Chennai: Opinion on whether the customers should pay service charge or not appears to be divided among hoteliers. Some of the city’s hotels and restaurants have refrained from levying service charge while the National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI) has placed the onus largely on the customers to exercise their discretion on whether or not to patronise restaurants that levy service charge.
A few hotels and restaurants in the city have boldly displayed boards claiming not to levy the service charge. The Union government has said it is not mandatory for customers to pay service charge on bills levied by restaurants and eateries and left it to the restaurants to have their own policy on whether to levy service charge and inform patrons beforehand, or do away with it completely.
The service charges range from 5 % to 10 %, sometimes even higher in fine dining restaurants. A majority of hotels and restaurants nevertheless continue to levy service charge claiming that is the true value of service provided by their staff.
But where does the money paid as service charge go? The money paid by the customers most invariably go to the waiters, cleaners, cooks, housekeeping and security guards. “Our restaurants provide a good dining experience and levying service charge is accepted norm worldwide,” said a hotelier and he argues that the issue as such is of fine dining restaurants and not of mere eateries. The charges are reflected on the menu.
The Central government has asked the State governments to ‘sensitise’ companies, hotels and restaurants about provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and disseminate information about service charge being voluntary.
