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Ministry of Tourism directs NCR hotels to block 6000 rooms for Commonwealth gamesBy Sumit Kumar, Section CommonWealth Games 2010
The Ministry of Tourism, on behalf of the Commonwealth games organising committee, has approached hoteliers' associations to pool in almost 6, 000 rooms in Delhi, in order to accommodate high ranking Commonwealth games officials, Government dignitaries and special invitees for the event.
A sub-committee has been formed under the aegis of the Commonwealth games working committee with Harish Sud, Secretary General, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) as convenor to co-ordinate the efforts. The sub-committee includes members from the Hotel Association of India (HAI) and others such as Deepak Talwar, VP - Corporate Affairs, Oberoi Hotels; D K Beri, Taj Hotels and Rajindera Kumar, President, Hotel & Restaurant Association of North India. "There are almost 9,000 hotel rooms available with FHRAI member hotels in the NCR. We have asked them to commit about 60 per cent of their inventory to the games. We must also find a hotel (with a minimum of 500 rooms in the city) to function as the Family Games Hotel for the Commonwealth Games' Organising committee," informs a ministry official. He also informs that despite isolated objections from some hoteliers, most city hotels are willing to be partners in the event. Confirming the number of rooms that have to be blocked for the games organising committee, Sud says that all 6,000 rooms must be from hotels in the five star category and above. "The Ministry has asked us to block these rooms for a period starting from September 25, 2010 to October 20, 2010. Click on Full Story for More.
In addition, 300 rooms have to be blocked between October 9 and October 20, 2009 for an organising committee meeting," informs Sud.
The sub-committee has met thrice in the last few weeks. City hotels are worried about their long-term commitments with clients, and the price that the organising committee is offering. "With the NCR hotels' long term commitment, the number of rooms that they can spare is in question," says a source in HAI. However, the two industry associations -- FHRAI and HAI -- in dialogue with committee members, have agreed in principle, to rise to the occasion, and provide the maximum number of rooms possible. This will eventually promote the country," concludes the source. It will be a tough task for the committee, as the room inventory to be blocked adds up to about 60 per cent of the total room inventory in NCR (as of now). However, the sub-committee has started the initiative in earnest, and is confident of pooling in the requisite rooms for the games committee. "We have started talks with individual hotels. We have asked the Ministry to send us the category-wise break up of rooms required, and are awaiting a reply. Once we get the list, we will go ahead with firm booking," says Sud. With regards to the room tariffs, the sub-committee will negotiate these rates with the Commonwealth organising committee and the Ministry of Tourism, and finalise them soon. Source:Hospitalitybizindia.com August25th,2008.
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