Story of CGH Earth and their core principles
- Benjamin John
- May 17, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 11
I would like to take you all to the bustling airport town of Willington Island in the late 1960's where a restaurant was taking shape into the present day Casino Hotel, Willington Island. The property was opened in 1966 with 32 rooms and a restaurant. That is where the story began, the story of a present-day tourism culture in Kerala, the story of a million smiles. As a tour operator based in Kochi, our association with CGH Earth has not been just business, but a lot more than that.
A decade passed and Casino Hotel was in its full swing. A letter from Cochin travelled all the way to Mumbai with the message “Son I want you to come back and assist me in business”. The letter was to Jose Dominic, a chartered accountant then, working with an accounting firm and enjoying the cosmopolitan city of Mumbai. Half-heartedly, the son comes back to Cochin and joins the family business.
A painting of the Casino Hotel, by Morris Katz
A decade passes away and, the business was flourishing in its own course. That was when an offer comes to Casino Hotel, an invitation, to visit an inhabited Island in the Lakshadweep islands, two fifty kilometres away from the Malabar coast. The call went to prominent hotel chains across the country. The group of hoteliers was to fly, all the way from Cochin to Agatti, from where they would visit the Island called Bangaram. The idea was to use the island for tourism and to know the viewpoint of the industry stakeholders. All of them wanted their own time for feasibility checks and market study. That was when Mr Dominic said, if offered the resort will be commissioned within three months. That made Casino Hotel win the tender and drive the resort, the following year, that sowed the first seeds of what we call CGH core values. The whole agenda was to build local huts with local materials without disturbing the ecosystem of the place - no trees cut, no massive constructions, employ local men and get the best out of nature without causing any harm.
CGH earth has adopted what they call, non-negotiable core values: respect for the environment, local community and adoption of the local ethos.
It was these core values, that made Bangaram remain as Bangaram, in all sense. It was the beauty of the islands that was employed and offered to the discerning traveller. During those days, with limited air connectivity, reaching Bangaram was a terrible task. But still people came in, so much was the beauty of Bangaram. This was when the nearest Island groups of Maldives had direct connectivity with Europe and had an inventory of 8000 rooms.
From the lessons learnt in Bangaram, the team moved to the Cardamom Hills of Kerala, Periyar. The group erected a 40 room property in 1991 and named it "Spice Village". It was very much like a tribal village, places similar to that of the Mannan tribal community, native to Periyar. In no time the Spice Village came up and, they ventured into the next property at the backwaters of Kumarakom. They followed traditional Kerala Architecture this time and named it “Coconut Lagoon”. Next in the line was the “Spice Coast Houseboats” and the beach property of Mararikulam that resembled a local fishermen village and named it “Marari Beach Resort”. And finally “Brunton Boatyard” at Fort Cochin, that very much resembled the old colonial structures around.
Subsequently, other properties in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were opened. The group was rebranded as CGH Earth, that stands for Casino Group of Hotel, as well as Clean, Green, and Healthy and Earth stands for being Eco-friendly.
The group found new horizons, traversing into Ayurveda when 'Kalari Kovilakom' was introduced. A palace in Palakkad, where the traditions of Ayurveda is explored in its real sense. The length of the stay usually starts from twenty-one days. 'Kalari Rasayana' in South Kerala also follows the same ideology. The term holiday is being redefined; it has come a long way from experiential holidays to something that could be termed as transformative holidays, where people visit a destination, pick up elements that transform their lives and go back from where they came.
In the interm, there were plans for the CGH Earth group to go public as a listed company, to the core the organisation was not built more like a corporate with defined structures and hierarchy. The group very much relied on people more than systems. An initiative for preparations to go public did not take off and it still runs like a family business with brothers and their family members overlooking the affairs of the business. The business has spread across hospitality, Food and Beverage + confectionary, construction and flight catering. However the hospitality business remains the core focus.
Saha by CGH Earth is another initiative by the group focusing on operating smaller properties like villas and bungalows and this time they have it in more destinations, trying to implement the responsible tourism models with sustainable practices. These includes properties in lesser known destinations where they could enjoy the CGH experience with more choices. Presently they have around seven plus properties operational.
CGH Earth resorts were always priced a level up, probably their experience is more valued by a foreign crowd. And a major share of their guests are foreign tourists. CGH Earth resorts do not focus on tangible luxury, but the frame their values and sustainable practices much more valuable than tangible luxury, and sustainability and being eco friendly comes at a cost.
Today Jose Dominic has officially retired from leadership roles of CGH Earth. The other day I read that he has off late started hobby projects like a guest house - AB Salem House. A group of women from New York travelled to Kerala inspired by "the Covenant of water", by Abraham Varghese, they had a meet-up with him to share the experience and about the time period and multiple aspects of the novel. One of the interesting things I have heard from him is - "The cost of having a detailed article about CGH Earth on the New York times was a couple of beers". He is an influential dreamer who tells his concepts like a story, well read, approachable and ready to help.
I had this chance to be an audience of Mr. Dominic's sessions with Tie, Kerala travel mart and various other forums. This blog post comes from a lot of inspiration.
If you wish to plan a beautiful holiday experience clubbing multiple CGH Earth Resorts, we would be more than happy to assist you with the same. or visit http://greenearthtrails.com/tours they will be more than happy to assist you.
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