The Indian hotel industry is making a positive but slow and steady recovery from the COVID-19 driven nationwide lockdown and months of ongoing restrictions. With the industry yet to gain the much needed momentum, data by industry tracker STR states that the occupancy rate for hotels is around 24 per cent on an average in the first week of September. According to Hospitality Consultancy HVS Anarock, hotels had 20 per cent occupancy in June for about 60 per cent operational inventory.
Vidhi Godiawala, business development manager for central and South Asia at STR, told ET that some leisure markets in India, especially in the North, have picked up in August in terms of weekend demand. She pointed out that there is marginal, but visible weekend leisure spikes in markets such as Udaipur, Jaipur and Amritsar with some movemnent in the South as well. “However, occupancy for hotels in Goa has flatlined and is struggling in the single digits. Each state has different response measures to tackle the virus, and depending on the situation on the ground, travellers are choosing their destinations accordingly.” Managing Director of Sarovar Hotels, Ajay Bakaya said average occupancy rate for his hotels was about 22 per cent in August. He revealed recovery has been slow with recovery in business hotels even slower. Bakaya shared that recovery in cities like Bengaluru which are dependent on tech is even slower. During most of August, 75 out of 90 Sarovar hotels were operating. The managing director said leisure hotels in places where one can drive to or reach without any stringent travel restrictions are reporting better occupancies.
Similarly, Renu Basu, senor vice president global sales and marketing at IHCL said metro cities like Delhi and Mumbai have done quite well. She said the chain is seeing some leisure demand in markets such as Nashik, Coorg and Udaipur with many guests taking staycations.
