Cast Your Vote And Get Discount

As Delhi gears up for the high-stakes municipal elections, the capital’s hotels and hospitality industry has rolled out innovative schemes offering discounts and freebies to guests who have cast their ballots. 

Industry experts believe these citizen-centric incentives will have an immense effect on multiplying voter turnout numbers across constituencies.

Understanding The Hotel Sector’s Nation-Building Initiative

At least 50 mid-range and luxury hotels in Delhi-NCR have announced exciting deals over the poll weekend to attract people who carry their voting ink mark on their fingernails as proof of serving their democratic responsibilities. 

Some participating chains, like Radisson, Hyatt, and ITC Hotels, have conveyed that guests who display their voting mark at check-in will be entitled to:

• 30–50% discount on room bookings.

• Complimentary upgrade to the next room category. 

• Free desserts with meals.

• 15% off on food and beverages. 

Additionally, the hotels are running awareness campaigns through social media and direct engagement with their database to underscore the significance of voting rights and highlight how the hospitality sector is advocating citizen participation. 

Industry leaders have termed it a conscious solidarity gesture by Delhi hotels to complement the election commission’s Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) initiatives that work to maximise turnouts during polls.

Making Voting Aspirational For Younger Citizens 

One of the biggest challenges Delhi’s 20 million voters face is low participation rates, especially among youth and working professionals, owing to voter apathy or the perception that a single vote does not influence electoral outcomes. 

However, industry research indicates younger demographics are more likely to vote if incentivized through relevant hyperlocal offers from brands they trust and engage with frequently. 

For instance, availing a 50% discount on weekend stays by showing a voting mark can drive younger-generation citizens in large numbers to head to the booths before checking in at their favourite hotel located nearby. 

Hotels have cleverly leveraged this consumer insight to devise value offers that nudge the upwardly mobile 18-35 age group to not step out of their homes on polling day without casting their vote. 

Moreover, sharing proud selfies on social media displaying voting marks and hotel discounts offers aspirational motivation for Gen Z voters to participate in the democratic process.

The Effect On Local Shops And Social Behaviour

Beyond hotels sweetening the voting experience, economists argue that such private initiatives promote community participation and optimism regarding the power of democracy. 

When leading brands across shopping malls, cinemas, and retailers align citizen engagement efforts with the election machinery, it steps down to neighbourhood shops and creates positive peer pressure to unanimously step out and vote.

Behavioural scientists have lauded this method of indirectly making voting fashionable and stirring FOMO (fear of missing out) anxiety for reluctant citizens questioning whether they should waste time queuing up at booths.

Takeaway

Overall, industry stakeholders have termed hotel discount schemes for Delhi voters as a powerful catalyst towards enabling record turnouts in the capital this poll season. 

The optimism is that increased voter-eligible participation will result in improved accountability from future elected councils on key citizen issues, thereby strengthening local self-governance.

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