Joshimath crisis highlights: Malari Inn hotel to be demolished today

Joshimath highlights: Joshimath, home to over 25,000 people, is an overnight halt for those visiting Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib, and other places. This has resulted in mushrooming of hotels and resorts in the area - a factor experts blame for the heaviest land subsidence reported there to till date.

Authorities will begin the demolition work of the hotels and houses in the Uttarakhand town - of Joshimath on Tuesday, which has developed cracks in the wake of the landslide and subsidence. Hotels Malari Inn and Mount View, which have developed more cracks, will be demolished, officials said. 

The demolition work will be supervised by the Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) fielded to assist the local administration.

Joshimath, home to a population of more than 25,000 people, is an overnight halt for those visiting the shrines at Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib and other tourist destinations, which has resulted in mushrooming of too many hotels and resorts in the area - a factor which the experts blame for the heaviest land subsidence reported in the town till date. According to state government officials, there are around 3,800 residential structures and 400 commercial buildings in the town.

The evacuation bid comes even as the Uttarakhand government is working on a plan to rehabilitate the affected locals gripped with panic and fear and staring at an uncertain future.

Meanwhile, the District Disaster Management Authority, Chamoli issued a bulletin in view of landslides in the Joshimath area. The bulletin said that cracks have been noticed in a total of 678 buildings in the town and in view of security, about 81 families have been temporarily displaced from the region.

Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre supports Ashray Akruti

Hyderabad: December: Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre (NHCC) as a part of their corporate social responsibility program has contributed INR. 5.5 Lakhs to Ashray Akruti for the upliftment of underprivileged women in collaboration with Lions Club of Hyderabad Jubilee Hills who contributed an additional 1.5 Lakhs making a total contribution of INR 7 Lakhs. The funds will be utilised to create an ecosystem for hearing-impaired people and their families. The cheque was presented by Mr. Madhusudan Rao, Business Head & CFO Emaar Properties (PJSC Dubai) to the representatives of Ashray Akruti.

Cyberabad Convention Centre Pvt. Ltd. the owning company of Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre is committed to positively contributing to the society and communities in the state of Telangana. This project undertaken & driven on the ground by Ashray Akruti will be focused on people with disabilities with a focus on children with hearing loss. In order to address the challenges faced by women from underprivileged families, Ashray Akruti is training them to work as sign language interpreters between hearing impaired and hearing communities. This will provide a huge impetus to the disability sector and give employable skills to women who want to fill the communication gaps for hearing-impaired people.

Novotel Hyderabad Convention Centre is committed to improving our society and providing support to underprivileged women. We have collaborated with Lions Club Hyderabad Jubilee Hills to join hands with Ashray Akruti for the Women Empowerment Project using Sign Language and Technology. Our goal is to create awareness of sustainable development by engaging our employees, guests, and partners to contribute actively to society.”

PRIDE HOTEL GROUP SIGNS ‘PRIDE HOTEL GREATER NOIDA’

Pride Hotel Group has announced the signing of "Pride Hotel Greater Noida". The hotel, prominently situated 30 kilometers to the southeast of the nation's capital, New Delhi, is easily accessible to places of business, leisure, educational institutions, hospitals, and entertainment venues. It will feature 80 guest rooms, an 8000 sq ft banqueting space, a 24-hour coffee shop, a gym, and a patisserie shop. The hotel will also boast of a rooftop pool with a restaurant and bar. It is expected to welcome guests by mid-2023.

 Announcing the signing, Atul Upadhyay, Senior Vice President, of Pride Hotel Group said, “Greater Noida is a bustling commercial destination that hosts leading technology companies, manufacturers, and corporate establishments. It has transformed itself into a major economic corridor that witnesses a steady inflow of business travelers from across the globe. However, there is an acute shortage of upscale hotel brands to cater to the demands of the customers. Our group has serviced to more than 53 global national citizens since 1987. We are delighted to bridge this gap with the signing of "Pride Hotel Greater Noida” which will predominantly appeal to corporate travelers to the region”.

 “We are thrilled to further scale up operations in North India with the signing of "Pride Hotel Greater Noida” in the New Capital Region (NCR). Once operational, the new hotel will ensure optimum business traveler comfort with its strategic location, imposing décor, delectable food options, banqueting, and host of hospitality services. Pride Hotel Group is a trusted brand since 36 years. We look forward to serving the large slice of domestic and international travelers alike here and continue to expand our footprints across prominent destinations in the region.” said Shoeb Mohammad, AVP North India, Pride Hotel Group.

 Pride Hotel Group has a presence in around 51 great locations with 5,075 rooms, 102 restaurants, 134 banquets, lawns, and conference halls. Currently, Pride Hotels Ltd operates and manages a chain of hotels under the brand name “Pride Plaza Hotel” an Indian Luxury Collection, “Pride Hotel” which are conveniently centrally located business hotels, “Pride Resorts” at mesmerizing destinations, Mid-Market segment hotels for every business “Pride Biznotels” and a fresh concept of Premium luxury serviced apartment stays “Pride Suites”. Current locations are New Delhi, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nagpur, Bangalore, Chennai, Goa, Jaipur, Indore, Ranakpur, Udaipur, Bharatpur, Mussoorie, Puri, Gangtok, Anand, Alkapuri, Manjusar (Vadodara), Sasan Gir, Somnath, Bhopal and Haldwani. Upcoming locations are Rishikesh, Agra, Nainital, Jim Corbett, Jabalpur, Bhopal, Daman, Aatapi, Haldwani, Surendranagar, Dwaraka, Bhavnagar, Bharuch, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Neemrana, Mysore, Gurugram, Rajkot, Aurangabad, Halol, Lucknow, Varanasi, Rudraprayag, Kanpur, Bangalore and Greater Noida among others.

RAS AL KHAIMAH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MAKES WAVES AT THE 2022 INDIA ROADSHOW

RAS AL KHAIMAH TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY MAKES WAVES AT THE 2022 INDIA ROADSHOW

New Delhi, 11 April 2022: Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, representing the Northern Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, held a 2-city roadshow in India. The 4-day networking event in Delhi and Mumbai received an overwhelming response with over 400 travel trade, MICE, wedding specialists and leading media. The 2022 Roadshow successfully showcased key highlights and upcoming tourism developments in Ras Al Khaimah that will help facilitate additional traveller demand from India.

The event kicked off in New Delhi on April 4th followed by Mumbai on April 7th where the tourism authority delegation, led by Iyad Rasbey, Executive Director, Destination Tourism Development at Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority, met business partners and media.

Commenting on this year’s roadshow, Iyad Rasbey said “It was great to reconnect with our travel partners in India since the start of the pandemic. India is a very viable and highly valued travel market; last year alone it was the third largest international source market for Ras Al Khaimah, welcoming over 30,000 visitors. This is considerable given that the Indian market was largely closed or restricted last year. We aim to increase this and go back to pre-pandemic tourism numbers through promotional activities geared towards leisure travellers and incentives targeting MICE, destination weddings and other celebrations.”

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority announced a tourism strategy that will see the destination become the regional leader in sustainable tourism by 2025. It maps out key steps for the Emirate to secure long-term sustainability that will drive overall tourism growth objectives and contribute directly to national and international climate change and environmental policy commitments. An investment of USD $134 million is geared towards 20 sustainable tourism developments across the Emirate especially on Jebel Jais where our projects have been designed to not just protect the mountain ecosystem, but to enhance it. By creating attractions that preserve the Emirate’s culture and local communities, guests will be able to enjoy authentic experiences that will see them leaving a positive impact in Ras Al Khaimah when visiting.

On new and upcoming destination attractions in 2022, the Jais Sledder, the region’s longest toboggan ride were highlighted amongst a line-up of upcoming enhancements on Jebel Jais like the Jais Wings (paragliding) and Jais Mountain eco-golf. New sustainable accommodation includes Earth Altitude, an eco-based pop-up hotel concept and Cloud7 Camp Jebel Jais, the ultimate sustainable glamping experience. In addition, a brand-new tethered hot air ballooning experience in Manar mall, RAK airventure, which will offer panoramic views of the city above the beautiful mangroves and a Scallop Ranch at Al Hamra Marine will offer oyster/scallop diving, live cooking, family and kids’ experiences, and cultural activations.

Expanding the destination’s portfolio of world-class hotels, the Emirate recently welcomed the opening of InterContinental Mina Al Arab with 351 rooms, the largest Hampton by Hilton globally, with more than 500 rooms and Radisson Al Marjan Island with 388 rooms. Operated by global hospitality brands, a series of new hotels and resorts will be launched across the Emirate over the next three years including Marriott, Movenpick, Anantara, Sofitel and Conrad, adding 3,525 keys to the current 7,720 keys in Ras Al Khaimah.

About Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA)

The Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) was established in May 2011 under the government of Ras Al Khaimah. RAKTDA aims to develop the Emirate’s tourism infrastructure and establish Ras Al Khaimah as a world-class destination for leisure and business travel, creating sustainable investment opportunities and enhancing the quality of life for its residents. In order to achieve its goals, the Authority has a government mandate to license, regulate and monitor the Emirate’s tourism and hospitality industry.

Visit Maldives | MMPRC BEGINS A DESTINATION ONLINE TRAINING TARGETING THE INDIAN MARKET

MMPRC (Visit Maldives) begins an Destination Online Training targeting the Indian Market with 2HUB. The program will be conducted from 16th February to 16th May 2022.

2HUB is an online B2B reseller platform that aggregates Asia's largest portfolio of travel experiences for Travel Agents to discover, compare and book tours around the world with offerings of 40,000+ tours in 60+ countries.

For the Destination Online Training conducted with MMPRC, 2HUB will create a dedicated online platform to provide the latest and up-to-date information about Maldives’ tourism sector to travel trade professionals working in the Indian market. The information related to the destination will be available for the members of 2HUB, including tour operators and travel agents, by logging in to the website. This e-learning platform is flexible and allows members to join in at any time, anywhere, to know more about Maldives and what it has to offer to tourists.

Through this program MMPRC aims to familiarize travel trade professionals working in the Indian market with the latest information on measures taken in our resorts, hotels, guesthouses and liveaboards, and the unique experiences available in Maldives for travellers from this market. This is a great platform to market the destination as a safe haven, promote the unique geographical formation of the scattered islands which allow natural social distancing for travelers.

Over 500 travel partners from India are expected to participate in the program during the three months of the campaign. These travel trade partners interact directly with 120,000+ high potential travelers, thus the campaign opens the opportunity to boost bookings and arrivals from this market to the Maldives. This campaign will help reinforce India as the fastest growing source market for the Maldives.

The Destination Online Training is conducted in line with the marketing strategy for the Indian market to strengthen Maldives brand in this region and create greater appeal to the travelers. It focuses on creating awareness about the activities that can be enjoyed by luxury travelers from India, including those traveling for romantic, honeymoon, family vacations as well as business purposes for MICE activities and events.

India is the top source market to the Maldives during 2021. 13,947 travellers arrived from India in 2022 so far. This places India as the 3rd largest market to Maldives tourism, with a market share of 8.1%. India was the largest market in 2021 with over 278,740 travellers and a market share of 22.6%. Similarly, India was the largest market in 2020 with an arrival figure of 62,960 and a market share of 11.3%. MMPRC has been participating in fairs and exhibitions and holding several activities for this market in order to maintain destination momentum and further increase arrivals from this market. This includes virtual and in-person activities such as major marketing campaigns with stakeholders, webinars, roadshows and familiarization trips

Want to work in maldives

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Marriott International presents Mood Diets 2.0 – inspired by the vivid flavours of veganism

Marriott International presents Mood Diets 2.0 – inspired by the vivid flavours of veganism 

To crowdsource recipes via a contest to be held across 15 cities

10th December 2021: Committed to serving innovative and scrumptious delicacies across its properties, earlier this year Marriott International introduced the ‘Mood Diets’ menu which was designed to meet the nutrient requirements of guests while simultaneously meeting the unconscious food cravings that emerge from fluctuating temperaments. Keeping the momentum alive, Marriott International is taking it a notch higher with the introduction of Mood Diets 2.0, with a vegan touch to all the dishes, curated from natural, plant-based dishes.

The new Mood Diet 2.0 menu will be co-created by crowdsourcing authentic recipes via a contest that will be hosted across 15 cities. The recipes will need to be vegan-based, simple and fuss free preparations using one or more of the 10 organic ingredients shortlisted by our master Chefs. The top 3 recipes will be featured in the upcoming Mood Diets 2.0 menu that will be introduced by the end of year. Participation is simple and easy, recipes to be mailed at Mbow@marriott.com along with the participants full name, location, and contact details. The ingredients and recipe format can be downloaded from here MoodDiets2.0 . The contest will run from the 1st -15th December.

Sharing her thoughts on this initiative, Khushnooma Kapadia, Senior Area Director of Marketing - South Asia, Marriott International said, “Our first installment of ‘Mood Diets’ as part of our delivery platform Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels was very well received and was hugely successful across most of our hotels. Given the positive feedback we got from our guests we decided to introduce Mood Diets 2.0 with more changes and innovations. With sustainability becoming an integral part of our lifestyle choices and a significant priority for us as an organization, the intent was to create a newly minted diet that is uplifting and engages in creating the right kind of mood setting for our customers. Mood Diets 2.0 showcases not only the culinary expertise of our chefs, but it also reinforces our commitment to keep providing guests & patrons with unique & innovative f&b offerings”.

Commenting on the crowdsourced menu design, Himanshu Taneja, Culinary Director – South Asia, Marriott International said, “Every ingredient has a unique flavour, most of which may still be undiscovered. With this initiative we want to engage with the larger community, encouraging them to share authentic recipes with their own local touch. We are confident the added filter of sustainability will get foodies and home-grown chefs interested & excited, to try something new and creative. Overall research also shows a sustainable diet improves moods and productivity levels, making it an obvious choice for the Mood Diets menu”.

Mood Diets 2.0 will be rolled-out across 21 Marriott International hotels including - Renaissance Mumbai, JW Marriott Pune, JW Marriott Kolkata , Westin Pune ,Marriott Indore, Aloft Aerocity New Delhi, Marriott Kochi, JW Marriott Bengaluru, Sheraton Grand Whitefield Bengaluru, Sheraton Grand Brigade Bengaluru, Renaissance Bengaluru, JW Marriott Chandigarh, Courtyard by Marriott Amritsar, Courtyard by Marriott Raipur, The Westin Chennai, The Westin Goa, Le Meridien Nagpur, Sheraton Hyderabad, JW Marriott Bengaluru, JW Marriott Mussoorie , Courtyard by Marriott Agra and Courtyard by Marriott Hebbal.

About Marriott International:

Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is based in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and encompasses a portfolio of roughly 7,900 properties under 30 leading brands spanning 138 countries and territories. Marriott operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts all around the world. The company offers Marriott Bonvoy®, its highly awarded travel program. For more information, please visit our website at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com. In addition, connect with us on Facebook and @MarriottIntl on Twitter and Instagram.About Marriott Hotels  

About The Westin, Pune:

The Westin Pune Koregaon Park is a 5-star haven of wellness and renewal. Experience effortless relaxation in tastefully designed hotel rooms and suites with signature comforts, sleek marble bathrooms and inspiring views. Thrill your senses at five on-site dining options, including a chic bar and nightclub. Refresh in the sparkling waters of our outdoor pool, and exhilarate your body in our well-equipped fitness centre with cardio equipment and free weights. After a full day of work, shopping or sightseeing, invigorate your mind and body with massage, beauty and wellness therapies at our Heavenly Spa by Westin. Replenish your well-being at The Westin Pune Koregaon Park.

NEWS | At less than 45%, home deliveries drop as Puneites return to eating out

With restaurants having either been shut or facing strict restrictions for dining during the pandemic, many people had shifted to ordering food home. Home delivery of food had skyrocketed in the last one-and-a-half years, with awhopping 80 percent of income for restaurants coming from delivery orders.

However, with restaurants reopening for dining in, and the extension in deadlines that followed, there’s been a sudden drop in-home deliveries. The city’s food delivery services have have seen orders go down to below 45 percent as people return to dine at their favorite restaurants.

Dining out > Ordering in
Highlighting the reason behind this drop, Saksham Kathuria, the owner of Tales & Spirits bistro chain, says, “People are tired of sitting at home and ordering food. They want to experience live music, good service, and hot food. And for restaurateurs, it is good to see people dining in after a long time.”

Seconding the thought, Ashutosh Joshi of Unicorn House, Kalyaninagar, says, “There’s been a 40 percent dip in online orders over the last couple of weeks. People are looking to step out and socialize, all the while following safety protocols. The relaxation in norms has given them that freedom. Ordering in was a good option when dine-in was restricted. But now, people want to enjoy good food and a good ambiance. Naturally, there’s been a decline in home deliveries.”

Worrying times for delivery agents?
The sudden drop in orders is a cause of concern for delivery agents. They fear if this continues, they may face financial challenges. Santosh Hedao, a delivery agent, says, “I was delivering 30 orders in a day when the restrictions were in place in the city. Today, I only have 5 to 8 orders, 10 if it’s a lucky day. A drop in orders can mean that delivery agents like us may have to bear the brunt of it financially.” Another delivery agent, Nilesh Pitambar Kadam, shares, “Until about a week ago, I used to deliver about 20 parcels in a day. Now, the orders coming on the app have been reduced to only 8-9. It is concerning.”