Going green for its silver year

GRT Hotels and Resorts will turn 25 early next year. And, to celebrate this iconic birthday, the group decided to do its part in cleaning our country’s beaches.

GRT Hotels and Resorts has made its mark in the hospitality industry over the years. Constant innovation and creativity has made guests from across the world feel welcome and safe at the many properties under the GRT banner.

Curated experiences, breathtaking locales and warm hospitality are just some of the ways in which the group has carved out a nook in the hearts of travellers. Now, with its momentous silver jubilee approaching in March 2023, the GRT brand is shining a light on something becoming increasingly important in this today’s world — giving back.

A slew of initiatives are being planned leading upto the big birthday, and one extremely special step is the partnership with Born2Win Research Foundation. The foundation, which has been dedicated to creating a more sustainable future through various environment-friendly initiatives, started a cloth bag drive some years back.

Over the last few years, there has been increased awareness among the public to go plastic-free by switching to eco-friendly cloth bags. Born2Win has been extremely active in this space, convincing people to make the right choices for a greener, healthier planet.

Recently, the foundation took part in an International Coastal Clean-up Day (celebrated each year on the third Saturday of September) initiative to restore the beaches on the West coast. These beaches, falling in the states of Goa, Daman, Kerala, Mumbai and Karnataka, are among some of the most pristine in the country, and attract several tourists from across the world.

To make sure these precious ecosystems remain clean and healthy, volunteers from Born2Win got together on September 17 to spread a very important message — say no to plastic. This awareness drive was carried out at various Coast Guard Centres as well as at different locations in Chennai. Called the ‘carry your own cloth bag’ initiative, the motive was to educate people on how just a single cloth bag could curb the usage of 20 lakh plastic bags!

GRT Hotels donated a total of 15,000 cloth bags to Born2Win to carry out its good work. “A 20-year-old young man with zeal in his eyes walked into my office the other day and declared that he is on a mission to distribute one million cloth bags to save our coasts and seas from plastic covers. He was Jai Aswani from Born2Win. GRT Hotels has always been socially-inclined and involved with local communities, and since we are celebrating 25 years of GRT Hotels and Resorts soon, we pledged to make the first contribution of 15,000 bags,” said Vikram Cotah, CEO at GRT Hotels & Resorts.

He added that part of these bags were upcycled from bed sheets from 19 GRT properties. These bed sheets were then converted into bags by members of an NGO called Rehoboth Foundation that works towards the upliftment of economically-backward women and their children. You can find these bags at beaches in Goa, Mangaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Daman. Recently, actor, model and fitness enthusiast Milind Soman was seen getting behind the mission. He proudly held up a cloth bag after a running event in Bengaluru.

The words ‘25 Years’ can be seen printed in bold red on these cloth bags. However, what makes this upcoming celebration truly stand out are the values the GRT family is carrying with it as it makes strides into a bright and more sustainable future.