Marriot International, a global hospitality major, signed an agreement with Zomato to expand its food delivery services. The merger, announced on Friday 12 June 2020 by Marriott International, will strengthen its home delivery service across India and provide it with outreach and exposure to reach thousands of new customers.

The partnership will start with 30 hotels in 12 cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Kochi, Mumbai, Pune, Raipur and Surat, Marriott International said in a statement. “The service will extend to more cities, as more hotels join the service provider”, the statement added.

The food delivery service of Marriott is known by the name ‘Marriott On Wheels.’ It has also branched out into providing corporate outdoor catering services and bento box meals. It will be featured separately on the Zomato app.

Each hotel has curated a customized ‘Marriott On Wheels’ menu that will comprise of its signature dishes and will be well suited for safe consumption and secure deliveries, as said by the food aggregator in a statement.

Some of the hotels listed on the platform are Aloft New Delhi Aerocity, Bengaluru Marriott Hotel Whitefield, Courtyard By Marriott Chennai, Courtyard By Marriot Gurugram Downtown, Courtyard By Marriott Pune Hinjewadi, Four Points By Sheraton Kochi Infopark, JW Marriott Hotel Chandigarh, JW Marriott Mumbai Juhu, Sheraton Grand Palace Indore, Renaissance Lucknow Hotel and The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat among others.

Neeraj Govil, Senior Vice-President, South Asia, Marriott International said, “Revolutionizing the way food delivery works and elevating the service elements, we have partnered with an established brand like Zomato. This will help us provide seamless end-to-end solutions that involve quality, (and) speed with all the necessary protocols followed.”

He further added, “We believe the partnership will take our food delivery service under the ‘Marriott On Wheels’ program to the next level as we see the country opening up slowly (after the lockdown).”

“We are happy to partner with Marriott International and feature ‘Marriott On Wheels’ on the Zomato app. As consumers look for new ways to indulge and celebrate special occasions in the ‘new normal’, we believe this partnership will be important in rendering premium food experiences,” added Mohit Sardana, Chief Operating Officer- Food Delivery, Zomato.

Zomato said that it will make only contactless deliveries after receiving prepaid orders. “The delivery partners will not make any deliveries in-person, rather they will leave the food packages on doorsteps. The delivery partners must wear masks and use the Aarogya Setu app while delivering the packages,” the statement added.

Further, the company noted  that there would be a sanitization station as well as a temperature measuring station for its delivery partners at all Marriott locations so that there is no lapse in food safety.

A similar deal took place last month between Marriott International and Swiggy, another online food delivery platform. Through this partnership, over 20 Marriott properties in various Indian cities were listed on the Swiggy app.

Marriott International is a multinational diversified hospitality company, headquartered in Maryland, America. Zomato is a restaurant aggregator and food delivery startup, headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana. It was founded in 2008 and provides service in 24 countries around the world.