Patna: Hotels, eateries open up with hope & prayer on lips

PATNA: Hotels and restaurants in the city resumed their operations on Monday opening up for guest check-ins, private dining services and banquets after a gap of more than two months due to the Covid- 19 lockdown.
As expected some hotels got lukewarm response on Day 1 of re-opening while a few in posh areas claimed it was a good start for them. Guests were allowed in after thermal screening and a sanitisation procedure which included, walking through a disinfectant tunnel, hand-sanitisation and luggage sanitisation.
Akhil Kochhar, vice-president of a private hotel at Beerchand Patel Marg was satisfied with the response citing 15 bookings at its private dine-in area for lunch and 10 check-ins on the first day.
“I feel customers’ confidence is a little low but soon we will regain their confidence. We had a few guests for dine-in area at lunch and a few people booked tables for tomorrow as well. The private dine-in space has given some confidence to our guests. Also, we have purchased fogging machines to sanitise the rooms,” Kochhar said.
BD Singh, the general manager of a five-star hotel near South Gandhi Maidan said the customers flow at the dine- in area was good. “We received 7- 8 bookings for dine- in, however, only two people check- in at the hotel,” he said.
Some customers appeared satisfied with the new arrangements and safety precautions taken by the hotels and restaurants.
Vijay Kumar Yadav, who dine- in with his family at a hotel in Frazer road said they were sanitised before entering the private dine-in area. “We came from Sitamrahi for some family function here in Patna. We stayed at the hotel for a day. Everything was perfect, we got e- menu on our mobile phone and payment was also digital. Everything we got here was packed in plastic,” he said.
However, Mohd Ziaullah Khan, owner of two private hotels on Bailey Road, said the market was dull on Monday. “We haven’t received any guests or bookings. A few people called for queries about the booking, rates and other information. I think it will take time to win back the customers’ confidence,” he said.
Standalone restaurants, however, claimed that they received not more than 30% of their pre-lockdown figure of daily customers. “The footfall was quite low. It will take time for people to beat the fear and have enough trust to come out again,” said Shibu Kumar of a restaurant at Saguna More.
He added, “Proper distancing is being maintained between tables. We have even reduced the numbers of tables to provide a safe experience to customers. Besides, every visitor is being screened at the entrance.”
Hospitality manager of a restaurant in Rajvanshi Nagar, Vishal believed people are still unaware about the reopening of eateries. “We are making people aware that we are open for dine-in now. Apart from this, we are also sending them messages about the hygiene norms we are following,” he said.
Some restaurant visitors this paper spoke to said they were not entirely at ease. Boring Road resident Satyam Kapoor, who along with his two friends visited a restaurant for lunch, said even after taking all necessary precautions, he felt unsafe. “People are still taking things very lightly. Most of them removed their masks after entering the restaurant,” he said.