DELHI'S HOSPITALITY

Having over a dozen 5-star super deluxe, deluxe and other categorised properties, Delhi boasts of India's best hotels. With a host of international brands vying for neon-signs in and around Delhi, the hospitality industry is slated to be the best in the country.

The hospitality industry in Delhi is not more than 2 to 3 decades old with an evident spurt in activity witnessed in the early 80's for the Asiad Games. It was geared up later to handle the post liberalisation leisure and specifically business tourists.

There has always been an effort to identify and categorise the best hotel in the city. Owing to the competitive spirit amongst all the properties it has however been quite inconsistent to the benefit of the customer. The Federation of Hotels & Restaurants Association of India and other International authorities like the Leading Hotels of The World have regularly awarded hotels of Delhi in various categories.

In terms of room availability, the industry witnesses one of the greatest fluctuation levels. A visitor to this city must be aware that the effective room rates are comparatively low (that is negotiable) during the slack season, which is from April to October. The Group Individual Tariff stands at a much lower package than the Free Individual Traveller rates. The business travellers are the most sought after clientele and the hotels are usually out to lure them with corporate rates and other add-on services.

The situation reverses in the winter season, which is the peak season in Delhi. It may worsen in case of flight delays. The hotel may even 'spill over' your booking to another hotel in the wake of a higher earning opportunity! The visitor must thus ensure a written reservation confirmation directly from the hotel and not through the travel agent or the centralised or franchisee booking office anywhere else. The regulations differ in case of walk-ins here and the visitor should not be offended if asked to pay an advance deposit of the room rent.

An accommodation in the walled city or the other infamous areas of Delhi like Paharganj or Karol Bagh could be avoided by an absolute novice to Delhi unless for economising the stay expenses or some other unmentionable purposes.

And once you have made the right choice of your stay, you could look forward to the true Indian hospitality and world-class service. You must trust the professional staff and seek their advise on the city as far as possible. Organisations looking forward to professional hospitality service, a favourable word-of-mouth reputation would be eager to earn your repeat clientele and a good name. It is also advisable to trust the public officials like the police and the tourist officials and never to let your guards down with a stranger, shopkeepers, touts and taxi drivers. Ask for help outside the hotel especially in translation and conversation. Money transactions and specifically credit card transactions need extra care.

The taxation policy of the city is different to that of most other cities in India with charges being levied as under expenditure, sales and luxury and taxes as applicable. There is absolutely no tipping policy in the country, no matter how hard your bilingual travel agent convinces you on passing the same to the service staff, but norms are of tipping 10% of the billing amount.

All facilities are at par with international hotels of repute but one must check for the specific requirements much before checking-in.

I'll tell you an experience of an American friend. On his first day in Delhi, he shuttled between Paharganj, Karol Bagh and South Delhi looking for a room in a reputed hotel. He wondered about the copyright provisions in the city, having paid up 4 times the normal fare - the difference in name being of prefixes and suffixes attached to the popular hotel names!

- Saurabh Sharma