Southern Star Hotel to reopen after a year

Mysuru’s hospitality sector showing positive signs of recovery 

Mysore/Mysuru: Mysuru’s iconic Hotel Southern Star on Vinobha Road will reopen in the first week of October after closure for over one year and four months. The hotel had shut its operations on May 19 last year due to COVID-19 pandemic. The soft launch will be from the first week of October and communication has been sent to all employees to report back to work. 

Director of the Hotel Balram Jairaj confirmed this to Star of Mysore this morning and said that since things have started looking up for the hospitality sector in Mysuru, the management has taken a decision to reopen from October first week. 

 “We are opening on a trial basis and making a cautious move as we are not sure how things will pan out in subsequent days. But we are optimistic and have the best hopes for the industry,” Balram said.

All the employees have been called back and most of them have reported to work. “Despite closure, we were in touch with all our employees and we have had a couple of individual meetings in the past on how to handle the crisis better and now we have called them back. Most of our employees have put in decades of service,” he added. 

“Hectic preparations are on to reopen the hotel and give the guests the best experience for which the hotel is well-known. Cleaning process is on and everything will be kept ready for patrons,” Abhijit Nayak, Business Finance Manager, said. 

 Industry starts looking up

Meanwhile, the hotel business and the hospitality sector in Mysuru has shown positive signs of recovery and tourists are slowly arriving here and are also opting to stay for one or two days. “Weekend curfew has been relaxed and Test Positivity Rate is the lowest. All these factors are contributing to the sector’s improved business,” said C. Narayanagowda, President of Mysuru Hotel Owners’ Association. 

There are over 10,000 rooms in Mysuru’s 410 hotels of all ranges. “At present we are seeing 50 percent occupancy during weekends and holidays. There is 25 percent occupancy from Monday to Friday. This is encouraging,” he added.  Many hotels closed and many owners diversified to other businesses due to mounting losses.