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Hotel chains open hiring doors to all

Aashin Moitra is joining The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group as the general manager of Kitty Su, its chain of nightclubs across locations such as Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chandigarh. Prior to her transition as a transwoman, Moitra, in her previous identity, had worked with the chain as director of sales and marketing in Mumbai.

"I am coming back to the group because I wanted to be with a company that understands what I bring to the table," said Moitra.

From launching an all-women's run hotel, to operating cafes run by acid attack survivors and roping in DJs and other staff that is neuro divergent or differently abled, listed as well as private hotel chains are pushing the pedal on equity and inclusion.

"A lot of people define equity as adding more women to the workplace. That's basic for us. 50% of our senior leadership comprises of women. The communities we want to represent such as the LGBT community, the neuro divergent community and acid attack warriors form a big part of our workforce," said Keshav Suri, executive director at The Lalit Suri Hospitality Group.

Chalet Hotels launched the country's first all-women run hotel, the 168 keys Westin Hyderabad HITEC City last year and MD and CEO Sanjay Sethi said the feedback has been 'very positive'.

"A few years back, our equity ratios were 13%, and the industry was at 11%. We have now moved to 22%," he said. "We worked with various organisations to see what has been the cause of success when it comes to equity improvement. This includes women as well as those from the LGBT community besides differently abled employees and those from economically weaker backgrounds," he added.

Arif Khan, regional VP, HR for India and Southwest Asia at Hyatt India Consultancy, said in India, it has tied up with local NGOs to support its differently abled and LGBTQIA+ colleagues.

Sabu Raghavan, VP, HR-India at Hilton, said in 2023 it hired over 40 employees under its DEI agenda.

 

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Source: The Economic Times