The Afro-Asian Games that was held in the state last year seems to have left its indelible impact on Hyderabad's hospitality sector. The city's hospitality sector, which had seen high room occupancy levels during the event, since then seems to be waiting for the next big extravaganza to see an upside. | |
| "Last year, we had the Afro-Asian games because of which occupancy rates were high. This year, unfortunately, we do not have any such international event. So there has not been any growth in the occupancy rates as compared to last year," Veer Vijay Singh, area director and general manager of Taj Krishna, said. |
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| While the occupancy levels in the leading hotels in the city hover around a healthy 75 per cent, the worrying factor has been the fact that there has been absolutely no growth from last year. |
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| At the same time, leading hotels in Bangalore, India's answer to the Silicon Valley, have seen a very encouraging uptick in their occupancy levels, which today hover around 85 per cent "� a growth of about 10 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Chennai, incidentally, has slightly lower occupancy rates of about 70 per cent. |
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| "November was, in fact, not a very good period for the hotels in the city because of Diwali and Ramzan. The city hotels lost out on a total of about 120 rooms per day during that period," Singh points out. |
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| The occupancy levels, nevertheless, are higher than what they were in 2000, he added. The occupancy level of major five star hotels in the city in 2000 was about 45 per cent with the room rates hovering around Rs 1,500 per day. |
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| Cut to today and room rates hover between Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 at leading hotels in the city representing a whopping minimum increase of 260 per cent and more in the last four years. |
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| On the supply side today, Hyderabad has about 3,000 three-star and five-star rooms and about 950 five-star deluxe rooms available in the city. Some corporates, though, feel that the city could make do with more capacity in its hotels and conference halls. |
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| Hari Krishna, director, storage division, Microsoft India Development Centre, says, "When we had organised the billiards championship we had a tough time, as five-star rooms were not available in bulk. This apart, this city does not have large conference halls as well." |
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| However, hoteliers are quick to point out that this dilemma represents a classic chicken and egg situation for them. They are also quick to debunk the contention that there is not enough 'room' in the city. |
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| Taj Krishna today has two conference halls that can handle capacities of 1,000 and 700 people respectively. Shilpakala Vedika in the Madhapur area of Cyberabad is the largest convention centre with a seating capacity of about 3,000. |
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| Argues, D Kavarana, area manager and general manager of the ITC Group's premier hotel property, Kakatiya Sheraton Hotel and Towers, "Rooms availability or hall capacity, I believe is not an issue with Hyderabad." Kakatiya has one conference hall that can handle a capacity of about 750 people. |
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| To buttress his case further, Kavarana doles out the example of the national level conference of heart surgeons that is going to be held in the city soon, and where space is not a constraint in terms of hosting the event. |
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| "Hyderabad, anyway, has more business travellers than tourists. So conferences are, basically, one of the reasons why business travellers come to the city," he adds. |
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| Industry watchers, however, feel that with the improved air connectivity of the city with airlines like Sahara making Hyderabad their hub for operations and corporates investing in the city, Hyderabad needs more hotel rooms. |
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| However, some progress is being made in the direction of expanding room capacity. Hotels like the Ritz, which had downed its shutters is set to open its doors albeit with a Le Meridien tag. |
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| This apart, Hotel Viceroy is undergoing an expansion project that will see it add more rooms. Larsen & Toubro is also constructing a 5,000-seat capacity convention centre for Dubai-based Emaar Properties. The convention centre being constructed will host the annual general meeting of the Asian Development Bank in May 2006. |
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