Luxury hotels hit hard by unrest

Luxury hotels in Dhaka are suffering from a dearth of customers as foreigners and locals are avoiding travel in fear of unrest centring the quota reform movement, according to industry people.

Besides, people are also being unable to travel as the government has imposed a nationwide curfew.

Hoteliers said the cancellation of advance room bookings picked up in mid-July, with the current occupancy rate standing at less than 30 percent.

They also said the number of hotel guests has decreased by up to 90 percent.

Furthermore, room and hall bookings for corporate meetings, conferences and exhibitions have all been cancelled, they added.

Students launched the quota reform movement earlier this month, citing that the policy was discriminatory towards general students looking to secure public jobs.

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According to The Daily Star database, at least 163 lives have been lost in the violence since July 16.

Mahmud Hassan, director of sales and marketing at Dhaka Regency Hotel and Resort Limited, said many people started cancelling bookings since July 18.

Citing that no new reservations had been received as of yesterday, he informed only 35 percent of their rooms are currently occupied.

"Most of the hotel rooms were booked for several national and local events, but due to the recent unrest, everything has been cancelled," he said.

"This has had a major negative impact on our business, with fixed maintenance costs taking the biggest toll," Hassan added.

Against this backdrop, he said it is not possible to say how the market will recover until the curfew is lifted.

On condition of anonymity, a senior official of a luxury hotel in Uttara, said they noticed a declining trend of guests from July 19.

"Bookings have now dropped by 80 percent," the official said, citing how bookings for events in August have all been cancelled.

"Business has never been as bad as it is now," the official added.

A senior official of the Radisson Blu Dhaka Water Garden echoed the same.

"The daily maintenance and operational costs of our hotel cannot be met with the number of customers we are getting," the official said.

"So, we cannot predict when we will be able to recover from this situation," the official added.

Mohammed Nafeuzzaman, the public relations manager of Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka, ‍said all the bookings for events between July 15 and 20 were cancelled.

"No new guests came during the first few days of curfew. So, our business suffered at the time," he said, adding that the presence of guests has almost returned to normal now.

Syed Huq, manager of the Golden Tulip - The Grandmark Dhaka, said rooms and events bookings were being cancelled since July 17.

After that day, only one wedding reception was held. Apart from that, no other event was hosted at the hotel during this time.

"Currently, only six rooms are booked. The entire hotel is virtually empty," he added.

Huq informed that some European, Indian and Chinese nationals engaged in different projects in Bangladesh had rooms booked for a full year. "But they checked out after seeing the situation," he lamented.

Haq also said some of their employees who have accrued annual leaves were sent on leave to minimise costs in areas such as food and accommodation for them. As such, the hotel is carrying out its operations with limited staff.

According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism, there are 17 five-star hotels in the country.