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Hotel Talk
Delhi hotel rates touch 10-year high
ETW Staff - Delhi
 Hotel
room rates in the capital have peaked to a 10-year high of US $250 (Rs 11,000)
a night.
This movement, industry insiders say, is not restricted to
luxury hotels; even mid-market properties are charging around US $120-130 (Rs
5,300-Rs 6,000) a night, which was the average room rent charged by luxury hotels
about 15 months ago.
Occupancy levels at most hotels today average
at around 80-85 per cent throughout the year and is expected to
increase due to the conferences and trade shows being hosted in
the city.
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Indian Hotels Company Ltd (IHCL) is
reducing room rates by more than 50 per cent in its leisure
hotels across the country and in its overseas properties in
Sri Lanka, Maldives and Lankawi (Malaysia) for the summer
season. The reduction is applicable across all categories
of rooms. The offer is part of its Taj Holidays Apex package.
Taj Hotels brand manager (Leisure Hotels) Deepika Godsay,
said, "The level of discount will be the same across
all room categories. We are expecting a 20-25 per cent growth
in occupancies this summer."
IHCL's initiative may trigger a price
war in the hospitality industry. Indicating that this may
be a possibility, the Oberoi group executive vice president
(sales and marketing) Paul Simmons said, "The Oberoi
group will remain competitive in price and value." However,
an ITC spokesperson said that ITC would not look at reducing
rates drastically but would continue with its summer holiday
packages, which are already in place.
Park Hyatt Goa marketing director Jaideep
Khanna said, "We have our `Coastal Getaways' package
for the summer and that has an option of flexi-pricing as
well as fixed pricing. Our rates are generally lower by 20-30
per cent in the summer." IHCL's offer comes at a time
when domestic travel is on a high growth trajectory. The April-May
period is also a traditionally slack season and hotels rely
heavily on the domestic crowd for occupancy levels.
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