SynopsisThe discussions, led by Swiggy CEO (food marketplace, dineout & crew) Rohit Kapoor, chief business officer (food marketplace) Sidharth Bhakoo and CEO (dineout & scenes) Swapnil Bajpai, came a day after rival Zomato held talks with restaurateurs and agreed to address a range of operational concerns.ReutersBengaluru hotels will suspend business with Swiggy from August 15. They demand transparency in payment statements and opt-out optionsFood delivery platform Swiggy has agreed to refund charges collected from Bengaluru restaurants for promotional campaigns run without their consent, while seeking time until the end of August to address most of the industry's pending demands, representatives of hotel associations told ET after a meeting on Friday.The discussions, led by Swiggy CEO (food marketplace, dineout & crew) Rohit Kapoor, chief business officer (food marketplace) Sidharth Bhakoo and CEO (dineout & scenes) Swapnil Bajpai, came a day after rival Zomato held talks with restaurateurs and agreed to address a range of operational concerns.Swiggy also agreed to draft a memorandum of understanding (MoU) outlining mutually agreed terms and conditions, which is expected to be signed with industry bodies next week. Following the meeting, the Bangalore Hotels Association (BHA) extended its August 15 boycott deadline, giving the platform until August 31 to resolve the issues."If Swiggy fails to address our demands by August 31, we will switch off the app from September 1," BHA honorary president PC Rao told ET.The meetings follow warnings from more than 250 Bengaluru restaurateurs that they would delist themselves from food delivery platforms unless long-pending concerns over unauthorised promotions, multiple charges and shrinking margins were addressed.In a letter to Kapoor, the BHA sought prior consent before launching promotional campaigns or renewing marketing contracts, transparent deduction of only agreed commissions and statutory charges, and levy of service charges only on the food component of bills, excluding GST. The association also demanded that Swiggy discontinue what it termed unauthorised levies, including long-distance, payment collection, Swiggy One, Pocket Hero, restaurant cancellation, call centre, delivery sponsorship and Bolt fees. It further sought dedicated points of contact to visit member hotels every month and a weekly Swiggy Helpdesk to resolve operational, accounting and payout-related issues.Swiggy executives told the industry that the platform had already acted on some concerns by introducing an OTP-based consent mechanism. Restaurateurs, however, insisted that the company refund charges collected for promotional campaigns run without their approval."We have also told Swiggy that auto-renewal of promotional campaigns is unacceptable. Consent should be valid only for a mutually agreed period, and any extension must require fresh approval," BHA executive committee member Arun Adiga said.Industry representatives also objected to what they described as hidden charges imposed under multiple heads over and above GST and urged Swiggy to simplify its commercial terms and present them in clear, easy-to-understand language.Swiggy did not respond to an email seeking comment.On Thursday, Zomato agreed to make promotional campaigns opt-in rather than automatically enrolling restaurants and said it would seek explicit consent through email or OTP before launching promotional programmes. ...moreElevate your knowledge and leadership skills at a cost cheaper than your daily tea.Subscribe Now