Hotels and restaurants are gearing up for a full house during the New Year weekend with current booking trends surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Hotel occupancies are up 100-150 per cent across hotels with a 30 per cent growth in revenues. At the same time, restaurants are witnessing a surge in bookings for the New Year bashes. This comes even amidst global concerns about a surge in Covid cases in markets such as China and Japan.

Pradeep Shetty, Executive Committee Member at FHRAI said in terms of occupancies and room rates, hotels have been witnessing strong growth over last year, surpassing pre-pandemic levels. “Occupancies are up nearly 100-150 per cent over last year,” he added.

Amel Joe, Commercial Director at Conrad, Pune said there has been a “double fold increase” in the number of bookings and over pre-Covid times. “There is a significant focus on room rate growth basis,” he added.

According to Rajiv Mehra, President, IATO, the New Year Weekend this year indicates nearly 30 per cent increase in business growth. “There is cautious optimism but booking and enquiries are on the rise. Hotels are showing very high occupancy. Domestic tourism is still very strong,” Mehta added.

Restaurants are almost sold out for New Year’s Eve parties, and this is despite price hikes in food and drink rates amidst inflationary pressures. “Our theme of Resurgence 23 is well in line with the response we are seeing this year across our SOCIAL outlets. Packages are selling fast and so we are expecting a good business,” said Alexander Valladares, Chief Marketing Officer, Impresario Handmade Restaurants

Avantika Sinha, Founder and Managing Director of Kampai, said almost 70-80 per cent of the Delhi-based Japanese restaurant is booked for the New Year’s Eve. “There has been a bit of scare with the coronavirus threat in some nations like China. However, we are back to pre-Covid numbers for Christmas and New Year bookings. I believe overall, things are looking good for the F&B industry this time,” she added.

Hospitality and restaurants players are stepping up focus on Covid norms. Reetesh Shukla, Business Head of Charcoal Concepts at K Hospitality Corp, said, “We continue to follow safety measures. We haven’t seen any impact on business so far in terms of response for new year bookings and don’t see this as a hindrance.”