Sreesha Alur, general manager at a hotel used mainly by executives visiting Bangalore on business, has seen better times. Nearly 30 per cent of the rooms are vacant.
"Just imagine, in four to five days, I have received about 13-14 cancellations of all those confirmed reservations," said Alur.
The first blow to Bangalore's hotel industry came in the weeks after 26/11. Fourteen swine flue deaths in the city have meant another low. Luxury hotels like the Leela Palace Kampinski are faring better.
Instead of cancellations, their clients are asking for clarifications on how hotels are equipped to deal with swine flu.
"There are MNCs which do send us questionnaires - what precautions are you taking? How can you avoid it? We can only create awareness and so our back areas where our staff walk past, we have pictures, we have training sessions," explains Andrew Hendrian, the general manager of the Leela, as its popularly known.
That's all the reassurance required by Mani and his family. Settled in America, they've just landed in Bangalore for a vacation. They haven't given up any items from their To-Do list.
"We are here on a vacation and we are making sure we are enjoying it" ,Mani says, as he gets ready to check into a hotel.
So Bangalore asks tourists like him to share this plaintive message when they return to their homes - use precautions, but don't stop travelling.
