IHCL sees high occupancies in homestays

BENGALURU:

Indian Hotels

(IHCL), which owns the Taj and Vivanta hospitality brands, is clocking occupancies of about 70% in its

homestays

in Chikmagalur and Coorg in Karnataka, and hotels in Goa in the last one month. People are driving out of cities to unwind from the monotony of staying at home, said Prabhat Verma, executive vice president of operations for south India, international and ancillary business.


While occupancy rates in city properties remain low, homestays and resorts are slowly seeing increased demand, especially over the weekends. Some are even using them to unwind and work during weekdays. “Occupancy during weekdays is almost 70%, while weekends are now sold out regularly,” said Verma.

IHCL entered the homestay business last year with the launch of its Ama Trails & Stays, which consists of nine bungalows in Coorg and Chikmagalur and a couple in Goa.

The hospitality industry has started engaging more with leisure clientele, as corporate visits, meetings and conferences stay shut. People are even driving to homestays to have strategy meetings. “Previously it was to detox, but you realise that one still needs to stay connected, so we are enabling WiFi so that people can work, and also enjoy the get away from cities,” added Verma. This has made Goa the best performing state for IHCL currently. In cities, some are looking to unwind by checking into luxury hotels for a few days, a trend called staycations. Customers stay for about three days, sometimes a couple of weeks, converting their rooms or suites into work places. That has helped IHCL’s city hotels in Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi to have room occupancies of 25-30%.

The Qmin mobile application that was launched in July and which brings signature dishes from the company’s restaurants to homes is helping gain revenue. Designed and developed by IHCL in collaboration with

Tata Digital

, the app allows guests to personalise their order, curate menus, and track deliveries in real-time. The Tata firm expects the tourist season to be dull since international tourists remain wary of travel outside their countries.