This is the era of consumerism where packaging is accorded more importance that the stuff inside. Consumer, being the 'king', is always pampered with 'more'.

With this being the reality, imagine a top class hotel in tier II city Mysore. A palace turned into hotel, with spacious rooms, tongue-tickling food, friendly staff and lots of greenery around. But, the hotel has a list of no's as well. There is no generator, no air conditioning, no washing machine and absolutely no televisions in the rooms. A firm 'sorry' after 10.30 pm for late night customers, though it means a loss of a large customer base which is into 'night life'.

Run by a board of directors, the hotel has been a hit with both travellers and localites alike. And, all proceeds from the hotel go to various charitable organisations in the country.

Built on the model of sustainable and eco-friendly tourism, the hotel was set up by Mrs Hilary Blume of Charities Advisory Trust. Stan and Mari Marcel Thekaekkera, board members of the hotel, run their own social service organisation in the neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

“The hotel stands for values rather than sheer business. It is not an easy decision to give less when the whole world is giving more to customers. We do face pressure, but have resisted it so far,” says Stan with pride.

The hotel seems to be a pack of amazing facts. The service staff do not flaunt fancy degrees from hotel management institutes. But, are equally or better polished and friendlier. In fact, some of them do not even have the basic SSLC for their credit.

They belong to some of the socially and economically marginalised communities and were recruited by a local NGO named Rural Literacy Health Programme. When the whole world is combating attrition, the hotel, because of its employee-friendly policies, has so far lost only five employees since its inception.

“Our staff didn't know English. We observed that some university students regularly visited us and sat for long hours discussing things. We sought their help in teaching functional English to our staff members and it worked well,” says a member.

Generating jobs and making them a part of the system of the hotel has been a practice of sorts. “Our gardener has been pestering us to buy a lawn mower. Instead of buying him one, we have asked him to get someone to do the job so that one person gets an income and our requirement is met. We still rely on dhobhis to do the laundry for all our guests instead of buying a washing machine. Accountability is high among our staff members,” reiterates Stan.

The hotel is decorated with gaddis, wooden furniture, wall hangings, murals, paintings and terracotta items. All these, including the crockery, is sourced from local artisans.

If you may recall, there is a dark history to the building housing the hotel. The building, which was known as Premier Studio earlier, witnessed a major fire accident during the shooting of Sanjay Khan's 'The Sword of Tipu Sultan', that claimed the lives of many.

Though the hotel seems to have made through the test of time so far, there seems to be a bit of anxiety about 'commercialisation' and the sudden boom in the real estate market. Will it be smooth sailing from this point or will consumerism catch up with the hotel built on policies rather than marketing strategies? Well, only time can tell.

The hotel...

Located on Mysore-Hunsur road, the Chittaranjan Palace that was built in 1902 for Mysore's princesses, was restored as a small hotel in 1994. With extensive gardens, formal lawns, shaded pergolas and fringed by majestic trees, the hotel is an oasis of calm.

The hotel has won first prizes time and again in the Mysore Horticultural Society's best garden competition. It has also received an award from the British Guild of Travel Writers’ Tourism Project. The hotel has also been selected as one of the ‘World's Best Ideas’ by the Institute of Social Inventions, London. All profits from the hotel are donated to charitable and environmental projects in India.

Set up b’coz...

The Green Hotel has been set up as a model of sustainable tourism:

*to preserve a historic building.

*to incorporate, wherever possible, energy saving and environmentally aware practices.

*to use Indian craft items in furnishing, equipment and restoration.

*to be a good employer, offering equal and fair opportunities to all.

*to train staff and develop their potential.

*to provide visitors with the opportunity to enjoy traditional hospitality rather than modern day uniformity.