For several branded hotels in the city, New Year celebrations this year will be an opportunity to host guests, both in-house and walk-ins, for ‘responsible’ and ‘safe’ celebrations.
Erin Louis, general manager of ITC WelcomHotel, said the hotel planned to have dinner for guests on December 31 with live band. Similarly, it would have special dinner on Christmas eve (December 24) and Christmas lunch on December 25.
“We are not doing any banqueting for Christmas and New Year. We want to have responsible celebrations,” he said.
There were several social events that are happening at the hotels across the city and the booking had picked up already. The hotels in the city had good room bookings from December 18. Usually, the hotels got guests from nearby towns and other cities for New Year. The special lunch and dinner at WelcomHotel would be only on reservation, he added.
D. Charles Fabian, Director - Operations, The Residency Towers, said the hotel recently had a fruit mixing event for Christmas cakes and would have a Christmas tree lighting programme on December 22.
The hotel planned to have 24.5-feet tall Christmas tree. With muted celebrations last year because of COVID-19, this year, it would host New Year dinner on December 31 at its restaurants.
“We want to get into the celebrations with all safety protocols (for COVID-19),” he said.
P. Ramachandran, general manager at Le Meridien, said restaurant services were not affected much because of the second wave of COVID-19. The hotel would have brunch, lunch, and dinner on Christmas day for in-house and walk-in guests. For New Year, it was looking at a low key celebration with just one or two events and dinner.
“It all depends on the government norms and restrictions. The celebrations will be according to the safety norms,” he said.
Several other hotels are also planning events or dinner for New Year that will be organised as per safety protocol guidelines issued by the government.