The hotels have a high room occupancy and there is considerable demand for their banquet halls and other spaces, enabling them to notch up profits. Nevertheless, there have been constant complaints from patrons about the poor service. Most of this can be blamed on officials who have been at the helm of affairs since CITCO was created. Many of them treated the hotels as their personal property: they expanded the hotels to suit their whims and treated recruitment as a means of patronage without caring for customer services. Under the circumstances, the decision to lease out the hotels is logical.

CITCO, which runs the hotels, has sought the services of management consultants to work out the modalities of the lease. However, the process of leasing out should be absolutely transparent. Earlier, when a survey of the two hotels was entrusted to ITDC, many eyebrows were raised. It was felt that ITDC, which is in the process of constructing its own hotel in Sector 17, got inside information about the two hotels through the survey.

The employees, who have launched an agitation, should be taken into confidence too and steps should be taken to absorb as many of them as possible in the new arrangement. It may be a good idea to set up a committee involving senior officials, a representative of the employees and a few prominent citizens in the leasing out process. Since Hotel Mountview is situated in a residential area, the UT Administration must also ensure that the privacy of people residing near the hotel is not violated under the new arrangement.

With its two hotels leased out, the UT Administration may like to take a fresh look at the role and functioning of CITCO. Why was it created; what was it intended to do? Over the years it has come to manage a wide variety of projects - from running plush hotels, providing low cost lodging, running cafes and a petrol pump, besides developing and encouraging tourism. With the city playing host to more and more national and international conferences, CITCO could do far more in the field of boosting tourism. In fact, its charter of functions may need to be revised to make its functioning more people-oriented.