Late last year, Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty became one of the participants of ‘Hyatt Loves Local’, a global campaign that enables Hyatt Hotels around the world to support local small businesses deeply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The south Indian property teamed up with Kudumbashree, a poverty eradication mission that works with over 50 lakh women across 14 districts. Grand Hyatt Kochi Bolgatty provided working space and resources to help the women sell their indigenous food products during its Sunday Brunch.
Nearly 60 Hyatt hotels and resorts across Asia Pacific, the Americas, Middle East and Europe are similarly part of the ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ programme, which gives a nudge to small businesses that have take a beating during the pandemic. At the same time, this initiative gives its guests an opportunity to enjoy distinctive local experiences, thus, reigniting their joy of travel.
Genevieve Materne, Senior VP-Commercial Services EAME and South West Asia of Hyatt Hotels Corporation tells Vinita Bhatia how this programme fosters a meaningful connection between the brand and local communities. She also highlighted how uplifting local businesses during these challenging times is reflective of the company’s ethos to give back more than it receives.
What kind of consumer insights went into identifying the businesses to partner with for the ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ initiative?
‘Hyatt Loves Local’ was developed organically in a short period of time – in just over a few weeks. It is grounded in Hyatt’s purpose; to care for people so they can do their best and was inspired by actions taken locally by several Hyatt hotel teams.
This past summer, many beloved local small businesses were forced to shutter due to COVID-19 restrictions. We saw several Hyatt hotels in the Americas team up with businesses in their community to support them in unique ways.
Some of these include Hotel Revival, a Joie de Vivre Hotel in Baltimore, which opened up its 750-sq. ft. kitchen to local restaurants like Sporty Dog Creations and Fuisine to operate for delivery or pick-up from the hotel’s valet stand. Similarly, Andaz West Hollywood teamed up with hair and beard experts at Barcode Barbershop to offer professional cuts on the hotel’s rooftop overlooking the Sunset Strip.
Seeing this inspired us to launch ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ to encourage even more hotels to collaborate and lend support to local businesses. We saw an opportunity to offer those businesses a platform, complimentary space, resources and exposure to help them continue operating during this difficult time. All this, while offering Hyatt guests authentic, memorable and local experiences during their stay.
Did Hyatt’s corporate team drive this initiative or did its regional teams select the local business impacted by COVID-19?
The ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ initiative is a global effort by Hyatt Hotels to uplift and collaborate with small businesses affected by the pandemic. Although the programme was initiated from a corporate level, it is a platform for Hyatt hotels globally to find new and creative ways to support their local community.
Driven by Hyatt’s purpose to care for people, we encouraged our hotels in India as well to participate in this initiative promoting our offerings in the local market. The campaign helped us drive sustainable associations with local vendors and communities.
We facilitated our hotel space to sell the indigenous products of the communities our hotels are associated with, while offering guests and locals unique experiences. These associations enabled them to reach out to discerning audiences and gain media presence for their businesses.
For instance, Andaz Delhi hosted its AnnaMaya Artisan Awards to recognise and celebrate the local artisans, their success and creative excellence while empowering them and enhancing their community outreach. We are proud that so many Hyatt hotels around the world found new, creative ways to show support for their communities and reimagine the hotel experience for both hotel guests and locals.
How will Hyatt guests benefit from this initiative?
By continuously listening to our guests and World of Hyatt members, we understand they have a strong desire to not only experience Hyatt destinations, but also to connect with and support small businesses in the surrounding community. ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ leans into this feedback, as our community collaborators offer Hyatt’s guests distinctive and enriching ways to help reignite the joy of travel.
The collaborations cover many industries, including art, music, culinary, beverage, philanthropy, retail, fashion, wellness and selfcare. So, guests can authentically experience a hotel’s destination through these local businesses’ goods and services and therefore enjoy a rich, memorable experience. We have also received positive feedback from our guests and World of Hyatt members citing that Hyatt is setting itself apart from other hospitality brands by truly supporting their local communities.
Other than being acknowledged for their altruism, what tangible will the 60 Hyatt hotels and resorts enjoy for being part of this initiative?
With our continued commitment to care, creativity and flexibility in all we do – especially during the pandemic – ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ helped to build brand loyalty and drive business for participating Hyatt hotels. This support comes from both our World of Hyatt members and consumers looking to give their business to brands that give back.
It is also worth mentioning that participating hotels got a chance to be creative and have fun with their local collaborations, while also enjoying more visibility and engagement in their local communities. It was incredible to see how the hotels have been thoughtfully reimagining the hotel experience for both guests and locals.
F&B is a big draw for most partnerships in the hospitality industry. Yet, many alliances in this programme encompass art and fashion. How can these boost footfalls for hotels and convert into actual revenue?
While excellence in F&B is a standard across Hyatt hotels, we also pride ourselves in offering guests all types of experiences that reflect the local destination of each property. A great example of a successful art-themed partnership reflecting the locale of the property was at Grand Hyatt Mumbai Hotel and Residences, which hosted a series of markets with Iishita Khanna, the curator of pop-up flea markets in Mumbai. The markets took place through January and consisted of pop-up stalls offering guests an array of local artefacts, garments, jewellery and accessories, as well as providing local vendors direct access to customers.
It is also worth highlighting that more than a quarter of our participating ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ hotels (around 21 hotels) collaborated with a local restaurant or culinary brand. This point alone illustrates the major impact that COVID-19 has had on the independent restaurant industry worldwide.
Andaz Delhi hosted AnnaMaya Artisan Awards to recognise and celebrate local artisans, their success and creative excellence while empowering them and enhancing their community outreach.
On what basis did Hyatt choose the 60 hotels and resorts across the world to participate in this initiative?
Hyatt encouraged all hotels worldwide to participate in the ‘Hyatt Loves Local’ campaign and identify a small business in their local community that was negatively impacted by COVID-19. Participating hotels are not charging rental fees for these collaborations and the small businesses are encouraged to work with the hotels to ensure the programme makes the most sense for their business objectives.
In support of Hyatt’s recent ‘Change Starts Here’ commitment, we encouraged hotels to engage with minority-owned businesses whenever possible. Hyatt has long been a steadfast advocate for inclusion and diversity in our communities. Our ‘Change Starts Here’ commitment celebrates all dimensions of diversity within the Hyatt family, strives to create an inclusive culture and builds on our vision of a world of understanding and care.
Does Hyatt plan to extend this initiative to more than 60 hotels globally in the near future?
In this new travel landscape, Hyatt remains committed to reimagining the hotel experience – going beyond cleanliness to consider the entire hotel journey in as many creative ways as possible. Hyatt has been caring for the communities in which we operate across the globe for more than 60 years, and we are proud so many Hyatt hotels around the world are finding new, creative ways to lift up the small local businesses in this time of need through ‘Hyatt Loves Local’.
We anticipate hotels may continue their collaborations on an ongoing basis, when possible, and even more Hyatt hotels will be inspired to form collaborations in the new era of travel.
Other than offering space on their premises to showcase their products and services, how else does Hyatt support these small businesses?
Our hotels are always looking for ways to be helpful to their peers in hospitality. Offering our hotels’ unused spaces to struggling neighbourhood restaurants, bakeries and bars was a natural and realistic solution to support local businesses. Although space is predominantly the main way our hotels can support their community, some of our hotels also donated food goods from their pantries and refrigerators to local business owners. Many of the collaborations also organically introduced local businesses to increased exposure and new audiences.
For example, at Hyatt Regency Chennai, local, minimalist men’s and women’s fashion designer Vivek Karunakaran (VK) hosted a safe shopping experience for guests and locals. Due to a decline in business following the pandemic, VK’s flagship store had closed down and the brand had to downsize its team by 75%. This collaboration aimed to help the brand survive and thrive through these unprecedented times, while offering guests exclusive access to the work of one of Chennai’s top designers and introduce the designer to new shoppers – the hotel guests – who were seeking apparel and accessories during their visit.
How can these small companies leverage this opportunity to scale their business and gain brand recognition efficiently?
A big success story is, Hyatt Regency Kolkata’s partnership with organic, carbon-neutral, single-estate tea brand, T-Tales, to provide fresh teas in all guestrooms and on-property food and beverage venues. The hotel also hosted evening tea tasting rituals in the lobby, starting November 1, 2020 till February 2021 and daily between 5 to 6 PM. This commitment not only ensured continued sales for T-Tales, but also engaged and educated our guests on the history and importance of Indian tea.
What other community engagement initiatives has Hyatt undertaken in India since the pandemic struck?
A striking example is that of AnnaMaya, the modern European food hall at Andaz Delhi. Its essence lies in identifying and celebrating artisans from remote parts of India. As a tribute to these artisans, AnnaMaya highlighted a special artisan market with partners such as Bliss Box, RigVeda, Darima, ChaiVeda and Tijara Organic. Guests can also shop for artisanal products from organic desi ghee, artisanal cheese, handpounded spices to Kumaoni pickles and chutneys. In addition, artisan partners are also present at the hotel, with their products and brands through immersive activities to raise awareness.
The food hall also hosted the first edition of the ‘AnnaMaya Artisan Awards’ Series on November 22,
2020. This is an annual award event that recognises and celebrates local artisans, their success, creative excellence while empowering them and enhancing their community outreach.
The thought behind AnnaMaya Artisan Awards is to express appreciation, respect and celebrate the artisan’s journey with the establishment, and it was heartening to see how well this resonated with our local partners.
