As dates for the much awaited G20 leadership summit with high-profile dignitaries in attendance draws close, all five star hotels in the national capital of Delhi see 100 percent bookings and a 400 percent surge in prices.
The 18th G20 Heads of State and Government Summit is set to take place in New Delhi on 9 and 10 September at a recently-inaugurated state-of-the-art convention complex at Pragati Maidan. Apart from PM Narendra Modi, the summit will see guests like US President Joe Biden, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Steep surge in bookings
Capital’s most premium hotels including Taj Mahal, Taj Palace, ITC Maurya Sheraton, Le Meridien, Shangri-La, The Lalit, Imperial, Oberoi, and Leela have already closed availability for almost all dates between September 6-11. Other hotels such as The Claridges, Eros, Pride Hotel are seeing 100 percent bookings from September 8-10, a search on platforms such as booking.com has shown.
"Eros Hotel will be reporting 100 percent occupancy during the G20 meeting dates," Rubina Sharma, Director of Sales and Marketing, Eros Hotel, Nehru Place confirmed to Moneycontrol.
G20 meetings scheduled for September have triggered a strong surge in bookings, as per Atul Upadhyay, Executive Vice President, Pride Hotels Group. "We have currently secured both confirmed and tentative reservations, collectively accounting for over 500 rooms specifically earmarked for this event.” Upadhyay is expecting occupancy rate to surpass 95 percent during the G20 meeting period, up from 75 percent that the hotel recorded in the last few months.
"Hotel occupancies have already started increasing in Delhi, driven primarily by G20 related activities as preparations have started for the mega final meet. Occupancies during the G20 meet will be almost 30-50 percent higher month on month," as per Aashish Gupta, Consulting CEO , Federation of Associations in Indian tourism & Hospitality.
Room rates up from the current Rs 15,000 to Rs 60,000 during G20 meet
While room rates have doubled in almost all premium properties, many are seeing prices spiralling even upto 4 times their normal prices.
Delhi’s hotel occupancy is expected to be at a decade-high of 70-72 percent, up from around 60 percent in 2014-15, said Nishant Pitti, CEO and Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip. "Delhi has topped the occupancy chart this year with 75 percent higher demand all owing to the G20 meetings held across the country."
Per him, only a handful of rooms are available at very few premium hotels and all are priced significantly high. "For instance, available rooms in Le Meridien are priced at Rs 60,000 per night for single occupancy whereas, the rate for the same room in August end is less than Rs 15,000. Even at Taj Palace, the starting price of rooms in the first week of September is Rs 25,000 plus taxes. Post-September 13, the same room is available for Rs 15,000. All in all, there has been a 3-4x increase in room prices, and this is the same for almost all 5-star properties in the Delhi-NCR region."
"We expect increase of 40-50 percent in average room rates (ARR) during the course of the G20 meetings in Delhi,” Pitti said.
3 and 4 star hotels to also see raised room rates
It is not just the premium properties but also 3 and 4 star hotels which are seeing a rise in booking numbers and thus raised room rates.
“It is a simple supply-demand matter. Demand has increased by leaps and bounds while supply is the same,” MP Bezbaruah, Secretary General of Hotel Association Of India (HAI) said.
“Hotels in Aerocity, other NCR regions are expected to see a fair amount of spill-over bookings, many of which will be for the media teams travelling to Delhi,” he added.
Queries at Southern Group of Hotels' property in Delhi have risen by at least 30 percent as dates for the summit draw close. "We have received 30 percent more enquiries for the first week of September, which indicates a strong demand for accommodations during the G20 meetings,” said the group's Managing Director, Alapati Krishna Mohan.
He added that in the case of 5-star hotels in Delhi, almost all rooms have either been blocked by the government or have been sold out between 6-12 September.
Revival helping hospitality sector hit during Covid
Hospitality was one industry that had been severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Average hotel occupancy rate had remained 33-36 per cent during 2020 and hotels reduced tariffs significantly to attract business, pulling down Revenue per Available Room to a dismal low of Rs 1,500 – Rs 1,800, the economic survey 2022-23 has noted.
“However, G20 has brought an opportunity for the country and hospitality players to make for the losses they suffered. Yes, the big players will make steep profits, but it is only fit as they also lost significant amounts during the lockdown,” Bezbaruah, Secretary General HAI added.
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