The Leela Palaces, Hotels & Resorts

While the world is facing by an unprecedented existential crisis, one of the worst of our lifetime, hotels and restaurants globally have been at the forefront, working relentlessly to support their associates and the communities in which they operate.

The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts have always believed in working towards the betterment of society, guided by their service philosophy, ‘The Leela Dharma’. And never before has this been more relevant and meaningful than in these past few months.

The Leela Hotels and Resorts opened their doors to provide accommodation for healthcare providers and hosted more than 1500 doctors, amounting to more than 21,000 room nights, at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel alone. It continues to house doctors even today. A task force of 60 associates was formed to take care of all the needs of the doctors and healthcare professionals at the hotel.

Hotels across the portfolio have also accommodated repatriated nationals in collaboration with the government’s Vande Bharat Mission.

Some of the other initiatives taken by The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts across cities include:

• Extending support to team members and their families with food, medical and emergency supplies
• during the lockdown.
• Collaborating with local authorities across cities to provide care packages consisting of daily food provisions and personal hygiene productsfor underprivileged families whose incomes were severely impacted by pandemic-fueled unemployment. The Leela Palace New Delhi distributed over 200 care packages within the first 30 days of the lockdown. Each care package could support a family for a whole month.
• The Leela Goa assisted local communities, particularly those stranded due to the lockdown and senior citizens within the vicinity of the hotel, by providing them transportation, emergency supplies and groceries.
• The Leela Palace Udaipur served 40 lunch packets a day to essential service providers such as policemen on duty, and supported the authorities with additional requests that were received.
• Serving tea and refreshments to the Police personnel deployed within the vicinity of the hotel every day.
• The Leela Palace Bengaluru served lunch to the 300-member strong nursing staff of Manipal Hospital on multiple occasions over a period of six weeks.
• The Leela Palace Chennai served food for to members of The Department of Health and Preventive Medicine.

Anuraag Bhatnagar, Chief Operating Officer, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts

There is no denying the fact that these are indeed unprecedented times. We have had to adapt to a new way of life, become more thoughtful in the way we do things and ensure we keep our families, our communities and our associates safe. The Leela has always supported communities in which we operate and in times like this, it becomes even more important that we come together and support the government, our communities and each other. Our hotels have partnered with the authorities to provide food and accommodation to healthcare and essential service providers as well as those whose livelihoods have been affected by the pandemic and we are deeply grateful for the hard work, dedication and commitment of our associates. We have spent the last few months to Reimagine, Rethink and Reset our business and our operations and remain cautiously optimistic about the future. As the world begins to travel again, our focus is on two things. The first: to rebuild consumer confidence and reassure guests of our commitment towards ensuring their safety. We have introduced Suraksha by The Leela, our enhanced safety protocols developed in partnership with Bureau Veritas. The second is to generate demand. COVID-19 might have changed the way we work, interact, shop and spend time but it will not change who we are and what we want from life. Having had time to reflect, people will value authenticity and meaningful experiences more than ever before. And finally, after months of isolation and anxiety, the world will want to experience life again. Hotels which will figure out how to offer experiences instead of services, will lead the way.

Frontline Heros 

Inderjeet Ray, F&B, The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi

To dish out 200 packed boxes for every meal (600-700 packed boxes a day) in a short span of time, while maintaining a balance between variety, taste and nutritional value is not an easy task, but Inderjeet Ray did it with élan. Ray, with the rest of the culinary team, played a stellar role in ensuring that the doctors were well looked after so they could feel energized while they carried on their duties at the hospital. Ray ensured that fresh food was served to doctors, no matter what time they came back from the hospital. He also accommodated their personal requests to ensure they felt at home.

Kushagra Pandey, Front Office, The Leela Ambience Convention Hotel, Delhi

Kushagra Pandey was one of the first members of the Task Force at The Leela Ambience Convention Hotels and worked relentlessly towards making sure the room allocation, check-ins and service requests of all doctors coming to the hotel was well co-ordinated. Pandey was always there to welcome doctors and make them comfortable, even at the odd hours.