The India Hotels Company, better known as Taj Hotels, won a Gold Award in this year’s ICRT India Awards presented at Bhopal last month. The judges recognised the value of its “Meals to Smiles” campaign during the Covid pandemic.
“With over 200 hotels, IHCL commits to core values of Trust of all stakeholders, Awareness of the needs of their ecosystem and Joy at heart. Continuing IHCLs century-old legacy, Paathya forges a journey focused on Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility, Excellence in Governance, Preserving Heritage, Value Chain Transformation, and Sustainable Growth. Through the Taj Public Service Welfare Trust during the Covid crisis, Taj delivered through its ‘Meals to Smiles’ programme simple and nutritious meals in collaboration with the local Government authorities for distribution across multiple hospitals throughout lockdown. They also fed stranded migrant workers at the request of local authorities in Mumbai. IHCL provided 4.5 million meals in 17 cities and 38 hospitals. Through their welfare trust, the Taj group supported distressed hospitality workers responding to 7000 applications with a budget of more than Rs 14.25 Crores. Over 70,000 room nights were made available for health care staff, and 30 state-of-the-art Ventilators and PPE kits were donated to Covid 19 hospitals.”
Part of the Tata group, the India Hotels Company, shares its ethics. The India Hotels Company explicitly recognises that positive relationships with local communities ensure the company’s social license to operate and that local procurement benefits communities and contributes to delivering competitive customer service. Does any other company include joy in its sustainability commitment?
“Derived from the Sanskrit term पथ्य, inferring a path, Paathya encapsulates our initiatives to lead positive change with IHCLs core values of Trust of all stakeholders, Awareness around the needs of our ecosystem and Joy at heart. … Paathya forges a journey focused on Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility, Excellence in Governance, Preserving Heritage, Value Chain Transformation, and Sustainable Growth.”
IHCL has leveraged its brand position as a leading luxury hotel company to support around 100 heritage bungalows, residences and homestays with between two and ten rooms to provide assurance to guests and access to 1 million+ potential customers through a dedicated website.
Many of the properties include activities: plantation walks, fishing, golf, bonfires, photography, birding, trekking, wildlife, temples, games, houseboats, champagne sunsets, and Feni experiences to name a few.
There is a commercial advantage to the India Hotels Company in extending the range of its offer to its clients and others who find the website. However, there are risks too to its brand values. As in all good partnerships, there is benefit and shared risk as there is in all good partnerships.
