The coming Diwali has brought crackers for hotel industry of Delhi as well, which had been suffering from global recession for the past couple of years. As the economy is gradually recovering, the hotel industry has hiked its tariffs by 15 to 25%, for coming winter season. As a result, the five star tariffs that had fallen to an unbelievable low of Rs. 6000-8000 have now come upwards, to the tune of Rs. 12,000. This has given the hotel industry a chance to make up for the lost business in past few years.
Leela Kempinski Gurgaon, a newly opened hotel, has raised its room rates by Rs. 2,000 and the suit rates by Rs. 5,000-10,000. The hotel has emerged with the highest tariffs in the NCR. Rajendra Kumar, Vice President - Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), said that tariffs had gone up by almost 25%. Hotel Imperial's spokesperson Ajanta Chatterji said that post recession, the travel trend had changed, as international leisure and business traveler's ratio had inversed from 70:30 to 30:70.
Rajender Rai, Chief - Travel Agents Association of India, said that traveler inflow seemed to on the rise in the coming winter, after a long time. Vatika Group director Gaurav Bhalla believed that business would go up and keep growing till Commonwealth Games at least. The industry experts, however, still hold divided opinion on the tariff hike. Mr. Rajendra Kumar also added to the divide, by saying that filling rooms was more important than tariffs hikes. He said that everybody raised tariffs, but to get the customers back was more important.
