Hotelier India analyses what impact CWG will have on the hospitality sector in the short and long term.
The Hilton New Delhi/Janakpuri GM, Neeraj Chadha put on his gloves to empty bags of trash from the streets of the city as part of the preparation for the CommonWealth Games (CWG). Organised by the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, this was one in the series of initiatives of public-private partnership for CWG.
Delhi has seen an increase in room capacity, after government announced a tax holiday to the hotel industry to speed up the completion of the CWG hotel projects, which had slowed down due to the recession.
Among the hotels that seem positive about the CWG is The Imperial who has come up with several packages aimed at travellers during the Games.
The Peppermint Hotel, Gurgaon, which opened in July this year, too prepared itself way ahead of time, putting in place safety standards, security and room amenities of the highest standards. “We finished the hotel well before the allotted time to be ready for CWG. To fill up the rooms, we have now created packages with travel agents and operators, to attract people to the NCR,” says founder and director of Peppermint Hotels, Arjun Baljee.
Hotels are the first ones to deliver security. Oliver C Martin, GM of The Claridge’s Surajkund, Delhi NCR, says, “We have sealed the whole compound and fixed the fencing as well.
Besides appointing additional manpower, conducting mock fire drills and sprinkler testing, we have checked the fire hydrant lines, upgraded our security equipment and even installed six door metal frame detectors and purchased bomb depression blankets.
We’ve tied up with the local police force and have given them two rooms for accommodation on the property. Since we have CWG delegations staying with us, we have put in place preparations for all contingencies.”
For most hotels, in terms of its immediate revenue, CWG has turned out to be a non-event.
Varun Chawla, Director of MyGuestHouse.net, which is India’s only budget accommodation portal with live inventory and online booking and which has been sub-contracted by the CWG travel office for their budget accommodation requirements, says, “The CWG will be a non- event for the hotel industry in terms of incoming tourists.
It has however had three major impacts, firstly to increase supply by virtue of tax breaks and promise of CWG business, secondly to reduce overall pricing in the business as the supply demand imbalance has been largely addressed, and third, a variety of properties are now available, not just three star and above.
President-HRANI Vijai Pande says, “More than 5,000 hotel rooms have been built in Gurgaon, Delhi and Noida and properties have been converted into guesthouses under the Bed and Breakfast scheme.”
All is not well, at least in the short term. Baljee points out that China has handed over the finished Asiad village to the teams now, when the games are in November, while “we didn’t market it [CWG], plan for it, and ready ourselves for the games.”
He considers that the gains may be long-term. “We are optimistic. CWG gives hoteliers tax benefits which otherwise may not have come to us. On the flip side, the lack of enthusiasm from the domestic traveller to come and watch the games has seen only a trickle of visitors booking rooms in Gurgaon. It was definitely a boon, but what we are making of it looks to be a bane.”
