They were getting too greedy for the city’s restaurateurs’ comfort. So, the Vijayawada Hotel Owners’ Association on Wednesday announced that all the hoteliers in the city would log out of online food delivery app Swiggy from 6 a.m. on November 11, as a protest against all the food delivery apps.
Addressing a press conference here, Association president P. Ravi Kumar and secretary Sanjay Mehta Jain said the delivery apps are now mounting pressure on them to increase the commission. This has become a huge burden for the hotel owners due to increase in prices of ingredients and operating costs.
Jacking up commission
“Online apps like Swiggy, Zomato, Uber Eats and others had started businesses about one-and-a-half years ago with zero commission, and gradually increased it to 10 per cent. Now, with their hold in the city becoming stronger, they are increasing it from 18 to 25 per cent. In addition, we have to bear the costs of order cancellations, telephone charges, and many other hidden charges,” Mr. Ravi Kumar said.
The hotel owners associations have already put this issue in the notice of Competition Commission of India which is pursuing the case, Mr. Ravi Kumar added.
Unregulated, unfair
“All the apps are more or less practicing the same making it a burden for us. To start with we have decided to stop logging in to Swiggy from Nov. 11 and later we would extend it to other apps if things are not set right. We need the governments to intervene and regulate the food delivery companies so that fair business practices are followed,” Mr. Jain said.
The Association has 240 restaurants, including a majority of the hotels in the city, as its members, and all of them came together and took a decision in a meeting held on Tuesday, he said.
No response
“While some of the misguided hotels signed up for 25 per cent commission already, most refused to increase it from 18 per cent, Mr. Jain added.
An e-mail and a message sent to Swiggy for clarification over the issue evoked no response.
