Room rates go through the roof for long weekend
NEW DELHI : The upcoming long weekend has extended this year’s dream run for India’s hotel companies, with last-minute holiday planners shelling out at least ₹20,000 to spend a single night at any top five-star resort. Taj Lake Palace in Udaipur is charging ₹1.8 lakh for two people for a three-night stay over the weekend, while Taj group-owned Rambagh Palace in Jaipur has a list price of ₹5.9 lakh for four nights for two people for its last few rooms. Accor Group’s Raffles in Udaipur is sold out, while Fairmont in Jaipur charges ₹20,000 a night.
These rooms typically go for ₹5,000-15,000 a night on regular off-peak weekends. Independence Day falls on Tuesday this year, and many travellers are choosing to mark leave on Monday for a four-day break from Saturday through Tuesday. At Thomas Cook India and its unit SOTC Travel, travel demand for the coming weekend is 2.5 times that of last year.
At hotels, occupancy continues to hover around the 80-100% mark for top premium hotels, with an average of 20-30% annual surge in room rates across destinations. “Our leisure hotels and resorts have a demand of between 80% and 90% this weekend. While this is similar to last year, it is the premium rates that most hotels are able to charge that is a huge advantage over 2022," said Monisha Dewan, senior area director for sales and distribution for South Asia at Marriott International.
Marriott’s 10 leisure hotels in Goa, a JW Marriott in Mussoorie, and the Courtyard by Marriott and Westin in the National Capital Region (NCR) have seen a surge in demand for the weekend. Its Coorg property is charging over ₹32,500 a night. This year’s room rates are 10% above the Independence Day weekend rates of 2022 and 35% above the rates in the last
. Read more on livemint.com
