With Spring Festival drawing near, restaurants in China have almost been booked up for the New Year’s Eve dinner. Some catering companies even require extra charges if dining time exceeds a time limit.

A manager surnamed Xia at a star-grade hotel in Chengdu, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, disclosed that the restaurant is fully booked for dinner on New Year’s Eve, and even for dinners on weekends ahead of the Spring Festival.

Some hotels even set 1.5-hour dining time for customers, and will charge 100 yuan ($15.8) per hour in extra fees if they exceed it.

Zheng Fengsheng, a lawyer at a Sichuan-based law firm, said that setting a time limit on dining violates consumers’ right of free choice and the contract law.

Although the act is understandable during the legal holiday, the time limit must be set within a reasonable range, said Zhang Wei, an official from the city’s consumers’ association.