Launched in 1975, ITC Hotels, India's premier chain of luxury hotels, has become synonymous with Indian hospitality. ITC Hotels pioneered the concept of 'Responsible Luxury' in the hospitality industry, drawing on the strengths of the ITC groups exemplary sustainability practices. Responsible Luxury personifies an ethos that integrates world-class green practices with contemporary design elements to deliver the best of luxury in the greenest possible manner.
The Responsible Luxury commitment of ITC Hotels blends elements of nature to deliver a unique value proposition to guests, conscious of their responsibility to be planet positive. Today, these unique interventions have made ITC Hotels the greenest luxury hotel chain in the world with all its ten premium luxury hotels LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certified.
With over 90 hotels in 67 destinations, ITC Hotels has set new standards of excellence in the hotel industry in Accommodation, Cuisine, Environment and Guest Safety.
ITC Hotels properties are classified under four distinct brands:
ITC Hotels has an exclusive tie-up with Starwood Hotels & Resorts in bringing its premium brand, the 'Luxury Collection', to India. ITC Hotels - Luxury Collection are super deluxe and premium hotels located at strategic business and leisure locations. The ten hotels which are part of this collection are: ITC Grand Chola in Chennai, ITC Maurya in Delhi, ITC Maratha in Mumbai, ITC Sonar in Kolkata, ITC Grand Central in Mumbai, ITC Windsor & ITC Gardenia in Bengaluru, ITC Kakatiya in Hyderabad and ITC Mughal in Agra and ITC Rajputana in Jaipur.
WelcomHotels offer five-star hospitality for the discerning business and leisure traveller. Currently there are three hotels under this brand namely, WelcomHotel Rama International Aurangabad, WelcomHotel Vadodara and WelcomHotel Grand Bay Vishakhapatnam. Two other WelcomHotel Sheratons - Sheraton Park Hotel and Towers, Chennai and Sheraton New Delhi offer warm, comforting services to the global traveller and a chance to connect.
Fortune Hotels operates mid-market to upscale properties in the first-class, full-service business hotel segment all over India, in major metros, mini metros, state capitals and business towns, promising business and leisure travelers a wide choice of destinations and accommodation.
WelcomHeritage brings together a chain of palaces, forts, havelis and resorts that offer a unique experience. WelcomHeritage endeavours to preserve ancient royal homes and the historical Indian grandeur and opulence for the future Indian generations. WelcomHeritage provides a fine range of hotel services inside these architectural legacies present across India.
ITC Hotels has set standards for excellence in the hotel industry by pioneering the concept of branded accommodation. The chain has developed three brands of accommodation ITC One', 'Towers' and the 'Executive Club' to differentiate between the needs of various travellers and provide the highest levels of service.
ITC Hotels is one of the first to introduce branded cuisine WelcomCuisine - in India. The Bukhara and Peshawri restaurants give epicures the rugged, outdoor cuisine of the Northwest Frontier Province. Dakshin has brought together the highly evolved cuisines of the four southern states- Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Dum Pukht is a unique restaurant dedicated to a 200-year old culinary tradition of slow cooking food, in sealed deghs. The fragrance of the meal becomes an invitation befitting royalty. Today the connoisseur can savour these delicacies across the country. The sumptuous fare at Kebabs and Kurries comprises a mouth-watering array of kebabs and a wide range of dishes from all over India. These dishes can be categorised as Quarmas, Qaliyas or Salans.
Rated high by food connoisseurs all over the world, ITC Hotels takes exceptional pride in showcasing its internationally renowned cuisine. West View brings a careful selection of western cuisine s from the remote France chateaux, grill houses on the East and West coasts of America, rosy kitchens of English manors, leisurely Mediterranean villas and bustling German marketplaces. The Pan Asian serves specialties from China, Thailand, Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Kaya Kalp Spa
Kaya Kalp (meaning rejuvenation of mind, body and soul in Sanskrit) spas are class apart for those who seek to combine luxury with an exclusive and enriching experience that uplifts the mind, body and soul. Kaya Kalp Spas offer indigenous and well-known therapies from across the world, to deliver a memorable spa experience. The Kaya Kalp Spa experience is available at all the ITC Luxury Collection Hotels.
ITC Green Centre
The ITC Green Centre in Gurgaon, the headquarters of ITC's Hotels Business is the physical expression of this commitment to sustainability - Ecological, Social and Economic. This building is one of the world's largest green buildings with space of over 170,000 square feet. The ITC Green Centre which was earlier declared the largest LEED Platinum rated office space in the world in 2004, was re-certified in 2012 as the worlds highest rated green building with Platinum certification by the US Green Building Council.
ITC Hotels - Empowering Differently-abled people
ITC Hotels has established that if provided with an opportunity to work and become self-sufficient, people who are differently-abled can significantly contribute to the workplace, families and the community. ITC Hotels has taken a positive step in this direction by employing people who are differently-abled across its hotels. ITC Hotels believes that everyone should be treated with sensitivity and empathy. The models it has created have been effective and have succeeded in sensitising other employees to the needs of those differently-abled. Keeping in mind their specific skills, many differently abled have been employed in diverse functions like housekeeping, teleworking, bakery and as musicians. Special badges for the visually impaired, whistles for hearing impaired employees to communicate in an emergency and sign language classes for the staff to communicate with them are just a few examples of how ITC Hotels has created an atmosphere of sensitivity and caring.
ITC Hotels has also published a booklet aimed at sharing experiences with the rest of the corporate world and laying down a step-by-step guide to demystify the perceived complexities around employing persons with disabilities.
Please click on the following link to download the booklet:
|ITC Hotels Disability
Handbook for Industry
|Universal Design Guide
A Guide for Creating Accessible Building
Infrastructure for Persons with Disability
ITC Hotels' strategy of benchmarking against international standards has won its hotels many laurels.
- ITC Gardenia, Bengaluru is the first Indian Hotel and world's largest, to get the LEED Platinum rating - the highest green building certification globally.
- ITC Hotels was named the Best Premier Hotel Brand at the Galileo-Express TravelWorld Awards 2008 & 2006. ITC WelcomHeritage won the Best Heritage Hotel Brand award in 2006.
- ITC Maurya, New Delhi received the award for 'Best Luxury Hotel' at the Star Hospitality Awards 2007-08 and the NATIONAL TOURISM AWARD 2007 for 'Best Eco-Friendly Hotel' from Ministry of Tourism.
- WelcomHotel Sheraton New Delhi won the Golden peacock Award 2008 for Environment Management. It was also conferred the '6th Annual Greentech Safety Award' in the Service Sector for the year 2006.
- The NCPEDP-Shell Helen Keller Award 2008, 2007 and 2006 to ITC Hotels for the vision, policies and practices demonstrating the belief in equal rights and gainful employment for persons with disabilities.
- The National Tourism Award 2007-08 to ITC Grand Central, Mumbai for the best private public enterprise providing facilities for physically challenged guests at the hotel. WelcomHotel, Delhi won the same under the category - Best Eco-Friendly Hotel in 2004-05.
- The PATA Gold Award 2005 in the Corporate Environmental category for the WelcomEnviron initiatives of ITC Hotels.
- ITC Sonar, Kolkata has been declared as one of the best hotels in the world by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) in the April 2004 issue of its magazine 'Business & Travel'. ABTA also rated Dublin amongst the top 20 bars and Bukhara the best restaurant in Asia and the finest Indian restaurant in the world.
- ITC Maurya, New Delhi is the only hotel in India, to have won the British Safety Council's 'Sword of Honour' thrice.
- ITC Maurya, New Delhi is also India's first hotel to be accorded the ISO 14001 certification for its Environment Management Systems. Eight more ITC Hotels followed in quick succession: ITC Windsor, Bengaluru; ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad; ITC Mughal, Agra; ITC Rajputana, Jaipur; MyFortune, Chennai; Sheraton Park Hotel and Towers, Chennai, ITC Maratha, Mumbai and ITC Sonar, Kolkata.
- ITC Maurya won the Golden Peacock Innovation Management Award in 2008. It is the first hotel in India to be awarded the Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for 2001 by the World Environment Foundation. It won this award again in 2004.
- ITC Maurya has been awarded certificate for Excellence in Food Safety Standard from Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts in 2008.
- ITC Maratha at Mumbai was declared to be the Best Luxury Hotel of the Year 2002, by the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India.
- ITC Mughal at Agra was Asia's first winner of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture.
- ITC Mughal was conferred the Greentech Silver Award for safety and Environment in 2008.
- The prestigious 'Golden Fork Award', was also bestowed, by the International Food and Wine Writers Guild, to Bukhara and Dum Pukht restaurants at ITC Maurya.
- Bukhara at ITC Maurya in New Delhi has been declared the Best Indian Restaurant in the world by 'The Restaurant Magazine', UK. It has also been voted the Best Restaurant in Asia and is the only Indian restaurant to feature in the list of 50 Best Restaurants in the World for five years since 2002.
- ITC Maurya has won Awards for the Best North Indian (DumPukht) and the Best Whisky Bar (Golf Bar) in India. Icons of Whisky, the most prestigious Whisky Awards in the World was launched in India for the first time at ITC Maurya in the year 2008.
- Kaya Kalp - The Royal Spa at ITC Mughal Agra, launched in May 2008, has been rated the 'World's Best City Spa', by Tatler. It is the only winner from India in 2008 and finds a place, in the prestigious Tatler Spa Guide for 2008 - featuring 101 of the best spas of the world.
- ITC Maurya and ITC Mughal have both won the 'Green Hotelier Awards'.
- ITC Maurya has also won the International Hotels & Restaurants Association (IH & RA) environmental award twice.
- ITC Grand central received the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Association of India 'Environment Champion Hotel of the Year' in 2008. ITC Maurya won this award in 2002 and 1997 and ITC Mughal, Agra, in 2003.
- Fortune Hotels won the Hospitality India Award for the year 2008 in the category of the Best First Class Hotel Chain for the second time since 2006.
- Bay Island at Port Blair, Andaman, was presented 'The Tourism For Tomorrow' award by British Airways in 1993.
Links to Press Reports