Hoteliers look up to Mumbai meet

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, December 5

The Punjab Hotel Association on Wednesday decided to support the decision to be taken by the hoteliers’ national body in a meeting against the web portals on December 10 in Mumbai.

The association also announced that their two members would attend the meeting.

Punjab Hotel Association president Satish Arora said they held a meeting at Hotel Sapphire in which they discussed all issues pertaining to the dispute with online portals.

He said they had demanded that commission to the online portals should be reduced to 10-12 per cent as at present they were taking 35-40 per cent by adopting arm-twisting tactics.

“Apart from this, we also discussed the major issue of couple-friendly rooms,” he added.

Arora said these online portals were forcefully asking hotels to give rooms to couples, which was posing a risk to the reputation of the hotels.

“We have agreed that rooms would be provided to couples only on checking their identity cards. They also claim that these couple-friendly rooms scheme of the online portals is posing a risk to the security of the hotels and promoting wrong activities,” he said.

Another issue, which was discussed, was the cancellation of hotel booking. They have demanded that cancellation would be accepted only before 48 hours as at present these portals are doing it as per their clients’ convenience.

Hoteliers are up against the two online portals — Makemytrip and Goibibo — across the country.

The Gujarat Hotel and Restaurant Association has already banned these two online portals from December 1 over indiscriminate discounts and offers, which have robbed the hoteliers of their margins and made business unviable.

They have claimed that budget hotels are the hardest hit as their room fares are low. Hefty commission by booking portals not only erodes their profitability, it also makes for a loss making proposition.

The commissions of portals have increased from 10 per cent initially up to 40 per cent now. They are also offering schemes to customers without consulting the hoteliers.

A majority of hotel bookings are done through online web portals as they are offering huge discounts.