Room service

New Delhi, April 30: The hotel industry has raised tariffs in the range of 15-50 per cent, raising concerns about the country being an expensive destination for tourists.

ITC Maurya Sheraton (Delhi) has hiked its average room rent to above Rs 10,000, from about Rs 6,500 last year. Occupancy rate at the hotel remained steady at 80 per cent despite the hike.

Rack rates for New Delhi’s The Park have moved up to Rs 7,000 against Rs 5,200 last year, even as occupancy increased to 85 per cent from 72 per cent. But the The Park’s best performing property is in Bangalore, where the average room rent (ARR) is Rs 9,900, up by nearly 20 per cent from Rs 8,500.

Trident Hilton in Gurgaon, an Oberoi brand, is also selling rooms for Rs 12,200-a-night against Rs 9,200 last year. However, this is down from Rs 14,000 last month. Occupancy has risen by a meagre two per cent from 88 per cent last year.

Hoteliers said the rise was due to a demand-supply mismatch. Some hotels raised tariffs to cover renovation costs.

Five-star hotels have increased their ARR for the first quarter of the current fiscal by 15-50 per cent.

Deepak Haksa, general manager of ITC Maurya Sheraton, said, “Its a question of demand and supply. There is a certain trend in which the market operates. Room rates have moved northwards across the world.”

Anup Taneja, director (sales) of The Park, said, “There is certainly a rise in demand. While the main reason for the hike is the renovation which the hotel undertook recently, we are also seeing increased demand due to extensive corporate travel.”

Taneja said 55 per cent of the occupants are business travellers, and 45 per cent leisure travellers. However, travel agents and tour operators disagreed. They blamed the hoteliers of artificially creating a skewed demand-supply mismatch to jack up rates.

Subhash Goyal, president, Indian Association of Tour Operators, said, “The average room rates are certainly inflated. In addition, the occupancy rates are also exaggerated in most cases.”

He insisted this might result in taking the sheen away from India as a leisure destination. “We are observing a pattern in which tourists are increasingly looking at Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to spend holidays”.

“For the first time, hospitality industry has become very bullish due to the growth in economy. But certainly, India is an expensive country for leisure travel,” said a Trident official.