Shimla, September 11 — The Himachal Pradesh government has revised its earlier decision to lease out 14 hotels of the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) to private players, opting instead to hand over only six properties.
The state Cabinet had approved the privatization of all 14 loss-making units at its June 28 meeting, but the plan triggered stiff opposition from employees and reservations from HPTDC Chairman Raghubir Bali. “I have always believed these hotels can be revived with proper funding and facelift. Even the loss-making and low-profit units can turn profitable,” Bali said.
HPTDC Managing Director Rajiv Kumar confirmed that online bookings for the six shortlisted hotels will be disabled from December 1 to facilitate the handover. These include Hotel Hilltop (Swarghat), Hotel Baghal (Darlaghat) and Hotel Shiwalik (Parwanoo) in Solan district, Giriganga Resort (Kharapathar, Shimla), Hotel Tourist Inn (Rajgarh, Sirmour) and Hotel Uhl (Jogindernagar, Mandi).
Hotel Kashmir House in Dharamsala, which was part of the original list, has been excluded after it was converted into the corporation’s new head office following the shift from Shimla.
Other hotels dropped from the privatization plan include Roscommon Old (Kasauli), Sarvari (Kullu), Apple Blossom (Fagu), Lakeview (Bilaspur), Mamleshwar (Chindi in Mandi), Chanshal (Rohru) and the Wayside Amenity at Bhararighat (Solan).
The plan faced immediate backlash from HPTDC employees, who met Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and sought reversal of the Cabinet decision. Staff unions argued that the state should invest in upgrading its properties rather than privatize them.
Over the years, successive governments have floated similar proposals but with limited success. In some cases, units like the Lake View restaurant in Bilaspur were leased out temporarily, only to return under HPTDC management later.
HPTDC currently manages 56 hotels and restaurants, classified into profitable, less profitable and loss-making categories. A majority of the 14 initially earmarked for privatization fell in the latter two segments.
Despite this, Bali insisted that the right investment could transform them. “Most HPTDC hotels are at prime locations. Private players with smaller properties in less attractive spots are still managing better occupancy. With renovations, our hotels too can compete,” he noted.
The government’s scaled-back decision reflects a compromise: testing the waters with six properties while keeping eight others under state control.
