Shimla locals can now enjoy the food of the premier Hotel Holiday Home (HHH) run by Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC sitting at home.
In a first, the HPTDC proposes to tie up with Zomato for home delivery of HHH food in the state capital and people can order the food online.
“We will place the proposal before the Board of Directors for approval. We wish to do this as a pilot project in Shimla and based on the success, we can take the concept to other towns in HP, which have HPTDC hotels,” said Rajiv Kumar, Managing Director of HPTDC.
The HPTDC is currently in the midst of working out ways to improve its financial health. And the pilot project on the Home Delivery of food from HHH is being seen as the beginning of steps to boost income.
HHH is located in the heart of Shimla City. The HHH cuisine, which ranges from Indian, continental to local delicacies, is quite delicious and the home delivery service through Zomato will certainly popularize it further.
“The bakery at HHH is also very good. But we can’t reach Holiday Home every time we need cakes or biscuits. We have to look for others, which are nearby or those who have a system of home delivery of cakes. The Home Delivery from HHH is a wonderful idea and it would certainly equip us with the choice of HHH food as well as bakery,” said some locals.
Formed in 1972, the HPTDC has been a pioneer in the development of tourism infrastructure in Himachal. It provides a complete package of tourism services, including accommodation, catering, transport and conferencing, having the largest chain of 56 hotels and 1111 rooms in the state.
HPTDC also runs 64 restaurants and cafes, serving a varied cuisine including Himachali delicacies. All the properties have been located in the lap of nature.
However, there have been gaps in maintenance, services and the visibility of HPTDC hotels over the years because of which it lagged financially.
Recently, the state government had constituted a special one-man committee comprising retired IAS officer Tarun Shridhar to suggest measures to enhance the income of HPTDC. MD, HPTDC, Rajiv Kumar is the Secretary of the Committee.
Over the last two days, the Committee has been meeting different stakeholders in Shimla to get feedback and suggestions as to how to go about improving the financial health of the Tourism Development Corporation.
“I have met several people in Shimla to have first-hand information and suggestions and will be visiting some other places in HP also for feedback from the ground in this regard,” said Tarun Shridhar.
The Committee, which has already reached out to the public for suggestions on their website, has been asked to recommend concrete measures in six months time.
Some of the suggestions that came before the Committee to improve the financial health of HPTDC are aggressive marketing and branding so that the HPTDC hotels are visible on the internet, roping in travel agents and event managers for bigger bookings and flexibility in rates as per season and location to match the competition by private hotels.
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