Hotels, restaurants feel the pinch as cancellations pour in

With three strikes hitting normal life in West Bengal within a span of less a months' time, the hospitality industry in the state has been badly affected.

The 24-hour bandh on Monday called by all non-Left political parties paralysed operations of hundreds of hotels and restaurants, excluding only some five-star hotels.

However, room bookings were affected.

Room bookings at Taj Bengal, a five-star hotel, were down by more than 22 per cent on single day due to the bandh.

According to sources in the hotel, of the 228 rooms in the hotel, nearly 180-190 rooms are booked on a lean day.

A further 20-25 per cent dip in booking on Monday "affected the business of hotel to a very large extent," he said.

"There was a huge amount of cancellation today, and most of them were for corporate bookings," he added.

Business was also affected at The Sonar, the five-star hotel of ITC.

According to Madhumita Pyne, public relations and sales manager of the hotel, the bandh partially eroded the festive sheen, and the effect of the November 12 bandh was more serious than the last two ones.

A large number of corporate bookings were cancelled due the bandh. "Bookings were affected in the hotel. West Bengal has been traditionally projected as an investor-friendly state and three bandhs over the fortnight definitely have negative repercussions. This time, the cancellation is definitely more serious than the last time" she said.

However, Neha Arya, public relations manager, Hyatt Regency Kolkata, said no cancellation was made for Monday, as flights were normal and IT services were not hit.

About 500 big restaurants and thousands of small ones remained shut due to Monday's bandh.

According to S K Khullar, president, hotel and restaurant association of eastern India and owner of Kolkata-based Amber restaurant, the combined losses for the restaurants could be of the tune of Rs 6-8 crore on Monday alone.

His hotel remained shut on Monday, though it was not closed on the earlier occasions of bandh.

"The federation members have been advised to watch the situation before opening restaurants tomorrow," he said.