Few bookings for Games hotel rooms yet

 It was expected to be a deluge, but so far, it’s just a trickle. Hotels in New Delhi which earmarked thousands of rooms for Commonwealth Games visitors are still waiting for the bookings. Delays in preparing Games venues, corruption charges and competitive mudslinging are seen to have taken the sheen out of Incredible India and frustrated the travel and hospitality industry, though Games officials put up a brave face. The 19th Commonwealth Games, an 11-day mega-sporting event, kicks off in the Capital less than two months from now.

Out of 5,500 hotel rooms earmarked by the Games travel office and sold on the CWG website, only 100 have been booked so far. “Bookings have been slow, but we are hopeful that more will start coming now. Most of the negative publicity around the games is in India; not in other countries,” says Sunil Kundu, games travel officer of the Organising Committee. Le Passage to India, the official travel agency refused to comment on the number of bookings.

Hoteliers are not happy either. “We committed rooms to the Organising Committee and reduced tariffs by 25-30% as requested by the government. But bookings have been negligible,” says Vijai Pande, president, Hotel and Restaurant Association of Northern India (HRANI). The association is an umbrella body of 1,500 hotels in North India, out of which 50% are located in the National Capital Region. “We developed a new hotel in Delhi for the Commonwealth Games; but looking at the current scenario, we wonder if it was the right business move,” said a hotelier on the condition of anonymity.

The initial buzz about Commonwealth Games attracting a deluge of sports and travel enthusiasts to the Capital has waned. Says Sharat Dhall, MD, Tripadvisor, a popular travel community site: “Bookings have not met projections. A mix of factors has worked against the travel sentiment. There are security concerns and some star athletes have pulled out. Besides, there is so much negative publicity regarding delays in completion of stadia and infrastructure projects. Many have been led to believe that the Games will not be spectacular after all.”

FE checked with some of the hotels which can be booked on the CWG travel website, which confirmed that not a single booking was made at any of them till now.

Claridges Surajkund, for instance, has committed 100 rooms but has not received any guest confirmation. Room rate does not seem to be a factor, as the trend of nil or negligible bookings is not restricted to the star category. A small budget hotel group with two properties – Sunstar Residency and Sunstar Heritage, located in the not-so-upmarket Karol Bagh area– and charging one-fourth of what Claridges does, has not received any Games-related bookings either.

“There are no bookings so far, but we are hopeful,” said the general manager of Sunstar Hotels.

Until recently, government officials and industry analysts were worried about the possibility of room shortage during the Games. Hospitality industry players from the private sector stepped into bridge the gap, and the ministry of tourism announced a Bed & Breakfast policy to increase room supply. According to industry estimates, around 12,300 hotel rooms have come up in Delhi and NCR in the run-up to the Games. “So much investment has gone into adding inventory. Several projects were floated keeping Commonwealth Games in mind. So, it’s all the more sad not to get substantial bookings,” said Pande of HRANI.

According to the tourism ministry, Delhi and NCR will have more than 40,000 rooms across hotels, guest houses and B&B outfits, enough to accommodate one lakh tourists expected during the Games. Whether they will turn up in the expected numbers will decide if the hospitality industry was wise enough to sink large investments into adding capacity to welcome the Games visitors.