Lockdown 4.0: Hotels in Odisha capital to open today

Bhubaneswar: There is a huge relief for the hoteliers as well as customers as the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has allowed to open all the hotels in Bhubaneswar from today despite lockdown.

All types of hotels both starred and non-starred will be functional in the state capital, however, with a condition.

BMC sources said that the hotels that are not converted into COVID-19 quarantine centres can receive bookings from customers, who are travelling to Odisha on work and intending to exit within 72 hours.

Besides, flight crew members can also stay at hotel rooms for limited hours.

As per revised lockdown guidelines, the hotels will have thermal screening facility mandatorily and the customers visiting the hotels for accommodation will be sanitised. Also, the articles carried by the customers will be disinfected properly.

Source said that only room service will be available for the guests at hotels without restaurant facility. The guests can have food inside the room. Wearing mask for all the guests as well as hotel staff is compulsory as part of precautions against spread of novel coronavirus.

This apart, the hotel authorities will verify the return tickets while receiving the bookings for room.

However, organising social events like meetings, wedding ceremony and thread ceremony will be strictly prohibited during lockdown.

It is to be mentioned that the BMC has converted over 60 hotels into coronavirus quarantine centres for people returning from other states. The quarantine facility has been made in 64 hotels located under three BMC zones in Bhubaneswar. These hotels with 2720 beds and 1317 rooms are offering paid quarantine facility for the returnees.

However, there are allegations that most of the hotels mentioned in the list are not receiving bookings for quarantine presently. Even, the hotels are reportedly charging more than the amount fixed by BMC for paid quarantine.