Diners can cheer, state to penalise hotels that fleece with service tax

Two days after the Centre's ruling on stricter guidelines on service charge levied at hotels and restaurants, the Telangana government has decided to implement the orders.

"Due to lesser awareness among consumers they are often fleeced by hotels and restaurants. Many are forced to pay service charge as a tax. Therefore, we will implement the guidelines issued by the Central government and will have stricter rules in place," said CV Anand, ex-officio principal secretary (full additional charge) to consumer affairs, food and civil supplies in Telangana.

Anand further told  that inspections will also be held in hotels. "Paying service charge must be at the consumers' discretion. We will take strict action against hotels and restaurants that fleece consumers by making service charge mandatory," said Anand.

Most customers seemed to be excited about the recent missive from the Central government.