New Delhi, May 16 (IANS) After Swiggy, its online food delivery rival Zomato has made a new change to its Gold membership benefits for the rainy season.
Starting from Friday, Gold members will no longer be exempt from surge fees during rainy weather. This means that even paying subscribers will have to pay an extra fee for food delivery when it rains.
The company informed users about this change through an in-app notification. The message said, “Starting May 16, surge fee waiver during rains will not be part of your Gold benefits.”
However, Zomato has not shared the exact amount of the surge fee yet. Zomato explained that this extra charge will help the company provide better compensation to delivery partners who work in difficult weather conditions.
This change comes shortly after Zomato paused its 50:50 refund-sharing policy with partner restaurants, which had also attracted attention in the food delivery industry.
Meanwhile, Swiggy, Zomato’s main rival, already charges a similar rain-time fee from its users, including subscribers of its Swiggy One membership.
This indicates that such charges may soon become common across all food delivery platforms.
Earlier, Zomato Gold members enjoyed benefits like free delivery and no surge fees during rain.
Now, with this new rule, regular users and Gold members will be treated the same during bad weather.
Zomato has not announced any new benefits or changes in membership prices to make up for this.
Zomato Gold still offers some key perks, including free delivery from nearby partner restaurants (within 7 km) and up to 30 per cent discounts on dining out.
However, not all restaurants are included — some, like Domino’s and others that use their own delivery services, are excluded.
These restaurants are marked with a ‘Free Delivery’ label on the app for easier identification.
Zomato also applies extra charges during the festive season, saying these fees help cover higher operational costs.
With the rainy season approaching, users — especially frequent orderers — may now see a noticeable increase in their overall delivery costs.
–IANS
pk/na