Smooth operators: Touts diverting tourists to self-styled hotels

“Are you looking for a hotel,sir? These big hotels fleece people. I will take you to a good hotel where you will get fine service at a much lesser price.”

These are the ‘pick-up lines’ which touts,taxi-drivers,autorickshaw drivers and even rickshaw pullers employ to lure tourists at ISBT Sector 17,ISBT Sector 43 and the railway station.

Their promise — “a hotel that gives them the best deal”. That’s fine,except that the places where the tourists are taken are not actually hotels. These are mere guesthouses,merrily masquerading as hotels,even though they feature only a row of rooms and a kitchen. And in the midst of this smooth network,the city hotels are suffering silently.

Sectors 17,22,35,45,Manimajra,Burail,Attawa,Kajheri and Palsora are full of such “hotels”. Most are guesthouses in residential areas,which were closed down by the Administration earlier,but allowed to operate from shop-cum-offices (SCOs) after payment of conversion charges. A majority of them are located on the first and second floors of the SCOs in the various sectors.

The idea was that they would serve as low-cost

accommodation for tourists,as they are not burdened with the high-establishment costs of a hotel,salary

bills,or various taxes

and licences.

However,these guesthouses are doing roaring business in the garb of

hotels.

Sanjeev Kumar,a taxi driver in Sector 22,reveals: “Autorickshaw drivers and taxi drivers get a commission to bring tourists to these guesthouses. Their agents keep combing

for guests near hotels

in Sectors 22 and 35 and whisk away tourists with promises of better,cheaper accommodation at the

first opportunity.”

Most of these guesthouses have no fixed tariff structure,and are out to get any amount the tourist is willing to shell out. The network conveniently functions with the help of code words. Harbhajan Singh,an autorickshaw driver at Sector 35,says: “The codeword for thousand is ‘thaan’ and for hundred it’s ‘laang’. The moment I take the tourist into the guesthouse,I say ‘do thaan’ or ‘nau laang’,or whatever charges I had promised earlier. The person at the guesthouse then knows how much to charge. And if you have caught a big fish,I say ‘addi neer’,meaning that half the money is mine.”

Courtesy the smooth operation,the hotels have seen a dip in their business. After buying sites for lakhs of rupees,and then spending further to establish the business,city hotels now are being forced to cut tariffs by almost 50 per cent.

UT Director Tourism Samwartak Singh said: “Strict action will be taken against such guesthouses,which call themselves hotels but do not fulfil the norms. On the directions of the Home Secretary,we have formed a committee which will look into the issue.”