Grappling with a global slowdown, the last thing the hotel industry needed was a bittersweet reminder to cut room tariff from the Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Caught between a rock and a hard place, a call to cut room rates has been met with mixed feelings. According to Major Harish Sud, secretary general, Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Assoc of India (FHRAI), "All hotels should announce tariff in January for the next two years provided the government helps to keep costs down."