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Bhutan Tourism Gelephu |
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Bhutan Information |
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Winter
respite for Gelephu hoteliers
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| Come
winter the supposedly "dying" hotel business in Gelephu town picks up slightly
as people trickle in from other parts of the country, mandarin businessmen
make numerous stopovers, and students travel around visiting families and
relatives.
Hotel
Chorten, located in the heart of the otherwise sleepy town, buzzes with
people and all of its 10 rooms are occupied. |
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"This
comes after a long wait," says manager B.K.Rai. "This winter seems better
than the last one. Yet this is not the best business. It just about brings
a decent margin in average earnings."
For
Chencho Gyeltshen of Hotel Sonam, who has been in the business for past
10 years, winter has not made any difference.
"A
hotelier in Gelephu is plagued with several problems," he says, as he hurriedly
clears up his breakfast of chapati and curry. "First, we have a border
that is pretty unstable, and second, we have too many hotels."
None
of the 10 rooms were occupied last night, according to Chencho Gyeltshen's
wife. Chencho Gyeltshen pays a monthly rent of Nu. 15,000 for the building
excluding other bills and staff salary.
"I
started with great hope in 1997 and I did do a decent business until 1999
after which things started going wrong," he says. "Today I just about break
even. I might quit if things go worse."
Gelephu
today has about 20 hotels including a family run Dragon Guest House, across
the town's soccer field. None of the hotel owners seem optimistic.
"We
have our own customers, often repeat ones," says the proprietor of the
Dragon Guest House, Choki Wangmo. "Our business survives on them. That
is why we treat them as part of our family."
Dragon
Guest House has a deluxe and two ordinary rooms. Its catering is good,
atmosphere homely and mostly receives advance bookings. It even boasts
a mention in Bhutan Lonely Planet travel guide.
"Once
you decide to risk open a hotel, you better run it as best as it can run,"
says manager Robin Tamang of Hotel Dechen, adding that complaining actually
doesn't solve much of the problem. His hotel, that also has 10 ordinary
rooms, is occupied at least in the winter.
Hotels
like Tashi Paykheel survive on other services rather than just room and
restaurant earnings. "Our specialty is catering," says its young manager,
Sazzesh Lama.
But
winter is the season that brings a business for Gelephu hotels.
People
from the northern dzongkhags come on holidays to enjoy the cool southern
winters. The Tshachhu (hot spring) in Shershong brings in its faithful dippers.
Many civil servants also come for land transactions and constructions.
And there are mandarin businessmen and students making stopovers and waiting
for the Indian escort to Phuentshloing and Samdrup Jongkhar.
"This
winter we also had about four national conferences and workshops that brought
us business," says B.K.Rai. "Hope we will have more of them next winter."
Summers
killed the business, hotel owners lament. The incessant torrents caused
roadblocks and the heat and mosquitoes kept people away.
Most
hotel owners also point out that the September 2004 bombing in Gelephu
vegetable market added salt to the already wounded business, which was
showing signs of a recovery.
But
visitors say that hotels in Gelephu lack service novelty. For example,
one army engineer pointed out, all hotels in Gelephu served same food.
"They
have all those fancy names on the menu ranging from Bhutanese to Indian
to Chinese to Continental dishes," he said.
"You
order any of them and they bring you whatever you have just had at your
place. This is the major problem with hotels in Gelephu."
| Contributed
by Gopilal Acharya, KUENSEL, Bhutan's National Newspaper, 2011 |
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