Hotels cash in on IPL craze

CHANDIGARH: IPL fever is truly hitting the ceiling, the craze of IPL matches has become a hit amongst the city resident, but rather than going to stadium, they prefer going to pubs or cafés where huge TV screens have been installed specially for screening IPL matches.
"We are a group of five friends and every time Tricity hosts a match, we go to the stadium.But this time we decided to go to an eating joint where they had special offers only for IPL and where we can enjoy the match and drinks," said Raman Deep, a student and resident of Sector 35.
"My entire family loves cricket and wanted to go to the stadium. But our last year's experience was not very good. The youngsters had a brawl because of which we could not enjoy, so when I got to know that there are places where big LCD's were installed only for the IPL matches I decided to go out and everybody agreed," said Priya Mehta, a homemaker from Sector 38
The hotels are offering dinner and cocktails and they have also come up with packages which are only valid during IPL matches where you can relax, enjoy the drinks and hoot for your favourite teams.
"We are offering special packages for IPL, during which people can come and have drinks, dinner and enjoy the match. The foot fall has increased" said Gulab, assistant manager of Kava, Sector 8.
Another restaurant, Icon, in Sector 8 has special schemes for IPL on offer. "Cricket lovers can come and enjoy food, drinks and the game. We are getting numerous calls regarding the schemes and bookings," said Sandeep Kumar, restaurant manager.
"People are crazy for cricket and they flock around to see the updates. We get different types of customers, a few come just to get updates, while others remain here till the end. We have not introduced any special schemes, but still many youngsters came to watch the match" said Rajender Pal Singh, MD of Hotel Aroma, Sector 22.