Sushil Gupta, Managing Director, Asian Hotels, said Mumbai
terror attack has affected the hotel industry very badly last quarter.
"February is definitely better than January but overall it is down but
not too weak." But he was quick to add that hotels are still doing 70%
occupancy.
Here is a verbatim transcript of the exclusive interview with Sushil Gupta on CNBC-TV18.
Q: How is the Q4 looking like to you, are you seeing any improvement in the hospitality sector vis-à-vis the Q3?
A:
To some extent- because in the last quarter we had this Mumbai terror
attack, which have affected the hotel industry very badly. So, February
is definitely better than January but overall it is down but not too
weak, still there is much concern and the hotels are still doing 70%
occupancy
Q: Could you shed some light and I am
specifically referring to New Delhi and Mumbai, if you have the
statistics. What is the average occupancy rate, what is the average
room rate and how many new rooms are being added in the next 3 to 6
months?
A: In Delhi I don’t see any addition taking
place in next 6 months and Delhi’s occupancy is around 70% and the
average room rate is between Rs 11,000-12,000. As far as Mumbai is
concerned some new capacities have come up in the Powai area but I
don’t see any additional incoming in next 6 months other than one hotel
opening in Goregaon- I believe that is opening – but that won’t affect
neither the north Mumbai Hotel nor south Mumbai hotel.
Q:
70% occupancy sounds very high to somebody outside the hotel industry
who’s holding this up because after November 26 the foreigner seemed to
have vanished- domestic expenditure on hotels and luxury certainly
seemed to have gone down. A 70% is this an average that you believe is
across the board in hotels?
A: I must tell you
internationally 70% is a very good possibility. But in February
normally all these hotels would be doing 95%, of which we are doing
around 70% that shows that there is a significant drop, there are
foreigners also and because of this global financial meltdown it has
affected. But I still feel in India the capacity is not very large, the
inventory is not so big but things are still holding out.
Source CNBC-TV18