THE Malaysian government has finally decided to allow hotels and restaurants to impose a service charge, provided they have a collective agreement or contract with their staff on its payment, and display notices at the premises to notify customers about it.
Based on the consideration that basic wages in some hotels – as low as RM350 (US$97) monthly – will not attract locals to join the industry, the move comes after a meeting between government agencies, hotel and restaurant associations, and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress on Monday, and contrary to a proposal earlier this month to do away with the service charge as a result of the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax since April 1.
Samuel Cheah, president of Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH), told TTG Asia e-Dailythat one of the resolutions at the meeting was that the service charge must be distributed between staff and hotel on a 90 to 10 ratio.
The government is not setting a fixed amount on service charge, but most hotels and restaurants have been imposing a 10 per cent service charge.
At the meeting, MAH had also requested the ministry to withdraw the fines earlier imposed on hotels that had been collecting a service charge without having a collective agreement.
Cheah said: “We thank the ministry for initiating this meeting to find a resolution and we are happy with the decision.”
The Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry will soon introduce guidelines to ensure hotels and restaurant operators adhere to the rules of service charge collection.
