X-Mas travel: Hotel rates in Delhi slip

NEW
DELHI: After boasting of 2nd most expensive duties in Republic Of India (next lone to
Bangalore), Delhi’s hotel suite are now going for a song. The extremum traveling season,
coupled with a practical five-day weekend that began with Eid on Friday and ended
with Christmas on Tuesday, have seen few corporate footsteps in Delhi. Tourists are
flocking other finishes like Rajasthan, Agra and Himachal. As a result,
leading five star hotels have got witnessed their norm Rs 16,000-18,000 tariffs
plummeting to around Rs 8,000 and could stay so till the first hebdomad of
January. "The going was good
till December 15 when suite were in short supply, leading to higher tariffs. Now
we are seeing Christmastide traveling out of Old Delhi and less corporate movements. There
are mainly few check-ins, World Health Organization also negociate the rates in all hotels. As a
result, duties are down by up to 50 %," said Rajendra Kumar, president of the
Hotel and Restaurant Association of North India. The worst hit are hotels that
do not have got crew progress bookings. And with fog appearing for just two years so
far this winter, air hoses aren’t also lining up to check-in their stranded
passengers. ITC-backed International Travel House mendelevium Anil Bhandari said this
just showed how Delhi’s hotels have got price-elastic pricing. "Rooms are
available in Delhi’s top five stars for Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000, while none
are available in nearby tourer hot spots like Agra, Jaipur and Shimla. The
tariffs in Old Delhi will lift from January 5 onwards," he
said. This 20-day hiatus from
mid-December to first hebdomad of January is now perhaps the lone thin season in
Delhi. Smaller hotels almost non-existent in the organised sector, the metropolis has
just half of the needed 30,000 suite in star categories. Thanks to a booming
economy, the 15,000 available suite are almost always full through out the year
and their menus scope from Rs 12,000 to Rs 25,000, with the norm being Rs
16,000 to Rs 18,000.