Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels delivers healthy meals to Covid warriors across six Indian cities

Hospitality chain Marriott International is on a mission to provide nutritious meals to frontline workers and recovering Covid patients. The hospitality chain’s delivery platform Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels will helm the initiative of giving over 15,000 meals to 23 hospitals and Covid centres across six cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Pune and Goa until June 6.

These special vegetarian meals are cooked in the kitchens of St. Regis Mumbai, Westin Mumbai, JW Marriott New Delhi, JW Marriott Kolkata, The Ritz-Carlton Bangalore, Westin Pune, Westin Goa and Marriott Goa.

LuxeBook talks to Khushnooma Kapadia – Sr. Area Director, South Asia, Marriott International, about this important CSR activity.

Why did Marriott International start this initiative and why now?
COVID-19 has had a greater impact on our business than any previous economic downturn or calamity. The need of the hour is for every organization that has benefited from the economic buoyancy to come forward and serve the community. The ‘spirit to serve’ is Marriott International’s core value that we integrate through our sustainability and social impact platform – Serve 360: Doing Good in Every Direction.

Who will these special meals be delivered to?
‘Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels’ is our food delivery platform operating across all our hotels. We will be engineering a food truck to deliver pre-packed meals across Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Goa and Pune, providing 15,000+ meals to the frontline warriors and medical professionals.

The meals are prepared with all health requirements in mind, to ensure the food’s freshness and nutritional value.

How does an outreach programme such as this help the brand and the community?
These are extremely extenuating times for all of us. There has been a tremendous drive to ensure that we pool in all our resources to provide relief to those who are working tirelessly to fight this crisis.

We are a strong community of 125 hotels in India with some extraordinary culinary talents who can curate healthy meals for our frontline workers. The entire activity is a simple gesture by Marriott to lend some respite through our specially packed food boxes.

Is Marriott International planning other Covid initiatives?
We continually strive to support the communities we serve, in whatever way possible. To that effect, Marriott International also made a donation to UNICEF and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to support their critical work. We have also made it possible for Marriott Bonvoy members to donate points in support of these organizations.

How are the Indian hotels faring currently?
With continued lockdowns in major parts of the country and travel restrictions levied, we see a slower pace of recovery. Home delivery of our F&B offerings remains our focus to cater to our guests. We’re trying our best to continue to evolve Marriott Bonvoy on Wheels and introduce specially curated menus to our patrons in the hope to go to them when they cannot come to us.

What is the hope for Indian hotels in the coming months?
Because travelling is compromised in a huge way, the hospitality sector continues to find itself in a crippling state. However, our industry is also known for its tremendous resilience and ability to bounce back. We are hopeful of the pace of recovery. In future, when travel norms are lifted, a lot of pent up demand will unleash for resorts and the domestic leisure travel segment in general.

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