Plan ahead, pay less

MUMBAI: Close on the heels of the aviation business, hotel companies in India have begun offering apex rates (booked in advance) facility to attract the booming tourist traffic in the country.

Industry sources indicate that since leisure travel is planned well in advance, tourist can book into hotels at competitive rates.

This is also seen as a high growth area for hotel companies who see a sizeable chunk of revenues coming from this segment. Hotel companies are able to shore up occupancies and forecast future business strategies by following the apex system, sources said.

Hotels have begun offering apex fares predominately for leisure destinations and these rates are lower by at least 25-30% vis-à-vis the regular room rates. The Leela Hotel, for instance, offers this facility at its Goa and Kovalam facilities for customers booking 21 days in advance. The room rates are lower by 30%. S

ays a source at the Leela, ”A customer can avail of 5-star facility at competitive rates. It just requires some planning in advance.” For hotels it also means increased revenues as customers pay in advance when the booking is done, industry sources said.

These offers were primarily introduced by hotels to complement the low-cost airlines advance purchase rates that give the benefit of booking early to the customer. A top Taj official said that the offers also help to attract a new set of customers. “For the hotels it shores up occupancies, making it easier to forecast forward booking positions,” he said.

This year at the Taj the apex offers were extremely successful. “We were able to create the desired base occupancy much in advance and hence plan other sales activities for the forthcoming months,” Indian Hotels officials added.

The buoyant economy growth in the aviation and real estate sectors is expected to fuel demand for hotels across categories in the majority of markets, sources said. Also tourist inflows, both business as well as leisure, is also expected to fuel a very strong demand for hotels.

Last financial year saw 4m tourist arriving in the country, up by 11% over last year and is expected to maintain the same level this year too. With occupancies in the range of 74-78% across the country, hotels are expected to increase room rates by 20-40% in the next few months, industry sources said.