Same hotel runs with two different names

Kathmandu, Mar. 6: A hotel at Kamal Binayak in Bhaktapur has got two different names following a row between the investors.

The same hotel has been registered as Hotel Yatu Pvt. Ltd. and Hotel Yechu Pvt. Ltd, and two different websites are in existence for the same.

Both the websites display the photo of the same building and mention the same facilities.

Two shareholders Krishna Prasad Tamrakar and Saru Mahat and her company Hotel De Courtyard Pvt. Ltd., registered Hotel Yatu in March 2017, with 52 per cent and 48 per cent shares respectively.

But Tamrakar registered another company, Hotel Yechu, last October which is under his sole ownership.

According to the Share Registration Book maintained at the Office of the Company Registrar, Tamrakar has an investment worth Rs. 10.4 million, and Mahat and her hotel have Rs. 4.8 million in investment in the hotel.

Tamrakar is the former vice-president of the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI) and Mahat is the owner of Hotel Courtyard.

"We had no idea that the hotel, which was built with joint investment, was registered in the name of Tamrakar. We never thought that such a reputed person could do such a thing to us," said Mahat, who organised a press meet to inform the press about the event. Her husband Mani Bikram Shah was with her during the event.

According to them, they came to know about it after an advertisement of Hotel Yechu appeared on the souvenir issue of Bhaktapur Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

"We felt that we were deceived. Tamrakar has registered a different company and running publicity campaigns with different phone numbers. We contributed in creating a state-of-art hotel, and we have been ousted from the same company illegally," said the couple.

They said that they had paid more than Rs. 13.2 million to Tamrakar for the equity and to purchase various construction materials.

They claimed that though they tried to contact Tamrakar, he neither entertained their telephone calls nor met them in person.

"We had said to him that if he wanted to run the hotel on his own, he should pay Rs. 600,000 per month to us, and if he let us run it, we would pay him from Rs. 600,000 to 800,000 a month. If he wants to buy it, we want our Rs. 13.2 million investment back, but if the hotel is sold to a third party, double the money should be paid to us as our creative design, concept and time have been invested in it," said Mahat.

But Tamrakar said that the Mahat and Shah couple had only invested only Rs. 1.8 million in the whole project.

"They escaped with various excuses while investing in the project but created another hotel similar to it at another location in Bhaktapur. We had agreed to pay Rs. 400,000 in rent per month for the land, and their investment was consumed as they had to pay half of the rent. And I registered another company," said Tamrakar.

He argued that te Mahat and Shah couple wanted to use his property worth Rs. 560 million with just Rs. 10 million investment. He challenged them to show proof of their investment.

Tamrakar also blamed Mahat and Shah of trying to defame him.

"I am still urging them to bring the money they pledged to invest, and run the hotel smoothly. However, I have told them that the management would be looked after by my men," he said.

Tamrakar said that he would bring the whole story to the press very soon while the Shah couple is opting for legal remedy. 

Published in The Rising Nepal on 7 March 2018.