Maharashtra: Hotels all decked out -- but guests elusive

Following the Maharashtra governments nod on Monday thousands of hotels lodges resorts and other places of accommodation in the state reopened spick and span for business on Wednesday only to find the guests were still elusiveIndustry players attributed the sombre situation to a gnawing fear in the minds of people over the Covid19 pandemic staff shortage in most establishments besides financial shortfall hindering resumption of fullfledged operations even at a reduced 33 per cent capacityTop hotelier bodies like FHRAI AHAR and HRAWI have already apprised the Covid19 SOPs of the state government to all their memberestablishments and directed them to strictly adhere to the normsHotels are completely geared up to welcome guests However at the moment we are unsure of how many will actually check in said Federation of Hotels amp Restaurants Association of India FHRAI VicePresident Gurbaxish Kohli candidly on the current sentimentsWhile the industry has welcomed the state decision he pointed out that with travel restrictions still in place and many staff still not reporting for duty the initial phase after reopening may remain subduedIndian Hotels amp Restaurants Association AHAR President Shivanand Shetty said that hoteliers are relieved that a beginning has been made after nearly four months of total stagnation in the industryHe said things could look up once the entire ecosystem starts like regular domestic and international flights local and longdistance trains tourist vehicles business and leisure travelHowever Shetty wonders aloud about the logic of 33 per cent operations since hotel rooms automatically ensure physical distancing besides other norms in the common areas or inhouse restaurants but said AHAR members are fully implementing the rulesHotels amp Restaurants Association of Western India HRAWI VicePresident Pradeep Shetty estimated that barely 2535 per cent of the total industry may resume immediately and others may gradually join the bandwagon going up to double by next monthHowever there are many hotels which have been hit hard and these may not reopen at all or even if they do it will take sometime We expect roughly around 70 per cent of the industry to resume operations in the near future said Pradeep ShettyThe trio of industry leaders are also apprehensive over the actual bookings they may get in the initial days or weeks With workfromhome becoming the new mantra there may be a huge fall or nil business in the lucrative MICE segment and corporate bookings besides social gatherings like parties weddings etcWith the pandemic still on in major areas of the state like Mumbai Thane Pune Aurangabad Nagpur Nashik and others for the present the hotel industry has decided to adopt a waitandwatch approach before making further plansOn July 6 FHRAIs Kohli HRAWIs Suhas Awchat and AHARs Shivanand Shetty had darkly predicted that nearly 50 per cent of hoteliers may down shutters permanently as the industry has piled up losses of around Rs 125 lakhcrore in the lockdown periodThe hospitality industry has 53000 hotels accommodation in the regulated sector and an equal number in the unofficial sector besides over 500000 restaurants eating places only in India which together contribute around 10 per cent of the national GDP and accounts for 1250 per cent of all jobs in the country