Tag Archives: FHRAI

Pradeep Shetty, FHRAI’s Joint Honorary Secretary, has said that while they are happy the disastrous state of affairs of the sector and the plight of millions of workforce employed in the sector have been recognised by the government, the promotion of domestic tourism is the need of the hour. “Therefore, we request the government to incentivise domestic tourism as well,” he says.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) has requested Arun Singhal, CEO, Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) to extend the timeline to implement the mentioning of FSSAI License number on bills for FBOs on the backdrop of the pandemic’s impact to Hospitality businesses. The association says that it is in favour of the FSSAI’s latest order, which will help set up a robust customer grievance system in the country. “FHRAI appreciates the FSSAI’s endeavour to set up a robust customer grievance system in the country. This will also improve the overall awareness of FSSAI and its underlying objectives of creating a safe and hygienic ecosystem for FBOs. While this is a great initiative, it has to be taken into account that at present, the tourism and hospitality is the most impacted sector by the COVID19 pandemic. In all probabilities, it will be the last one to recover as well. During such times of deep crisis, the implementation of this order would entail a lot of additional expenses on businesses. Printing new receipts, invoices, bills, cash memos as well as updating software and PMS, among other ancillary activities will only burden the cash-strapped industry even more. Hence, we request the FSSAI to extend the timeline for implementation of the order until such time that some normalcy returns to the sector,” says Mr Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, Vice President, FHRAI.

In the ongoing row over unethical business practices involving MakeMyTrip and Goibibo (Go-MMT) giving the preferential listing to Oyo and putting other budget hotel franchises at disadvantage, a division bench of the Gujarat High Court has directed the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to afford Oyo Rooms an opportunity of hearing. On the said matter, FHRAI is pitching for open and fair competition in the market and intends to put an end to the disruption caused by Oyo.

In the latest hearing of the Oyo Insolvency case before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the Tribunal has allowed the intervention of Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI) on behalf of hotels. The FHRAI has intervened on behalf of its member hotels that are operational creditors who are suffering hugely on account of non-payments of debt by Oyo. FHRAI members have filed claims before the IRP of around Rs93 crore and the Association expects more hotels to submit their claims before the next hearing on June 21, 2021.

Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), in a letter to the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), has suggested making necessary changes in the vaccination guidelines to include banquet halls in hotels as venues for mass immunization of the corporate sector. FHRAI has stated that banquet halls in hotels are better equipped than schools, colleges, or community halls for the purpose.

FHRAI has stated that the RBI’s latest policy measures are grossly inadequate to address the problems of the hospitality industry and that the sector has yet again been ignored. Tourism and hospitality business being seasonal and dynamic, the industry is looking to receive specific tweaks in Resolution Framework 2.0 and has even submitted a representation to the RBI Governor.

FHRAI has written to Home Minister Amit Shah and Minister of Health & Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan,  and has requested for recognition of hospitality workers in the country as ‘Frontline Corona Warriors’ and be nominated for priority vaccination. In its letter, FHRAI stated that hotels and restaurants across the country provided their support to the Government by offering rooms for housing quarantined passengers, doctors, health workers and the police, among others while restaurants served over 3 lakh meals per day to the needy.

FHRAI has initiated #GoDirect campaign requesting patrons to book their hotel stays #BookDirect or order their food directly from restaurants #OrderDirect. This is in order to eliminate intermediaries and reduce the burden of exorbitant commissions levied by online travel aggregators (OTAs) and food service aggregators (FSAs).

In response to the request by Confederation of Kerala Tourism Industry (CKTI) and FHRAI to allow reopening of spas and Ayurveda centres in the state, Kerala government has said that the same will be allowed to operate with strict compliance of COVID protocols and guidelines, to help overcome the crisis faced by the tourism industry.

FHRAI has appealed to Government of India to aggressively promote domestic tourism in 2021. The association has emphasized on the need to encourage local tourism under the Ministry of Tourism’s (MoT) Dekho Apna Desh Pledge campaign. The association has also recommended incentivising domestic tourism by offering tax exemption under 80C of up to Rs 50,000.