To escape the scorching summer sun, travellers are flocking to their favourite hill stations. Prices of hotel rooms in some of the tourist destinations have more than doubled.

To get a clearer idea of what’s working for the hotel industry ahead of a four-day weekend, CNBC-TV18 spoke to Puneet Chhatwal, MD & CEO, Indian Hotels.

Chhatwal highlighted that occupancy levels in April are higher when compared to April 2019. He explained that barring Omicron, Q4 was a strong quarter. He mentioned that occupancy has been between 70-75 percent at leisure detitanations. Chhatwal believes that when the market bounces back, rates follow. He further pointed out that rates have recovered to pre-pandemic levels in major markets.

On occupancy levels, he said, "April is trending at the moment on the occupancy front, higher than April 2019. We are trending higher and in many markets, the rate is also higher, which helps us especially in the leisure destinations. In the corporate travel, Mumbai is doing quite well thanks to IPL. Delhi and Bangalore still have 10-15 percent to pick up. But I am very optimistic that it will come through and even May is trending higher on the books today."

He added, "Now we are looking at revenue recovery which is higher than 80 percent for Q4 despite Omicron."

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Going ahead, Chhatwal expects to see higher revenue from international travel in second half of the current fiscal (H2FY23). He also mentioned that he is seeing some bounce back already.

“There is some bounce back in the international arrivals. But two years of of moratorium on international travel cannot recover in two weeks’ time. But the good news is going forward, especially as we get into the second half of the year where we witnessed more international travels, I think we will be very well positioned. Whatever was kind of held up because of the closure of international airports, that has opened up and we do see more and more foreigners on the flights,” he said.

Indian Hotels plans to open 20 hotels this year, he mentioned.

“We are opening 20 hotels approximately this year. So, growth has been a part of our strategy, it has been a foundation of our strategy. Most of that growth is asset-light, there is nothing in which we are putting money ourselves,” Chhatwal mentioned.

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He explained that some recovery is still needed in the meetings, incentives, conferences, and events (MICE) segment.

He said, "The wedding segment has definitely come back to where it used to be. And the MICE, as you rightly said is more or less around 70 percent but we are seeing a big kick. Also, it is aided by foreign delegations coming into India, and Indian delegations have also started going abroad. So I think all in all, that is what needed or what was needed to kickstart the MICE business."

Watch the video for the full interview.

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First Published:Apr 12, 2022 12:51 PM IST