Hotels full as city turns into wedding destination
Rajesh.C@timesgroup.com 27.04.2018
Chennai:
The occupancy rates of luxury hotel rooms in the city have shot up in April on the back of bulk bookings for weddings and the Defence Expo.
“It has been a very good month and we hope it is not a blip,” said T Nataraajan, honorary secretary, Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association (FHRA). Occupancy rates rose to 75% on average from 50% earlier.
TheApril2017highwayliquor ban, which stopped liquor sales on highways, pushed the hospitality industry into an abyss. The delayed denotification of highways in Tamil Nadu resulted in the state losing out on meetings and weddings to other neighbouring states.
“We had a full April on the back of the return of wedding bookings and the Defence Expo which added to the excitement,” said Anil Chadha, general manager, ITC Grand Chola. Chennai has a luxury room inventory of 7,000 across four and five star categories. “The sentiment appears to have turned positive. We hope this is sustained going forward.”
Chennai is slowly becoming a city for destination weddings. “Our one-placesolution for big weddings is getting popular,” Chadha added.
Nataraajan said that business activity was picking up across the state and the government should push for more meetings and international conventions as it had a huge trickle-down effect. “It would be helpful if large international events happen regularly in thecity,” hesaid.
Tariffs too have moved north. A luxury hotel room was sold for upwards of ₹20,000 per night in a couple of cases during the DefExpo. “Overall tariffs rose 30% on average,” sources said.
The big dampener has been the shifting of IPL matches from Chennai to Pune owing to protests. “Crowne Plaza has said in a court affidavit that they lost out on 150 room nights due to the shifting of IPL matches,” industry sources said. This impacted other luxury hotels too, as teams coming to play in Chennai need at least 60 rooms for a match.
Hotels add that bookings are on a high since the end of last year, with an increase in conferences and business bookings.
“This April in particular, the occupancy level has shot up by 12-14% since last year. Even otherwise, sentiments have been high since October and the forecast also looks positive,” said Ronald Menezes, director of sales and marketing, Taj Coromandel.
USHERING PROFITS
Rajesh.C@timesgroup.com 27.04.2018
Chennai:
The occupancy rates of luxury hotel rooms in the city have shot up in April on the back of bulk bookings for weddings and the Defence Expo.
“It has been a very good month and we hope it is not a blip,” said T Nataraajan, honorary secretary, Federation of Hotels and Restaurants Association (FHRA). Occupancy rates rose to 75% on average from 50% earlier.
TheApril2017highwayliquor ban, which stopped liquor sales on highways, pushed the hospitality industry into an abyss. The delayed denotification of highways in Tamil Nadu resulted in the state losing out on meetings and weddings to other neighbouring states.
“We had a full April on the back of the return of wedding bookings and the Defence Expo which added to the excitement,” said Anil Chadha, general manager, ITC Grand Chola. Chennai has a luxury room inventory of 7,000 across four and five star categories. “The sentiment appears to have turned positive. We hope this is sustained going forward.”
Chennai is slowly becoming a city for destination weddings. “Our one-placesolution for big weddings is getting popular,” Chadha added.
Nataraajan said that business activity was picking up across the state and the government should push for more meetings and international conventions as it had a huge trickle-down effect. “It would be helpful if large international events happen regularly in thecity,” hesaid.
Tariffs too have moved north. A luxury hotel room was sold for upwards of ₹20,000 per night in a couple of cases during the DefExpo. “Overall tariffs rose 30% on average,” sources said.
The big dampener has been the shifting of IPL matches from Chennai to Pune owing to protests. “Crowne Plaza has said in a court affidavit that they lost out on 150 room nights due to the shifting of IPL matches,” industry sources said. This impacted other luxury hotels too, as teams coming to play in Chennai need at least 60 rooms for a match.
Hotels add that bookings are on a high since the end of last year, with an increase in conferences and business bookings.
“This April in particular, the occupancy level has shot up by 12-14% since last year. Even otherwise, sentiments have been high since October and the forecast also looks positive,” said Ronald Menezes, director of sales and marketing, Taj Coromandel.
USHERING PROFITS
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