Taipei's hotels are responding to the extended trading hours in the stock market by prolonging their own dining hours.
Several of Taipei's leading hotels said they are extending their original lunch hour by half an hour to 3pm to accommodate the new trading hours of the securities traders.
Spearheading the adjustment is Hilton Hotel, which has extended the dining hours of its five restaurants by half an hour -- from 2:30pm to 3pm -- and has moved an afternoon tea buffet at its coffee shop restaurant by an hour from 3pm to 2pm.
"We did lose some customers before we made the adjustment," said Joyce Weng (翁梅珠), public relations manager at the Hilton. "We have a number of major securities firms in the neighborhood."
The government extended stock trading hours by a one and half hours from 9am to 1:30am beginning Jan. 1, a move which, while generating turnover volume in the market, is trying the stamina of the stock traders.
Many others are responding by adjusting both the timing and menu of afternoon dining schemes. Rebar Hotel has added rice and noodles to its afternoon teatime, accompanied by TV screens carrying live stock quotes.
Lai Lai Sheraton's restaurants, which serve food in the afternoon, have seen their sales increase by between 10 to 20 percent since the stock rule change, local media reports said.
Lin Yuan Hotel said it will change its lunch bar into an afternoon tea buffet.
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