Posted on December 27, 2009 -
No guests, little relief: Bed & breakfast not hot any more for Gurgaon owners
While the Delhi government is aggressively pushing the bed and breakfast scheme, especially to fill in for the expected shortage of hotel rooms during next year’s Commonwealth Games, the scene is not so rosy in neighbouring Gurgaon, say those licensed to run such places in the Millennium City.
Many Gurgaon residents, who opted to use their houses under the scheme, now say it is difficult to cope up with the escalating prices and diminishing clientele. While authorities said approximately 100 licences have been given out under the bed and breakfast (B&B) scheme in Gurgaon till date, Newsline found many owners have not renewed their licence.
Kamal Jain of Madhuban B&B in Sushant Lok-I said, “The return is negligible compared to the cost it takes in maintaining facilities such as a cook, rent for Wi-Fi, air-conditioners in rooms and such. We have brought down room rent from Rs 2,800 to Rs 1,500 but have still failed to attract clients for almost the entire year now.”
Posted on December 16, 2009 -
Guest houses under B&B cannot serve lunch, dinner
Guest houses and residential accommodations registered under the bread and breakfast scheme of the Delhi Government will not be allowed to serve lunch and dinner to the occupants.
The Delhi Assembly today passed the Bed and Breakfast Establishments Registration and Regulation (Amendment) Bill, restricting serving of lunch and dinner in such facilities.
The amendment was brought in after the Government found that found that 25 guest houses who were earlier paying luxury tax registered their guest houses under the scheme to evade the tax net.
Under the scheme, B&B facilities does not need to pay luxury tax.
The Cabinet, presided over by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, decided not to allow serving of lunch and dinner.
The Government had launched the scheme to overcome the shortage of hotel rooms during the next year's Commonwealth Games.
Posted on December 15, 2009 -
‘Bed and Breakfast’ Bill introduced
The (Incredible India) Bed and Breakfast Establishments Registration and Regulation (Amendment) Bill, 2009, was introduced in the Assembly by Finance Minister A.K. Walia on behalf of Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Monday.
“The department has been facing several difficulties such as the premises owners interpreted ‘food’ mentioned in the original Act as all the meals of the day, whereas the objective of the Act was that it was restricted to ‘breakfast’ only. In the amendment bill, it is proposed to clarify and elaborate the definition by redefining ‘owner’ as the owner of the establishment and include the person who for the time being, has been authorised by the owner through a legal document, duly registered to be in-charge of the management of the establishment at least for a period of four years from the date of application for registration under this Act,” said a Delhi Government official.
Posted on December 3, 2009 -
Delhi govt told to make B&B more popular
Finding the response to the Bed and Breakfast scheme in the city inadequate, the Centre has asked the Delhi government to work for making it more popular so that additional rooms can be made available to visitors during the Commonwealth Games next year.
"The Bed and Breakfast scheme was taken up with the Delhi government officials in our recent meeting. We want the scheme to be more popular and we have told them that," Union Tourism Minister Kumari Selja told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
While only 13 hotels are coming up instead of 33 hotels in the city, government is banking on the B&B scheme to make avail additional rooms during the Commonwealth Games 2010.
However, till date only 1,534 rooms are being made available for the Games against the target of 3,000 rooms.
Posted on December 2, 2009 -
Haryana approves bed-n-breakfast for Gurgaon during 2010 Games
To accommodate the rush of tourists during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi October next year, the Haryana government here Wednesday announced a bed and breakfast scheme for Gurgaon.
Under the scheme, house owners in Gurgaon city, adjoining national capital New Delhi, will be able to rent out their premises to tourists coming for the Commonwealth Games (CWG).
A state government spokesman said here that since building new hotels would take a longer time, the central government has also approved 25 houses which can be converted into guest houses during the CWG.
He added: 'The government approved the bed and breakfast for the NCR also to fill in the gap between the required number of rooms for the Commonwealth Games and those that could be provided by hotels.'
He said that the registration and other processes have been simplified under the bed and breakfast scheme.
He added that before giving permission to a property for this scheme, the security issue would be specifically checked.
The move has been forced on the government as the hotel industry is facing a financial crunch and real estate market is in a virtual slump. The bed and breakfast scheme was the only alternative. At least 100 such bed and breakfast homes are likely to be approved.
Haryana has been able to offer about 7,000 rooms for the CWG in the national capital region (NCR).
Residents could apply under this scheme and give up a maximum of five rooms for rent with complimentary services like power backup, Wi-Fi, air-conditioning and 24X7 security.
Posted on November 30, 2009 -
No lunch, dinner in bed & breakfast scheme, says Cabinet
With Delhi already registering over 1,000 homes under its Bed and Breakfast (B&B) scheme, the Delhi Cabinet on Sep 30, 2009 has decided to make rules for registration stricter by introducing a new set of amendments.
Chief Secretary Rakesh Mehta explained: “Owners will be allowed to serve only breakfast, and no lunch or dinner, as part of the new regulation. Owners of properties with a maximum six rooms will be registered under the scheme.”
The Cabinet has also decided to make it mandatory for owners to furnish proof of ownership of a property being registered. Moreover, owners will be allowed to develop only two-third of the property as a B&B home.
The Tourism department officials said that National Capital Territory of Delhi (Incredible India) Bed and Breakfast Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act 2007, has strict rules on how owners should conduct themselves in running a B&B home. But there is no provision in the Act to keep a check on residential status of the property, or its “true ownership”, as such there will be checks necessary to ensure implementation.
We will keep you updated with more information as and when it becomes available, keep watching this space!
