Luxury resorts increase rates up to 60% for long weekends in August

livemint.com:

₹37,500 a night for a regular room, about 15-25% higher than its usual rates, Mint found in its research. Similarly, pool view suites at the plush ITC Grand Bharat in a remote corner of Gurugram in Delhi-NCR will start from ₹32,000 a night excluding tax, which is ₹8,000 higher than its usual rate.

Then, Suryagarh Jaisalmer and Narendra Bhawan Bikaner are being prepared for a thronging crowd to come in to stay as the mega long weekend approaches. Sameer Mehra, chief operating officer of the MRS group, the company behind these luxe properties, is expecting a 15-27% increase in occupancies on this long weekend over last year.

“By adding one day on either side of this weekend, it becomes a five-day long holiday," said Mehta. "A lot of travellers still have hybrid work systems and so at least at our properties, we have not seen any decline in travellers even though international travel has resumed in full swing." According to Mehta, the Suraygarh property will see a 27% increase in travellers this long weekend but a relatively modest increase in prices of about 10%.

Narendra Bhawan Bikaner, on the other hand, will have a similar increase in the number of travellers because of good connectivity to bigger cities, including direct flights, and will take a 50-60% increase in its room rates for this period. “We are witnessing nearly a 20% surge in demand for resorts and hotels versus last year and anticipate this trend to further accelerate mid-August," said Nikhil Sharma, MD and area senior VP for South Asia, Radisson Hotel Group, adding that newer destinations like Kumbhalgarh, Saputara, Pondicherry, and Mahabalipuram along with Udaipur, Jaipur and Agra are seeing the most traction from travellers.