Ahmedabad: Hotels to boycott online portals from December 1

Hoteliers in Ahmedabad will boycott online booking portals like goibibo.com and makemytrip.com from December 1. The coterie is meeting on Friday to finalize the decision.

Indiscriminate discounts and offers by portals have robbed us from the margin and made business unviable, a number of hoteliers said.

Accordingly, customers (coming through online portals) will not be allowed check-ins. Their reservations will be cancelled.

"In case your family members, colleagues or any known person is travelling to Ahmedabad and if they have done booking from goibibo.com or MakeMyTrip.com they may face serious issues," said an internal communication of HRA – Gujarat.

Representatives of close to 300 hotels in Ahmedabad will formally announce their boycott on Friday after a meeting. HRA- Gujarat has sought participation from all the members so that help the hotel industry to come out of this monopoly behaviour of OTAs (Online Travel Agents). It has termed the move as a fight for justice. "It has been decided to boycott these portals if they come with unreasonable offers to the detriment of hoteliers. We have asked them to cap their margins as well," said Narendra Somani, president of HRA-Gujarat.

Accordingly, the commissions of portals have increased from 10 per cent initially to up to 40 per cent now. They are also offering schemes to customers without consulting the hoteliers. Budget hotels are the hardest hit as their room fares are lower. Hefty commission by booking portals not only erodes their profitability, but it also makes a loss-making a proposition.

Makemytrip.com said it considers hoteliers valuable partners in business and is engaging them. "We enjoy good business relationship with all our hotel partners in Ahmedabad. As our valued partners, we remain closely engaged and are always working to strengthen our partnership further," said a spokesperson of the company.

The period from December to February is crucial for Gujarat as wedding season has already begun, Non-Resident Gujarati (NRGs) will be visiting their native places in winter and it is also run up to the Vibrant Gujarat Summit, to be held in January next year.