Hotels mull energy surcharge of up to 20 Dollar

Star hotels are preparing to increase room tariff by up to US$20, as prolonged power cuts pushed up their operating cost.

According to the Hotel Association of Nepal (HAN), majority of the hotel owners have agreed to push up room fare by up to $20 per night as a measure to cushion the impact of higher operating cost triggered by rising cost of fuel, power outages and inflation, among others.

Speaking at a recent meeting held by the HAN, hoteliers said their operating costs have gone up by up to 30 percent lately and stressed on the need to include energy surcharge in room tariff.

In the first phase, the energy surcharge will be introduced in four- to five-star hotels only. “On the basis of room tariff, surcharges in five-star hotels will start at $13 and go up to $20 in class ´A´ five-star hotels,” a hotelier said on condition of anonymity.

According to hoteliers, the concept of energy surcharge was common in most of the countries abroad when hotels were facing the burden of higher operating cost.

One of the owners of the Kathmandu-based five-star hotel said: "Once the decision is implemented, we´ll start charging energy surcharge. But we are yet to agree on the date when the new charges will come into effect."

However, not all hoteliers are supportive of the plan to slap surcharges as many had raised room tariff by eight to 10 percent last October.

“It might not be wise to introduce energy surcharge immediately as we recently revised our tariff,” Bharat Joshi, resident manager of Hotel Yak and Yeti, said.

He further said as most of the hotels have received bookings for next few months, immediate implementation of surcharge might flag negative signal to travel agents as well as tourists.

Currently, a guest residing in a hotel has to pay 10 percent service charge and 13 percent value added tax (VAT) on top of the basic tariff.

source: republica,13 jan 2013