Hoteliers still not feeling at home

Hoshiarpur, December 11

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The owners of hotels, restaurants and banquettes had been incurring losses for several months and now, there is some relief but business is yet to come to a break even. Something that was earlier considered as nominal has now become huge as gathering in parties have become limited and in place of several hundred guests, the numbers are usually less and occasionally rise to 200. The safety measures are everybody’s concern and the guests keep pressing for sanitisation time and again. They are doing everything possible to make customers feel safe.

In one such effort, a classy vegetarian restaurant MCM on Court Road has come up with an idea of live kitchen and added some snacks to the menu that were earlier not there. Maninder Singh Cheema, the owner, said, “We are sanitising daily to ensure that the visitors are safe. Apart from it, we take care that the staff engaged is in good health. The necessary precautions are being followed.” Since people are wary of sitting and dining in closed area, a rooftop dining area is another addition. “The customers prefer the eatables untouched by hand and especially prepared before their eyes so many snacks have been spliced in that will be prepared in wok and served to them directly.”

Sanjeev Saini, partner of famous vegetarian restaurant in the city Punjab Sweet, said, “The customers are very particular about safety these days. Although we sanitise thoroughly, still people stress upon before taking a seat. We take extra measures to ensure the premises are completely safe for the guests. We keep a regular check upon the health of the workers.” Since parties have dwarfed, so the regular buffets have been replaced with individual servings. The daily lunch and dinner buffet which was once a lure has been closed “keeping in view the safety of the guests.”

Gunraj Singh, the owner of Daulat Garden Banquette, rued, “Despite all efforts, it’s difficult to meet expenses as there are almost no bookings. They are rising and even the staff has been added for proper sanitisation and extra arrangements for cleaning and safety but the gatherings have shrunk.”

The owners can feel that people still have the air is shot through with wariness and seems that it will not be disappearing before the vaccine arrives. “As the number of cases is still not decreasing visibly, the business is still declining. The residents are wary of stepping into the hotels and prefer dining at home. We have already suffered a lot, hopefully, the situation betters in coming weeks but for two more months I don’t think it will,” said Shyam Sunder Sharma, a hotelier and miniplex owner.