to government guidelines. We are receiving orders from our regular customers and are managing deliveries on our own," said Julian Ayers, general manager, Hyatt Regency Delhi. The hotel is also in the process of partnering with third-party aggregators to increase its delivery radius. A recent report by hospitality consultancy HVS suggests that hotels must focus on diversifying revenue through non-core functions like gyms, restaurants and spas. The report titled 'Covid-19: Impact on the Indian Hotels Sector' says hotels must provide services that have traditionally not been part of their core offerings, such as food delivery through online platforms or leasing of kitchens for cloud-kitchen requirements. Overall room occupancy in the branded hotels segment is expected to decline 16.7-20.5 percentage points in 2020, compared to the previous year, the report pointed out. The next quarter will be worse, according to the report. Hotels will be unable to drive rates and may even be compelled to attract business at deep discounts. The Oberoi group's Bengaluru property, when contacted by ET, said that it had exhausted their delivery slots, and were taking advance orders. An official query sent to the group remained unanswered till press time Sunday. The Park's offerings starts at Rs 250. The hotel group, in an unusual move for five-star properties in the country, has partnered with food delivery majors Swiggy and Zomato deliver food. “We are getting reasonably good response in Navi Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. We are getting almost 10 to 15 orders in a day and that is gradually rising,” a spokesperson for the group said. “From our kitchen to your home,” read a Taj Palace New Delhi brochure offering select dishes from in-house restaurants Capital Kitchen and Spicy Duck on takeaway basis only. Yellow Brick Road Kitchen at the Ambassador in New Delhi is also offering select dishes on takeaway. "We have been receiving several calls from our regulars asking if we could deliver to their homes. Currently, the hotel is still operational with limited in-house guests and we have our kitchens open to ensure they are as comfortable as possible," said a spokesperson of the Park Hyatt in Hyderabad. However, the hotel said it would not go into bulk deliveries. "Currently, we are managing with our internal logistics. The objective is to reach out to our loyal and regular guests and not go into bulk deliveries through third-party aggregators," the spokesperson added.

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Travel agents shall issue refunds only after they receive the same from airlines: TAAI

The Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI) has said that all refunds/credits/vouchers shall be given to customers only after agents receive the same from airlines and IATA (International Air Transport Association). TAAI argues that member agents have been left in the lurch by airlines that are non-committal on the refund amount and date, and have also disabled the refund mechanism on GDS systems. “We state that, the travel agents/tour operators have paid 100% to the airlines, for all tickets that have been issued, till date. Our member agents want to process the refunds, for the tickets issued by them for their customers, but majority of IATA member airlines, have disabled the refunding mechanism on the GDS systems for agents. Agents are now required to manually process refunds through Refund Authority with IATA, whereby the airlines are being non-committal on the date and amount of repayment of airfare. Most low-cost carriers (LCCs) too are not refunding the airfares and are creating a credit shell favouring the passenger, to be used for future dates.” With the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, air passenger transport in India and globally has come to a complete halt. This has resulted in air ticketing agents and package tour operators being the worst hit as intermediary between airlines and customers, and struggle with en masse cancellations. Amid the nationwide lockdown enforced by governments to arrest spread of COVID-19, customers are cancelling bookings and claiming refunds for services and products to be unutilised by them, and use the capital as a safety measure to cope with the global recession that has set in To address the refund claims, TAAI has raised strong objections with all airlines, as well as with IATA. “We have asked the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) to direct the airlines to refund all monies. Most airlines are offering credit vouchers in the name of the passengers which are valid for 365days and a couple of them are offering credit vouchers for up to 760 days. Further, additional funds of the agents are blocked with the airlines which have been paid by way of advances in float accounts of low-cost carriers operating in India,” Mayal added. According to Jay Bhatia, Vice President, TAAI, if the situation starts resuming to normal after April 15 when restrictions, hopefully are lifted, the refund process, if authorised by the airlines, may take from 15 days to at least 3 months, depending on the airline and how the situation across the globe remains. “Currently, most of the airlines are not giving waivers on the cancellation charges. They are not refunding the amounts in cash. They are only giving credit vouchers favouring the passenger, whereby name change shall not be permitted. During this time difficult time of survival, we are working closely with MoCA and IATA daily, to find a suitable solution, to resolve the refund issue, in the interest of the passenger, along with support from Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism and Hospitality (FAITH).” Bhatia stated that they have told their members to inform and assure customers who desire to refund their tickets, that they shall be updated as soon as cash refunds/credits/vouchers are received from the respective airlines/IATA, for the tickets issued.

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Tourism bodies demand RBI’s 3-month moratorium on loan repayments be extended to 12 months

Tourism stakeholders have raised concerns that the government failed to address the survival crisis being faced by the industry in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and said immediate steps need to be taken to help out the sector. This was conveyed in a video conference meeting with senior officers of the Ministry of Tourism on Friday. The Federation of Associations in Indian Tourism & Hospitality (FAITH), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) and Internet and Mobile Association of India (IMAI) participated in the meeting. They demanded that the RBI’s three-month moratorium on loan repayments amid disruptions caused by the coronavirus outbreak be extended to 12 months and that the interest accrual should stop during that period. The tourism bodies also suggested that some loans for the industry (tourism) should be restructured. "Secretary-Tourism updated us that across all the key ministries of the government, it has been widely acknowledged and accepted that Indian tourism industry will be one of the worst hit from this pandemic. He mentioned that this is of very high concern to the government and this acceptance, itself, within the government is a big move forward for us. We hope that our relief measures will be prioritised accordingly soon,” Ashish Gupta of FAITH who attended the meeting is reported to be said. In a statement, the tourism ministry said that the industry put forth a number of ideas and suggestions for tiding over the crisis created by COVID-19 in the sector of tourism and hospitality. "The ministry on its part shared the concerns and also assured the associations that the government was very much with them in this grim hour and that it would work towards the suggestions put forth. A lot of thrust on promoting domestic tourism was a common takeaway,” it said. "The ministry is using its social media handles to create awareness on the need to stay at home and be safe in the period of lockdown, and prepare to travel once the world opens up," the statement said.

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72-hour CODE19 online hackathon to begin in India on April 10

72-hour CODE19 online hackathon to begin in India on April 10 New Delhi, April 6 (IANS) California-based Motwani Jadeja Foundation on Monday announced a 72-hour online hackathon called ''CODE19 to find solutions to Indias challenges against the new coronavirus pandemic. The contest, to begin from April 10, is expected to see over 3,000 participants with prize money worth $10,000, the foundation said in a statement. The online hackathon is open to everyone as individuals and teams, without any criteria or age limit. The winners would be announced on April 14. "CODE19 aims to create qualitative, open-source projects that would help solve the most pressing problems of the Coronavirus crisis in the country," said Founder-philanthropist Asha Jadeja Motwani. Projects are divided into eight specific themes: Medical treatment and testing; travel and tourism; mitigation-isolation, protection/masks and social distancing in India; social life, welfare and awareness; research and development; open innovation for COVID-19; education and awareness; and industry. Code19India is being held in collaboration with Bengaluru-based HackerEarth. The Association of Designers in India (ADI) will help in providing mentors through its network.

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