Despite fears of a third wave of COVID-19 infections and an Omicron variant outbreak, the Indian hospitality market boomed in the last three months of 2021, says a report by JLL. Hotels in India saw a 100.3 percent surge in Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR), year-on-year, between October and December. The period also saw a 41.9 percent jump in RevPAR when compared to the previous quarter.

“Corporate travel started to witness a recovery on the back of improved confidence in the office sector as commercial real estate witnessed the highest net absorption rate over the last eight quarters,” said Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, Hotels and Hospitality Group (South Asia), JLL. “Staycations, long weekend leisure, weddings, and social gatherings continued to remain the base business for the hospitality sector,” he added.

While holidays and a small spike in business travel may have helped hotels record their best quarter in terms of revenues, the report also acknowledges a significant jump in air travel between October and December as another reason for the spike.

Goa leads the way

Not surprisingly, hotels in Goa beat their peers across the country in terms of Average Daily Room Rent (ADR) and occupancy thanks to the Christmas and New Year rush late last year. While the city recorded an average occupancy of 70 percent at its hotels, the ADR exceeded Rs 10,000 per room.

Interestingly, while Mumbai saw similar hotel room occupancy, its ADR only hovered around the Rs 6,000 mark, indicating that competitive pricing was a hallmark of the city’s hospitality market through 2021. Hotels in Delhi saw occupancy of about 60 percent with ADR at sub-6,000-rupee levels.

JLL now has reason to believe the Indian hospitality market will likely improve in the first half of 2022, fears over possible COVID waves notwithstanding. “The hospitality sector is likely to recover well in 2022 even as uncertainty around different COVID variants and waves continue,” Jaideep said.

A large part of this bullishness is based on an expected turnaround in rail and air travel, the JLL report said, in addition to an inflection in the MICE (Meetings Incentives, Conferences and Events) segment. That also perhaps why the quarter saw 85 new hotel signings with 7,347 rooms slated to enter the market, according to data from the study. Home-grown names outshone international peers in new hotel signings with a ratio of 52:28.