Lemon Tree Hotels Receives the NCPEDP MphasiS Universal Design Award

Online, September 1, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Lemon Tree Hotels, India's first and finest chain of upscale hotels and resorts has been bestowed with the prestigious - NCPEDP MphasiS Universal Design Award - which recognises and acknowledge organizations who are playing a pivotal role in making life more accessible for people with disabilities. Every Lemon Tree hotel has a room for differently abled guests and the public areas are made easily accessible as well. Additionally, Lemon Tree Hotels employs over 100 employees with disabilities (EWDs) across its 14 properties and works closely with experts to arrive at comprehensive and innovative training modules that enable them to perform.

Speaking about the company's philosophy, Rahul Pandit, President & COO, Lemon Tree Hotels said, "The design concept for our hotels builds into it ways of providing easy access to guests with disabilities. We are happy to make all our guests comfortable in our hotels and take great pride in our infrastructure and facilities." Also on the employee front he says, "Comprehensive training and motivation instills self-confidence, self-reliance and a sense of pride amongst our EWDs and allows them to shape their careers. Lemon Tree Hotels intends to provide gainful employment to over 300 employees with disabilities i.e. 10% of our staff strength by 2013."

With a view to spreading awareness of Universal Design and popularising the concept, these awards are conferred under three categories: persons with disabilities, working professionals and companies/organisations. Across categories, the awards recognise innovative efforts that create an impact in the area of accessibility and Universal Design. It is expected that, in time, the awards will gain recognition and credibility and will also encourage more and more people to work in the field of promoting access and Universal Design.

Lemon Tree hotels was nominated in category C i.e. companies/organisations that have implemented features/facilities within their organisations, which has led to them recruiting and/or serving people with disabilities and providing them equal opportunities to participate to the best of their ability.

About Lemon Tree Hotels

Fresh, spirited and youthful, Lemon Tree Hotels are India's first, largest and finest chain of upscale business and leisure hotels - the perfect choice for today's discerning traveller looking for high quality accommodation at moderate prices.

Founded in September 2002 by Mr. Patu Keswani, the New Delhi based company is one of India's fastest growing hotel companies. Lemon Tree Hotels currently owns and operates 14 hotels in 11 cities aggregating over 1500 rooms with 1900 employees. 6 more hotels are currently under development. By December 2012, all ongoing projects will have over 2800 rooms and 3000 employees including Ahmedabad, Aurangabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Goa, Hyderabad, Indore, Kaushambi (East Delhi), Muhamma (Kerala), Mumbai, Pune and Shimla.

For more details please log on to lemontreehotels.com Lemon Tree Hotels.

Giving back to the community:

As part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) program, Lemon Tree Hotels prides itself on its commitment to provide employment to those who are differently abled. The company decided, in its early stages, to put into practice its belief and focused on providing equal employment opportunities to differently-abled people. All these differently-abled people are speech and hearing impaired.

Currently we have 100 differently-abled employees across our 14 properties i.e. 3.5% of our employee strength. We intend to increase this to 10% by 2012-2013 i.e. to about 300 employees.

All differently-abled employees are trained to perform at par with other employees. This enables them to not only take care of themselves but also to support their families.

Initially we had assigned our differently-abled employees to back-of-the-house areas such as Housekeeping, Kitchen and Laundry. However, this year we have moved some of them to the front-of-the-house areas and have put these employees through comprehensive guest contact training. They are now a seamless part of the front end team.

In order to achieve its commitment to support the differently-abled, Lemon Tree Hotels works closely with:
· The Deaf Way Foundation, New Delhi
· Vocational Rehabilitation Center of Handicapped, Ministry of Labour & Employment, Delhi
· Noida Deaf Society, Noida
· Sanjay School for Handicapped, Goa
· Nirmalya Trust, Pune
· Indore Deaf Friendship Club
· Ahmedabad Blind People Association
· Institute of Deaf & Dumb, Chennai & Chengalpattu
· Enable India, Bengaluru

Awards and Citations

· Ranked 69th, in the 2011 study of 100 Best Companies to Work For by the Great Place to Work Institute & the Economic Times
· SATTE 2010, Hotelier for 'Best Mid Market Developer'
· The NCPEDP (National Center for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People) - Shell Helen Keller Award, 2010 for exemplary beliefs and practices in employing differently enabled people
· FHRAI (The Federation of Hotels and Restaurant Associations of India) Hall of Fame Award, 2010
· Lemon Tree Hotel, Hinjawadi: Winner of TripAdvisor's Traveler's Choice 2010 Awards: Top 10 in Service among 8000 Indian hotels
· 7 Lemon Tree Hotels have been awarded TripAdvisor's Certificate of Excellence
· 4 Lemon Tree Hotels are Expedia Insider's Select Hotels (top 1% of 114,000 hotels globally, of which only 11 hotels were selected in India)
· Republic of Noodles, Goa: Winner of the Times Food Award in the category of 'Best Pan Asian Restaurant in North Goa' for the year 2010 and 2011

The NCPEDP - MphasiS Universal Design Awards

Conservative estimates put the population of disabled people in India at 70 million. Only a miniscule percentage of this population can be seen in the mainstream. The core reason for this is the basic lack of access. Accessibility not only means access to physical spaces but also means access to information, technology, transport, services, aids and appliances, etc.

Access, therefore, is an issue that cuts across disabilities and sectors and forms the very basis of empowerment of disabled people. A concept that is intrinsic to any kind of access is 'Universal Design', which means a design that is usable to the greatest extent possible by everyone, regardless of age, ability or situation.

With a view to spreading awareness of Universal Design and popularising the concept, these awards will be conferred under three categories: persons with disabilities, working professionals and companies/organisations. Across categories, the awards will recognise innovative efforts that create an impact in the area of accessibility and Universal Design. It is expected that, in time, the awards will gain recognition and credibility as also encourage more and more people to work in the field of promoting access and Universal Design.

Access symbolises the true spirit of freedom as far as persons with disabilities are concerned. These awards are therefore given away on August 14, the eve of our Independence Day. Never before has one award meant so much to so many people.