British American Tobacco Organizes Concert in Sheraton for People in Quarantine

On Friday, May 1, British American Tobacco organized a special concert at the Sheraton Grand Metechi Palace Tbilisi, aiming to cheer up those placed in mandatory quarantine in the hotel.

Singer Elene Kalandaze stood in the Sheraton Open Space Yard and performed well-known songs to improve the mood of the “guests” watching from balconies, while top Master Chef Guram Baghdoshvili cooked special dishes for them.

The event represents a great continuation of British American Tobacco’s corporate social responsibility.

“British American Tobacco continues its corporate social responsibility efforts,” Zviad Skhvitaridze, Corporate Director of British American Tobacco, told us. “We started with different projects, such as providing face masks, protective shields for essential workers like doctors and journalists, and we continue this project with Sheraton, because the Sheraton Metechi Palace had a great idea to host people in quarantine. This process will continue until the end of May. They are hosting up to 2000 people absolutely free of charge. Sheraton was one of the first hotels to come up with the initiative to allocate more than 200 rooms with 3-course meals and 5-star service for people in quarantine, which is really good. Then, other companies, and individuals decided to cheer their guests up with this special musical event. The concert caught the attention of the international media, such as Reuters, BBC, etc. So, it will be a very motivational thing for other companies and individuals to follow both in Georgia and abroad. It’s a very good project and we are going to continue our CSR efforts in the future.”

Master Chef Guram Baghdoshvili, who cooked special dishes for the residents of the hotel in quarantine, noted that caring for people in need is the most important thing in a crisis.

“Today, the most important thing is not what we cook, but what we do for people. When we have isolation problems, it’s not easy. We cooked everything with heart. I would like to thank the staff of Sheraton, everyone who contributed to making these people happy. All of us are doing our best to survive and defeat the coronavirus,” he said.

GT also spoke to singer Elene Kalandzadze.

“I’m really honored to participate in this mini concert. We have beautiful people stuck in quarantine and we should never forget that the most important thing in the whole world is caring for and loving each other. I hope everything gets back on track soon. I want humanity to be the main thing and I am definitely sure that humanity is going to win. We will defeat this virus and everything will be just fine.”

By Ana Dumbadze