Rishikesh pips Udaipur in priciest hotel rooms: Data | India News

NEW DELHI: Resumption of travel after the deadly Covid Delta wave last summer saw a paradigm shift in city-wise revenue per available room (RipPAIR) in the country, and branded hotels in Rishikesh commanded the highest rates last fiscal (April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022).
Nine of the top 10 cities with the highest RevPAR are leisure destinations, led by the holy town on the banks of the Ganga, according to data collected by hospitality consulting firm Hotelivate. The 10th on the list, Chandigarh, is a borderline case as it is a transit point between Delhi-NCR and Himachal as well as a buzzing business district.

Covid completely turned the tables on which Indian cities — leisure or business — command the highest hotel rates. In the last pre-Covid fiscal, 2018-19 , four of the top 10 costlier RevPAR cities were the goverment-cum-business metros of Mumbai, Delhi, Gurugram and Bengaluru. The highest rates were enjoyed by dreamy Udaipur, now displaced to second spot by Rishikesh which did not even figure in the top 15 list of FY 2019.
Hotelivate founder chairman Manav Thadani told TOI: “We track rates of cities that have at least five branded hotels. Last fiscal due to work-from-home people were travelling to leisure destinations within drivable distances and staying for longer periods, like a week. This led to higher occupancies and room rates.”
Rishikesh has several branded properties and is very close to Delhi-NCR and other big cities. “So emergence of Rishikesh as the city with highest RevPARs was not a surprise,” Thadani said.
“Airfares are very high, and driving to nearby distances will continue, keeping the highest RevPAR leisure destinations very much in the reckoning,” Thadani said.
Indian hospitality leaders admit that domestic tourism kept the industry alive during the dark days of Covid. “Leisure destinations still remain strongest in terms of both occupancy and rates. Business destinations have a lot of catching up to do,” said a hotel official.