The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and hospitality firm OYO have said that they have joined hands to develop and design an online training and certification course specifically for the hospitality industry.

‘The course will focus on redesigning the sanitisation protocols and minimising person-to-person contact for a hotel in line with the standard operating procedures announced by the tourism ministry,’ according to a joint statement.

The course will help budget, mid-segment and boutique hotels and homestays in India as well as hospitality professionals to maintain and improve their safety and hygiene standards in line with government and industry benchmarks, it added.

OYO Hotels and Homes founder and Group CEO Ritesh Agarwal said, ‘The certification course will enable hospitality professionals and hotels across the country to determine new ways of working, understand government guidelines and align with best practices and re-imagine operations in a manner that helps both customers and employees feel safe, secure and comfortable.’ FICCI will enable and support the implementation of information technology (IT) infrastructure and the online delivery platform for the online certification course, the statement said. OYO has developed and designed the course materials for the programme, it added.

‘This course has been designed to help develop a uniform set of self-regulating guidelines,’ FICCI Secretary General Dilip Chenoy said. It also aims to create supporting mechanisms and frameworks for our industry so that they can benefit from systematic guidelines and sanitation protocols in the post-coronavirus world, he added.

Union Minister of State for Tourism and Culture Prahlad Singh Patel said, ‘We welcome the initiative of FICCI and OYO to harness technology to develop a certification course that can provide guidance…in maintaining high standards of hygiene, sanitation and operational effectiveness.’