As Travel Halts, Hotels Turn Hospitals

Sarovar Hotels is the latest name in the hospitality industry to come forward and launch a dedicated COVID-19 care centre in Delhi NCR. The hospitality chain recently launched a 60-bed facility at Gurgaon's Golden Tulip Hotel with 80% of its facilities reserved for the elderly population. The initiative was launched in collaboration with a Gurgaon-based elderly care centre and the NGO Iamgurgaon. 

This initiative is part of a larger wave where hotels all over the country are converting their premises into dedicated COVID-19 care complexes. At a time when the country's healthcare infrastructure and workforce&mdashnot to mention medical supplies and essential resources&mdashare stretched thin and massively overwhelmed by the severe ongoing second wave of Coronavirus infections, these measures have provided a semblance of relief and hope that people and institutions are rallying together in the face of a grave health crisis.

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Before this, brands such as Lemontree and Vivanta also converted their premises into care facilities for those struck by the virus. In the capital Delhi, hotels and banquet halls have been appended to nearby private hospitals to ramp up the bed capacity of the latter. The latest in this list, the Sarovar Hotels facility is dedicated to serving elderly patients in a home-like environment, with oxygen concentrators, on-site clinical and nursing attention, vitals monitoring, and virtual activities for emotional well-being. 

Major hospitality brands such as IHCL, Lemon Tree, and Vivanta volunteered hotels for patient care, quarantine, or other requirements, in 2020, when the pandemic broke out&mdashand they are leading the initiative this time too. Lemon Tree has five hotels dedicated to patients who are asymptomatic or have mild symptoms, Ginger has hotels functioning as hospitals in cities such as Bengaluru, Chennai, Pantnagar and Guwahati, the hospitality giant IHCL reportedly has 1,400 hotel rooms across the country running as quarantine centres for hospitals. 

In the national capital, well-known names such as Crowne Plaza Okhla Phase 1 Hotel, Hotel Park Inn by Radisson, and Hotel ITC Welcome and Vivanta (both Dwarka) are also functioning as extended COVID-19 care centres.

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Even though most hotels across the country are at the moment catering only to moderate or severe cases, with the trend catching on&mdashon the brighter side, it allows the overwhelmed healthcare the chance to focus on those who need immediate attention.