Govt to lease out, auction unprofitable RTDC hotels

It’s a conspiracy to hand over these hotels to private players. All these hotels are short of staff and mismanaged...We want the government to clear the corporation’s debt and handover the hotels to us. We will show them how to run the hotels successfully

The Rajasthan government plans to dispose of financially unviable hotels and motels of Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC) to improve financial health of the corporation.

Though 24 hotels were shut down in five years as they were running in red, the remaining 34 hotels are still in loss. Currently, valuation of hotels and motels is under process, the government informed the Assembly in response to a written query.

The disposal of assets means that the government may lease out or auction these properties.

The government is also looking to appoint an advisor to improve financial condition of Rajasthan State Hotel Corporation (RSHCL). The advisor will be consulted on running the hotels under the corporation on public-private partnership model. RSHCL operates Hotel Khasakothi in Jaipur and Anand Bhavan in Udaipur. Both these hotels are running in losses and the total accumulated loss has crossed Rs 9 crore.

The RTDC employees union oppose the government’s plan. “It’s a conspiracy to hand over these hotels to private players. All these hotels are short of staff and mismanaged. There are prime properties owned by RTDC and, if the government wants, it can turn around the hotels. We want the government to clear the corporation’s debt and handover the hotels to us. We will show them how to run the hotels successfully,” RTDC employees union president Tej Singh Rathore told HT.

“The union will oppose the move to sell the hotels tooth and nail.”

The government had tried to auction some properties in 2015, but backtracked after facing stiff opposition from the employees union.

Documents tabled by the government show that many RTDC hotels are making losses of only a few lakhs annually. Only a handful of hotels, including hotels Gangaur and Teej and Khasa Kothi in Jaipur and Anand Bhavan in Udaipur, are running in huge losses.