The January-March quarter witnessed an across-the-board increase in room rents and revenues (year-on-year) at hotels in the country. According to data released by JLL, Delhi saw the highest YoY increase in ADR or Average Daily Rent (44.3 percent), followed by Hyderabad (43.5 percent) and Mumbai (42 percent).

JLL's study indicates that hospitality establishments in Mumbai also accounted for a massive YoY spike in Revenue Per Available Room or RevPAR, which came in at 71.5 percent higher when compared to last year. This was followed by Hyderabad (65.2 percent) and Bengaluru, which saw revenues per room go up by 58.5 percent when compared to last year. The study covers six key hospitality markets: Delhi, Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Chennai.

"All six key markets witnessed RevPAR growth in Q1 2022 compared to Q1 2021 due to strong recovery in leisure and business travel, post the third wave of the pandemic," said JLL's Hotel Momentum India study, "However, the sector witnessed a 15.9 percent negative growth in RevPAR Pan-India in Q1 2022 due to Omicron, compared to the previous quarter.”

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Interestingly, both Mumbai and Goa continued to lead the way in terms of overall occupancy between January and March which touched the 60-percent mark. In fact, Goa's average occupancy remained healthy despite seeing a 5 percent YoY dip in occupancy levels, thanks to the emergence of the Omicron variant in January. Bengaluru's occupancy levels brought up the rear at a little over 40 percent for the quarter.

According to the study, demand for and supply of hotel inventories saw an increase through the first three months of 2022 when compared to the same time last year. A total of 27 new hotel properties with 2,317 units were launched in the quarter, even as deals for 56 new properties consisting of 3,739 new hotel rooms were struck in this period, the report said.

"After each wave of COVID-19, the hospitality sector’s recovery has been faster and stronger. After the third wave, the sector witnessed an expected bounce-back in domestic leisure and saw strong growth in business travel," said Mansur Mehta, MD, Subba Group of Hotels, "While business travel remains primarily domestic today, international business travel may revive soon."

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He added: "While the nature of the pandemic remains uncertain, we believe that if things remain stable, business travel will lead the recovery of the sector in 2022."

First Published:May 11, 2022 5:46 PM IST