Hospitality shows signs of revival

With increased vaccination rates and fewer travel restrictions restoring tourist confidence, Indian hospitality business is currently on an upward trend. As a result, in Q4 of 2021, Revenue Per Available Room increased by more than 100 per cent year on year.

n Q4, 2021, the Indian hospitality sector saw over 100 per cent year-on-year increase in Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), according to Hotel Momentum India (HMI) report of JLL, the global commercial real estate services company.

The quarterly RevPAR for Q4, 2021, (October-December) was 41.9 per cent.

While the Omicron wave began to have an impact in the later half of Q4, the last quarter (Q4, 2021) was mainly the strongest performing time of the previous year, aided by long weekends, holidays during festivals, and social events. Business travel returned in some areas, but in small numbers. International arrivals increased significantly in the fourth quarter of 2021 (Q4, 2021) when compared to the same period the previous year.

As the present wave dissipates, increase in airline and train travel is predicted in the next two quarters, providing a boost to hotel performance. Demand for both corporate and leisure travel will continue to be driven by the domestic segment. As social gathering limitations relax, the social MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) segment will grow, providing much-needed business to the industry in the near future. In the fourth quarter of 2021, there were 85 hotel agreements totaling 7,347 keys. The number of hotel registrations increased by 81.9 per cent in Q4, 2020 as compared to Q4, 2019. In terms of inventory volume, domestic operators had a 52:48 advantage over overseas companies in signings.

The QHM reviewed key hotel market performance for the six cities of Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Hyderabad, Mumbai.

In the fourth quarter of 2021, before the outbreak of the third wave of the pandemic, hotel performance in India's major cities grew dramatically. Corporate travel began to rebound as confidence in the office sector strengthened, with commercial real estate experiencing the greatest net absorption rate in the last eight quarters. Furthermore, staycations, long weekend leisure demands, weddings, and social events remained the hospitality sector's mainstays. This rapid recovery would not have been feasible without growing confidence among travellers as a result of the country's high vaccination rates. "Even as uncertainty over various Covid forms and waves persists, the hospitality sector is projected to recover strongly in 2022," said Jaideep Dang, Managing Director, JLL Hotels and Hospitality Group, South Asia.