The booming market during the festive weekends
With lockdowns easing and the travel industry gradually opening up, the hospitality market is seeing small signs of recovery. Demand in leisure destinations began seeing weekend occupancy spikes as the lockdown restrictions were further lifted in August last year. To top it, the festivals in India have helped hoteliers to boost festive weekend bookings. Narendra Prabhu, General Manager, Signature Club Resort, gives more insight on a trend that is aiding recovery and where the hospitality industry can focus for long term success.
With pandemic taking over the world and restricting people’s movement to a large extent, the festivities that have started from November 2020 are expected to bring a much-needed cheer to both the public and hospitality sector alike. the
“The next few months will also see festivals and long weekends dominating the calendar resulting in families and friends coming together in big numbers. Festivals are an opportunity for families to get together and celebrate the happiness that promises new beginnings. It also translates to love, generosity and happiness giving everyone an opportunity to make their loved ones feel special. Exchanging gifts and spending time together makes a festival’s ambience even more joyous,” expresses Narendra.
Due to the pandemic, the hospitality industry has seen a drastic drop in family turnout and one of the major reasons being the restricted guidelines put by the MHA. The hotels and resorts have yet not gotten permission to open a few facilities and amenities like the swimming pool for the guests, which is a significant selling point for any including at Signature Club Resort.
In this context, Narendra says, “At present, the hospitality industry is trying to sustain its business during weekdays as the corporate segment is completely shut down with no queries. Given the situation, the industry is dependent on local leisure guests and in this scenario; it’s the only segment that has shown interest with families and social gathering groups forming a big chunk of it. However, this segment has demand only during weekends i.e. Fridays and Saturdays, whereas Sundays are met with underwhelming occupancies. “
In order to attract this demand and tap into its potential, it is seen that hotels and resorts are coming up with various marketing initiatives with attractive packages and offers especially during weekends and festive weeks/weekend. However, Narendra is of the opinion that “When there is more supply than demand, the industry is going through a hidden price war, where hotels and resorts are slashing rates and BAR as lowlier as possible. Even though the customers are benefited from this price war, operators should ensure their brand image or standards should not be affected by this change of strategy. We are hoping the long weekends will be the opportunity for all the guests and as well as the industry to embrace good times that is ahead of us.
Not just that, it seems to make the celebrations bigger and better, there are various room packages that are both pocket friendly, which come loaded with lots of value adds and festive surprises. Guests can opt for these attractive offers through the hotel and resort websites.
Other than the exciting offerings, one more new trend seen is that the resorts are offering festive-staycation packages. “As the work and play concept is fading; professionals are learning creative ways to spend leisure time with family and friends. Staycations have become more popular within the cities soon after the hotels and resorts started opening up. Since everyone needed a change after sitting at home for months. Due to the time-crunch experienced by individuals, spontaneous staycations in their own cities with leisure during weekends is gaining demand and all the more during the festive/new year season,” concludes Narendra.