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On Tuesday, over 50 corporates, banks and brokerages in the city such as Housing Development Finance Corporation, Franklin Templeton, ABN Amro Bank, Reuters, Deutsche Bank, ICICI Securities and Crisil checked in their employees, who could not go back to their homes, in these hotels.
Terrible Tuesday: Mumbai copes with a calamity
The stay is likely to be extended, at least partially on Wednesday, company sources said. Normally in this season, the average occupancy rate is about 70 per cent.
Apart from hotels, the companies also managed to fill in their employees in corporate guest houses. Major corporate houses such as the Reliance, Tatas, and Birlas, have guest houses near their corporate premises, said Parveen Chatarwal, head, marketing at Cox & Kings India.
Moreover, guests who stayed in the hotels and were about to depart on Tuesday, returned to their hotels as the most of the domestic and international flights were cancelled or delayed. The domestic and international airports were closed since Tuesday after as their runways were submerged under water.
"About 85 per cent of the guests who had stayed with us and were about to depart from Mumbai, returned to our hotel. Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai was fully booked on Tuesday, as we were able to accommodate corporate guests such as HDFC and Franklin Templeton who could not return to their homes on account of the floods. The effect is likely to continue on Wednesday," said Ratan Keswani, senior vice president, Oberoi Hotels and Resorts, Mumbai.
"ITC Hotels witnessed 100 per cent occupancy. ITC Grand Central accommodated about 20 corporate guests, including ABN Amro and Deutsche Bank, attending to the emergency situation. Due to huge demand, we were not able to allot the number of rooms that were actually requested for. However, the hotel was able to provide its spare spaces, like the lobby for giving shelter to our occupants on the special day," said Anil Malik, general manager, ITC Grand Central.
A senior official in Taj Hotels said that its hotel in Mumbai accommodated employees of multinational banks and financial institutions in the hour of crisis.
