Clamp on hotels
by mahmood on 13/09/07 at 10:39 am · email · print
Bahrain’s hotels are facing their toughest Ramadan restrictions ever after being banned for the first time from even offering room service during daylight hours, it emerged yesterday.
A circular issued to hotels on September 3 also banned live music and the sale of alcohol during Ramadan, which begins today.
This is the third year running that hotels have faced a total alcohol ban after previously being allowed to serve guests during Ramadan once the sun went down.
However, this year is the first time hotels have been ordered not to serve any food to any guests before sunset.
Hoteliers have once again criticised the handling of the issue, saying they should have been notified about the ban sooner.
Many say they are closing some of their outlets, sending staff on holiday and using the time to carry out renovations.
They received the circular from the Information Ministry’s Tourism Affairs department 10 days ago.
The GDN has obtained a copy of the letter, which states: “Alcoholic drinks and live bands are to be stopped during the holy month of Ramadan.
It adds that: “Food should only be served from Iftar (the first meal after sunset) onwards and hotel guests should be notified through a notice in their rooms and all other hotel utilities.”
It was signed by Tourism Affairs acting assistant under-secretary Fawzi Tulaifat, but he was out of the country when the GDN tried to contact him this week.
The ban will remain in effect for the whole of Ramadan, which lasts for a month, and the circular says hotels that violate it will be penalised.
However, one hotel group said it could lose up to BD100,000 as a result and said the circular was sent out at least one month too late.
“We lose a lot of business every Ramadan and end up losing between BD40,000 and BD100,000 every year,” said Caravan Group of Hotels managing director Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa.
“This year we were not surprised with the alcohol ban in hotels because we were expecting it and had already made our preparations beforehand.
“However, this is not the right way to inform us. There should be at least one month’s notice to all hotels about the ban, so we can carry out the necessary measures to send staff on holiday. Of course, business is affected heavily because our bars are closed, but we need to live with it.”
Some hoteliers said the ban did not affect them too much because they also survived on income from rooms and restaurants.
“This will affect business and we have no other choice but to survive it,” said one official from a three-star hotel, who asked to remain anonymous.
“Outlets such as bars will be closed, but we will survive on the rooms, which are fully booked during Ramadan.
“We have to send our people out and be happy with the little business we have.”
One hotel official said he agreed with the ban because it was government policy, but another expected business to be hit with losses of up to BD25,000 and demanded the ban to be lifted.
“The ban will affect guests staying in the hotel and affect the country’s tourism in turn,” said Mirage Hotel general manager David Grove.
“That is why the government should come up with a different solution.
Another hotelier said he could understand the alcohol ban, but urged officials to reconsider the ban on serving food to non-Muslim guests.
“This year’s decision states that even food should not be served to guests in their rooms,” said the three-star hotel official on condition of anonymity.
“The decision is very tough. How are we to explain to our guests that we are not offering food to them?
“Most of our outlets will be closed during Ramadan because they are bars, which will affect us greatly.”
He added that private investors were suffering due to “sudden irrational decision-making”.
“Every Ramadan, for the past two years, I have been losing between BD20,000 to BD25,000 and this is a great loss for me,” he said.
GDN – 13 Sept, ’07
