Hyderabad: The ongoing conflict between restaurant associations and food service aggregators (FSAs) has reached Telangana state. After New Delhi and Karnataka, hoteliers are on the verge of revoking their contracts or reviewing their agreements with the FSAs over high commissions.
The Telangana Hotel Association (THA) comprising 2,000 members has pointed to the unreasonably high commissions, payment terms and additional charges which are allegedly arbitrarily applied. The body will issue a formal statement about their stand on Tuesday evening.
Association general secretary Sampath T explained, “There is a classic example to illustrate how aggregators are exploiting the norms. A hotelier at Kukatpally was charged Rs 10 because the management did not accept an order in the timeframe of two minutes. Besides, there is a divide and rule in FASs charging commissions on each order.” He said that hotels which have recently joined hands with aggregators are charged a hefty 20-22 per cent plus taxes. “The business model of hoteliers will die if we don’t revoke such contracts,” Mr Sampath said. The Irani Chai Hotels Association and biryani centres have also joined hands with the TSHA to take on the aggregators. “Once habituated, customers will begin demanding the same discount from hotels. If they are turned down, hotels are most likely to lose customers besides facing the blame for bad service. Most hotels are unhappy and will review their contracts,” said TSHA member S. Venkat Reddy. “Their payment terms are not adhered to and are easily violated at the slightest excuse without recourse to any easy dispute resolution. We (hoteliers) are in favour of start-ups but it should be a win-win situation for both. We have been bleeding since these contracts were signed,” said association member Naga Raju.
